Freedom will be mine! ...eventually

Well, I've signed up for the MFW2016 challenge, so I thought I'd better make one of these in an attempt to keep myself on track!

I think I'm supposed to put in a bit about myself, so here goes: I'm 29, with a boring but relatively well-paying job and £110,000 to pay off over 30 years. I really want to be able to dedicate as much of my life as possible to my passion (writing fiction), but I'm realistic enough to know that making any kind of a living in that area is HARD even for the most talented folks (of which I am not one), and cautious (read cowardly) enough to want the security of a definite roof over my head into old age. I don't want to relegate the writing thing to weekends and lunch breaks forever, though, so I have bought a small-but-big-enough one bedroom flat, which meets enough of my requirements that I could conceivably see myself living here quite happily for the rest of my life. The aim is to pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible so that I can move to working part time and focus my energy on what I really want to be doing with my life.

The gold standard is to over pay by £25,000 per year, but more realistically it'll be £20,000, so that's what I'm putting in my signature. This year there are a few necessary improvements to be made (such as a boiler which actually boils), so it may be a stretch, but what's the point if you don't aim high? :p

My MFW efforts so far include walking to Aldi for ingredients to make a couple of large pots of budget friendly lamb and root veg stew so that I can start 2016 with a fully stocked freezer, and not going out to spend £29 on replacing my dead tablet charger, but instead getting a generic one on eBay for £3, which can't possibly be any worse than the branded one. It probably won't get here until end of January, so in the meantime I will use Old Faithful the laptop as my travelling companion (I need to have a portable computer for work, but no one said it had to be tiny and swish!).
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Comments

  • Welcome, sounds a good plan and ambitious, just one thought, check your t&c in case there are penalties for o/p more than the usual 10% of total mortgage.

    Have you a mortgage free date in mind?


    Good Luck
    Always have 00.00 at the end of your mortgage and one day it will all be 0's :dance:
    MF[STRIKE] March 2030[/STRIKE] Yes that does say 2030 :eek: Mortgage Free 21.12.18 _party_
    Now a Part Timer from 27.10.19
  • bexster1975
    bexster1975 Posts: 1,576
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    Hello

    Sounds like a plan to me. As AFK says, just check there is no overpayment limit/penalty in your mortgage.

    If it helps I have just completed a mortgage in ten years on a slightly bigger place but a similar sized mortgage. More interestingly I have done it for very similar reasons to you ( not writing, but self employment).

    The very best of luck

    Bexster :)
  • Bossypants
    Bossypants Posts: 1,273
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    Thanks so much guys! :)

    AFK, I don't have a definitive date in mind just yet as I still need to see how a few things work out in practice, like utilities. I also need to find out what kind of lifestyle is sustainable for me in the long run. Outside of mortgage payments and costs directly associated with my current job (like the season ticket loan), I want to try to live as much as possible the type of lifestyle I would lead if I actually manage to achieve my goal, i.e. as cheaply as possible and no more than I could expect working three days a week in your average admin-type job. A big part of that for me is finding out which luxuries I can do without for the sake of living like that, and which I would really rather keep, and for the ones I keep, how I can do them more cost effectively. For example, I know that I could never give up really good flourless chocolate cake, so rather than trying, failing and spending £3 per slice, I am making it myself in cupcake form and freezing them for the cost of about 40p each. I think a lot of it is about organisation and that's what I'm trying to become better at initially, stuff like shopping lists, ordering what I can in bulk online and all that. I've done it before but it was a while ago and the job I had at the time took up much less of my energy, so we shall see! I'm hoping that this time next year I'll be in a position to post a date, fingers crossed.

    (And thanks for the reminder on the mortgage overpayment situation, I did make sure that I could overpay as much as I want when I took it out but always good to bear in mind for future remortgaging.)
  • Very good luck on your journey. It sounds as if you have made a good start with the phone charger. My MFW tip is always just to avoid shops as much as possible so that you are not tempted into buying non essentials.

