There's a trick to reduce the repayment period of your mortgage and save thousands over the course of your loan: Make additional payments that go to the loan principal. Borrowers accomplish this goal in several ways. Paying a single extra full payment one time per year may be the simplest to arrange. But some people can't swing such a large extra payment, so splitting one additional payment into 12 extra monthly payments is a great option too. Finally, you can commit to paying a half payment every two weeks. These options differ a little in reducing the final payback amount and reducing payback length, but they will all significantly reduce the duration of your mortgage and lower your total interest paid.
Some folks just can't make any extra payments. But it's important to note that most mortgages allow you to make additional payments at any time. Any time you come into extra money, you can use this provision to pay a one-time additional payment on principal.
If, for example, you were to receive a very large gift or tax refund four years into your mortgage, investing several thousand dollars into your mortgage principal will significantly shorten the duration of your loan and save enormously on mortgage interest over the life of the loan. Unless the loan is quite large, even modest amounts applied early can yield huge benefits over the life of the loan.