Making regular additional payments toward your principal balance will provide big returns. You can do this in various ways. Making one extra full payment once per year is perhaps the easiest to keep track of. Of course, many folks won't be able to swing this huge additional expense, so splitting an additional payment into twelve additional monthly payments works too. Finally, you can commit to paying half of your mortgage payment every other week. Each of these options yields different results, but they will all significantly shorten the duration of your mortgage and lower the total interest paid over the duration of the loan.
It may not be possible for you to pay more every month or even every year. But you should remember that most mortgages allow additional principal payments at any time. You can take advantage of this provision to pay down your principal any time you get some extra money.
If, for example, you were to receive a surprise windfall three years into your mortgage, you could pay this money toward your mortgage loan principal, resulting in huge savings and a shortened loan period. Unless the mortgage loan is quite large, even a few thousand dollars applied early in the loan period can produce huge savings over the duration of the loan.
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