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Lumiona's MFW Diary
As a forum lurker, I'm not a threadstarter but I figured like many of you that a diary is a good accountability method. Ok so here goes: Backstory, we moved to our current house in 2006, bought for £178k mortgaged at £130k for 30yrs. Interest rates were high monthly payment about £750, went up to nearly £900 at one stage.…
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Life after Mortgage (before the Next One!)
I have been a long time reliant on these threads and at times considered starting my own but bottled it...now I am just going to go for it! It seems like a strange time to be starting a thread as a 'mortgage-free wannabe', but I can't imagine being off this group! It's been such a lifeline to be with like-minded people.…
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Overpay now or later?
I can now access my 25% tax free sum from my pension. I started the mortgage late so we have 10yrs to go £300k to pay off still Which is the smartest of these two moves: take my 25% now - value £30k and use it to overpay the mortgage now Wait circa 5yrs, when the 25% tax free sum will be bigger (circa £50k) and use it to…
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Tip toe towards my goal
Well I read mortgage free diaries all the time and find them motivating. So going to do a diary myself and log how I get on. Property purchased five years ago for £155000 now has I think £119570.24. This was a five year fix and and at the end of December will have 19 years and 4 months left. It has interest at 2.99%. I…
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Mortgage Redemption
I’m planning to pay off my Nationwide mortgage in full this month (yippee!). Currently the money is split between different accounts (cash ISA and non-ISA savings) with different institutions, none of it in the Nationwide. Am I better consolidating it all in one account and making a single payment to Nationwide, or would 2…
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MF Date 2037 - MOP it up by 2030?!?
Hello my fellow MFWers. I've decided to start a new thread now that I am debt free (4th June 2025) - yippeeeeee! I took out my mortgage in 2021 for 16 years and I'd absolutely love to get it paid by 2030 but we've recently been told that our tiny team in work is being transferred to another department and our job is very…
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One step at a time
2024 has been a big (and expensive) year. I got married! We also moved into our ‘forever home’. Weddings and moving house are so expensive, and I am now looking towards getting a hold on our finances in 2025. I have been on the MSE forum for years, and contributed to some threads particularly on the old style moneysaving…
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Alternative living to escape the rat race....
Has anyone here managed to escape the rat race and semi‑retire before 35? I’ve been part of this forum for around 15 years, and it’s been an incredible resource for navigating all things money. But until about six months ago, I was like most people—caught up in the rat race. Constant bills, rising mortgage payments,…
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Halving our income and still aiming for mortgage free!
Hi everyone, A long time lurker of DFW forum, and then here. Finally starting my own diary as I feel it will help keep me on track! As the title suggests we are halving our income as I have resigned my job in order to keep sane and support DD with home educating for the next year. The last two years we have managed to…
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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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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 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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Should I overpay or save?
Not sure if this should be here or the general mortgages board?? Hi all, interested to know what you would do if you were me. Mortgage is £53400 left, current deal is 1.29% (£335pm) fixed until October 2026. There will be 14 years left in October. I could probably overpay between £100pm and £200pm. Would this make sense,…
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What would you do?
Hi, not been here for a while, apologies, and also want to thank in advance all the replies and advice received. OK here goes, situation is this, i work for myself, have done for the past seven years, business is not too good, i average about £15K a year, the mortgage is £1011 per month on a tracker, I'm just entering in…
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I dream of a MF home for my plants
I’m starting myself a diary here after spending the last few days reading and lurking on the site. I used to have a diary over on debt free wannabe many years ago that was super helpful in getting my debt paid off. I can’t remember my old log in so am starting afresh. I have 12.5 years left on the mortgage - it’s split…
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This is it! 2027 is the goal...update
Hello I have been lurking around these boards for the past year, I have finally made the decision to start a diary to track the progress of my goal. I'm hoping that it will hold me accountable and perhaps inspire others along the way. As of May 2019 my mortgage balance was £118, 842 4 years into a 10 year fix over a 20…
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Saving, Living, and Ditching the Mortgage
Hey everyone! Long time lurker. At my lowest I was here reading the SLLM posts hoping one day I will have my own mortgage and staying strong letting money sit and grow. These days I have my own mortgage on a lovely flat in a lovely city, almost half way through my 5yr fix now. Want to tackle the mortgage but hardly have…
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Trying to pay off my mortgage early but facing a dilemma
Hi all, I need to make a decision and would like to share some thoughts about my current situation and see your feedback please. Wife and I signed up for a 35years joint mortgage 5 years ago and like many we would like to be mortgage free well before that date. We are with HSBC and we have a 10 % overpayment allowance per…
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How do I prove the house is mine?
Apologies to everyone reading this if it comes across as a stupid question….. I paid off my mortgage in January 2025. All I have to "prove" this is a letter from HSBC saying that they'd received my last ever payment. Hooray!! 🎉🎉 A year on though, that's all I have. That letter. And all that basically says is, i've paid the…
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Shaving off the years at Sleepy Hollow
Finally after YEARS of talking about moving DH and I have done the big move. We've significantly increased our mortgage and started off on a 34 year term to give us some breathing space for a larger mortgage payment. We're aiming to reduce our term to 20 by making regular overpayments. Interested to read along and see what…
