My Diary

scottytrotter

I wanted to post my own story (which is only just beginning) of seeking freedom from the mortgage.

My wife and I sold our flat and moved to a great house in August last year. It was so nice, exactly what we wanted, that we stretched ourselves and spent more than we thought we would - ending up with a mortage of 175k.

This is at a rate of 5.54%, fixed until Aug 09.

Scary. We have for the last year been overpaying £500 a month on top of the normal mortgage payments, and by my calculations if we keep doing this until next August we'll end up with a mortgage of 155k.

This is complicated by the fact that my wife is pregnant, which will mean a drop in income for us when the little one turns up.

We have also been doing some saving and aim to make a lump sum payment of 15k in Aug - so best case scenario in Aug09 will be a mortgage of 140k. This would be a great first step, I believe, as it would be 20% paid in 2 years.

I wanted to post this to get ideas from everyone (and maybe give back some help and ideas of my own!), get (and give) inspiration and support, and use this great site as a long term diary.

One interesting point actually is that had my wife and I stayed where we were, ie in the flat that we sold last year, we would have been easily mortgage free by Aug09! But....we love our new place so much, and think it will be a great family home. So, we're happy with where we are financially, even if I do think about the mortgage more than I think is healthy (anyone else do that? Think about it pretty much every day?).

Next step for me is to ring my mortage provider this week and get an accurate statement of my balance.

setmefree2

Hi Scotty,

Welcome. Sounds like you are doing really well:T:T:T:T

Good Luck with your mortgage free journey and keep us posted on your progress....

All The Best

SMF2

scottytrotter

Thanks!

My most recent big step was selling my car. I took the money from that and filled up my cash isa for this year with it. It was barely being used as I am now cycling to work.

That money will go towards the lump sum overpayment in Aug 09. It felt like quite a milestone actually, and a few weeks on I feel like it was a very good decision.

setmefree2

Hi

Totally understand you about the car. The SMF2s are trying to run one car - trouble is we do need one but we often go for wks without using it (we would rather walk or cycle) and we have had problems with our battery. However, we have recently got a solar pannel which seems to be doing the trick.

Cars are a pain and a drain on the pocket:cool:

SMF2

scottytrotter

Incidentally, your overpayments of over 100k in 5 years are hugely inspirational. Congratulations on your progress so far...

setmefree2

Thanks:D - it will be brill to MF...we have been at this for 5 years:rotfl:There are loads of really nice folk on this board. Lots of people are on holiday at the moment so it's abit quiet. When is little Miss/ Mr Scotty due?

moominyak

scottytrotter wrote: »

...even if I do think about the mortgage more than I think is healthy (anyone else do that? Think about it pretty much every day?)

:rotfl: :rotfl: I think about 95% of the people on this board!

Welcome to MFW-land Scotty You sound like you've got a great plan for the next year, well done :T

scottytrotter

so...balance is 167,167.

ouch. must now come up with next step...I always need to know the next action I have to take.

Trying_to_be_good

Hi Scotty - good luck with your challenge.

Do you have a snowball set up, to watch the debt reduce, or an excel spreadsheet or similar to track the progress? It also helps you with 'what if' scenarios - dropping one income, sudden windfalls and the like.

poppyoscar_3

Hi Scotty and welcome

Sounds like you're doing great already.........will follow your progress with interest.

Good luck,

PO xx

abouttimetoo

Hi Scotty :hello:

Welcome to the MFW world, I've not been going long myself - only since April but it sounds like a good plan you have got there. Don't worry about thinking about the mortgage a lot - as momminyak says you are only in the minority of about 95% of people here :rotfl:

Have you got yourself a nice whizzy spreadhseet that you can play with - ahem - calculate - stuff with?

Good luck
Regards