    All the best,

    Squirrel x
    Paid off mortgage nine years early in 2013. Now picking and choosing our work to fit in with the rest of our lives!
    Still thrifty though, after all these years:D
  • Bossypants
    Bossypants Posts: 1,273
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    edited 28 December 2015 at 9:43PM
    Thanks Squirrel! I actually find that I'm okay window shopping things like clothes, it's the food shopping that gets me. To that end, I am now trying to be serious about keeping a list. I had a good first experience with it today - I did a huge shop (for me as a single person - two rounds of two full carrier bags), and only got one thing that wasn't on the list and actually needed: A 56p bottle of apple and cranberry juice from Aldi. I'm really proud of that actually lol.

    I did max out this week's household budget (I cannot for the life of me budget properly, so I set up as much as I can with direct debit/standing orders and then give myself £50/week to cover everything else). On the plus side, I have now stocked the kitchen with all those little essentials which only cost £1 or so each, but really add up when you have to buy them all new (I moved too far to take my old ones), plus enough raw ingredients to make a lot of stew, lunch for 10 days and breakfast and dessert for a month, as well as a few other household essentials like cistern blocks and a light bulb. Next challenge is to see if I can manage a no-spend bank holiday weekend while I cook it all up for the new year!
  • Hi, good luck with your journey!

    Nothing like a frugal lifestyle with a few luxuries. Please free to pass on any tips. Grocery shopping continues to be my point of weakness so need to try my hand on batch cooking too!
    Mortgage Start - August 2013 £145,000 ************ Balance at April 2017 - £59,000

    Target - Overpay by £2,500 each month ************** Mortgage free by December 2018!
  • Bossypants
    Bossypants Posts: 1,273
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    Money spending day today, patio furniture. Not exactly an essential, but I'll be working from home for the rest of the week and the weather is SO nice, I thought it would be a crime not to use this lovely patio I paid through the nose for. Did it in the best MSE way I could, though, spent hours looking through Gumtree, eBay and cheaper shops to get the best deal I could, finally settled on a little set of table and two chairs off Gumtree. £30+£10 for delivery, more than I was hoping for but still cheaper than the cheapest new (and frankly looked better quality) and seller is able to deliver today, so should be able to sit outside this afternoon, yay!

    Will take leftover Euros to the bank at lunch to try to offset it a bit, as won't be travelling abroad again till next Christmas probably.
  • Bossypants
    Bossypants Posts: 1,273
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    Good: Entered all my delay repay items!

    Bad: Got a letter from HMRC claiming I underpaid take in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 and asking me to pay them £401! Numbers don't tie up at all though, and one horrified call to HMRC later the lady agrees with me that something looks to be off in the calculations, so she has sent the claim back to be rechecked and I should hear from them within 4 weeks. Not holding out much hope, though, and factoring in having to pay £401 into budget for next month. :(
  • Lexi-lu
    Lexi-lu Posts: 173
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    Hello Bossypants,

    Good Luck on your journey. I'm sure the end goal of having more time to enjoy your passion for writing will keep you focused.

    LL
    Mortgage Balance £0
  • Bossypants
    Bossypants Posts: 1,273
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    Thanks Lexi-lu! Unfortunately 2016 has not started very auspiciously in financial terms, as I have just had an email to let me know that £1,500 that I was assured would be coming to me now won't be, due to 'changes in circumstances'. It's business related and feels unfair but there isn't anything practical I can do about it (the phrase 'squeezing blood from a stone' comes to mind), so I am trying not to let it get me down and instead focus on good stuff: 2016 started well creatively, and now I have a whole year to work on getting that mortgage down!

    To kick it off I have decided to try for a no-spend week for the first week of 2016. I have just done the calculations and I have enough food to last me, so really it's just a case of being strong! The one exception may have to be on Thursday night next week, where I have a long-awaited doctor's appointment after work and I'm not sure I'll have time to walk it, so may need to spend on transport there. Now I just need to think of some kind of portable dinner, anyone have any ideas?

    Edit: Also, happy 2016 everyone! :p
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