Ok, I'm fairly new to the life of a home-owner and I was reading yesterday about how to save money by structuring your payments differently than the default of one payment each month for the next thirty years, so I did some rough calculations based on what I'd discovered. Wow. No wonder they don't tell you this stuff! This is like finding a buried treasure. Ok, follow me here:
Due to the way interest and such is calculated, if you make 2 payments each month instead of one large payment, you'll save one whole payment each year*. Nice savings. Now, you'll knock your home loan from 30 years down to about 20! Amazing. Imagine saving yourself TEN YEARS of payments just by dealing with the hassle of two payments per month instead of one. I have to run this by somebody better skilled at math to verify the savings, but it jives with what I was reading and what others have claimed (co-workers, friends, etc). Go make those payments and save yourself some dough!
* Ok, you are actually making an extra payment (instead of 12 payments you are making 26 - two more than 12x2) but it goes to your principal instead of interest thus giving you your savings.