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Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values
Evening all, I thought it was time I started a
new diary, as we've now been mortgage free for 18 months and the last pesky bit
of mortgage debt (on the 0% card) went in October. We're now almost through Mr
MV's 40th, Christmas, New Year and my 40th (coming up next week), so it seems
like a good time to start afresh and…
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Strange Discussion today with Santander
I called Santander today to ask questions re paying off my mortgage in full later this year and waive the early repayment fee (which I can due with inheritance money). The conversion was straightforward right until the end. I said "thank you for answering my questions" to which he responded, "actually I have a question for…
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Mortgage free wannabe part 2
Hi, it’s been ages since I posted and I was very lucky to pay off my mortgage before covid. my house was 25 years old and needed a lot spending on it to make it energy efficient and modernise it so we decided to move instead as we just couldn’t change certain things we didn’t like) Unfortunately this meant getting a…
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More Effort Required - the next 5 years
Background: 2014 - Final LBM and DFW 2019 - DFD - exhausting journey but :smiley: 2020 - Back on the property ladder £300k+ 2025 - Mortgage down to £200k+ 2026 - Reset needed 2031 - Working towards MF by SPA Looks like I do these things in five year cycles, so hopefully this is the final one. How do I enjoy these next 5…
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Mortgage gone by 2030
Hi This is my first post where I have decided to try and reach my goal of being mortgage free, a lot sooner than I originally thought. In spring this year I started to make some regular monthly overpayments to the mortgage. I think this will be a good place to track my progress. Total mortgage borrowed: £110,475 Current…
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Learning to walk before I run
Hello all! :) I am returning to the forum in an attempt to gain your collective wisdom in sorting out our dire finances. I've been experiencing a series of mini lightbulb moments of late and have realised that it's time for a change. Despite being vaguely savvy as regards areas of personal finance such as pensions, I have…
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The Piano Diary
Good morning diary and all, I recently became debt free after 31 months of debtbusting over on Debt Free Wannabe, following the advice and diaries on this site. Here is my previous diary My debt free diary I have found keeping a diary really helpful in staying focused and also therapeutic being able to think things through…
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Where to focus - mortgage, renovations etc?
Hello, My partner and I bought our first home together last year (we're late 30s, and both had homes of our own before). The mortgage is high, but it's a forever home and we also only put down a 15% deposit so as to keep some cash back for renovations. Although we have a lot in savings, we've found the cost of materials,…
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I'm paying how much interest a year??!!
Starting this to keep myself honest and on track. This is the year, well the first one of a few. I've always had the annual mortgage statement come in and put it away, little to no attention paid to it but not this time. If this was a credit card with this much interest per month I would be putting every spare penny…
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Never a good time but here goes..
Having lurked on and off for a while, it was about time to commit. I’m 38 and about 7 months pregnant so instead of traditional nesting in the form of cleaning, I seem to have resorted to financial nesting instead. My mortgage was originally for 25 years - fixed for 4 then reduced by 3 years when I switched to a new deal.…
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Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan
I've not even got a mortgage yet, but here I go. I'm finally getting on the housing ladder and settling, after living around the country for the last decade. I've been in a position where "I'm just about to buy" for about 8 years for various reasons, so while I've not spent well, I could have saved better instead of…
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Starting (again). My mortgage-free journey took a detour
I am re-stating a diary of sorts because I feel I am at a genuine fork in the road and this type of diary really helped me early on when I was just starting my MFW journey years ago. In summer 2025 I was around five to six years away from being mortgage free. That was based on regular overpayments and the possibility of…
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Mortgage free mayhem
Hi everyone! Really excited to track my mortgage-free journey at 52. Before becoming a uni lecturer this year, I've worked in charities my whole life. I've got a pension of £60K, an easy-access savings pot of £3000, and a mortgage of £84206. I want to see how quickly I can pay off the mortgage with my new higher income.…
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The Case of the Overwhelming Mortgage
I’ve lurked for a long time. I have no-one in real life I can discuss these issues with and thought it might be helpful to get it out of my head and on to paper. I am mid 40s, married, with two pre-teen children. We moved in 2017, with a 20 year mortgage of £140,000 and interest of £10 per day. We now have a mortgage of…
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Apple muncher's number crunching
Time for me to start a diary :j. I work 2 days a week, dd is at school and dh was made redundant in the summer. We are living carefully, although the redundancy money is being nibbled away at of course. We are fortunate to have no debts other than the mortgage, so I would like to get rid of it! We'd also like to have a…
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Mortgage-Free Musings: mindful money & FIRE focus
Time to start a new diary and try to post more to keep myself accountable! The numbers: Current mortgage: £279,586.61 on 1.74% fixed for another 6 years. Little to be gained by OPing so my focus is on savings and WIOTW (what I owe the world) and ATMN (amount to mortgage neutral). £55k stoozed, £78k in cash savings. ATMN…
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Mortgage Free in the slow lane
Hi all, I have been enjoying reading the diaries so much, I thought to start one for 2026. We are a family of two parents and our kid. We bought our forever home and now have a mortgage of 220,130, with 24 years left to go. We have offset 4500 in an investment account. Our financial goals are the following (in order of…
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our forever patch challenge
well, this week sees the new start to my mortgage free plans. After 18 months clearing debts, then paying for our wedding, which took most of our hard earned savings, we are at the beginning again. Due to restructure at work, OH is on a reduced monthly pay, so the savings are even more of a challenge! Our plan is over the…
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julicorn's journey 3 - The House on the Hill
Hi all! Long time, no see, at least when it comes to the diaries (I still run the mortgage free challenges, of course). Where do I start? This is my third diary on here, the first talking about our initial mortgage pay off journey for Mr julicorn and my first flat (bought in 2017). If you have too much time on your hands,…
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Prosperous and Creative Soul Year 5
Close to 4 years ago I finalised my divorce and completed on my biggest ever mortgage - £202K and switched from interest only between 2 of us to repayment on my own. I took the term for as long as I could - so 22 years - which means I would be 73.5 by the time I was actually free. Then I owed c£1.5K on a 0% but had a £2K…
