Gillybeans MF diary! 29 September 2008 at 10:01AM in Mortgage-free wannabe 31 replies 2K views

Gillybean

OK, I'm going to try and keep a diary to inspire me in mine and DH's MF quest.

So here's where we are right now. DH and I have our mortgage of £126kish over 22 years, fixed at 5.75% till Feb 2011.

We also have a BTL mortgage of around £74k which we can't overpay on with the current deal but hey ho, we'll just sit on it and let it run.

What we do at the mo is pay both mortgages and bank the rental income, which is great, it's saving without really having to think about it.

I'm working temporarily till Christmas when my contract finishes. So I'm able to save about £200 a month, specially as DS's funded sessions at nursery have kicked in this term, that saves a LOT!

I also co own a small business with a friend. It's a toddler group and we've been running for almost a year. We're now at the stage where we can start paying oursleves a small amount each half term, so that's being saved.

And on top of that I put all our loose change in a jar and I have another jar for £2 coins. So I think I've got everything covered in terms of saving as much as poss!

I did a thread on Sat about us being able to OP £10k- yay! I rang up about it today. We can OP by 10% of the outstanding balance each year without incurring charges. But they wont let me keep the repayments the same, as it'd lead to early repayment. Although the info I've got says the contrary. So once the money has landed in my current account I'll be ringing up to overpay and also query this.

Once this overpayment has gone through we'll be at around the £116k mark. So my first main goal on this journey is to get it down to £100k or less by the time we need to renew in 2011.

Wish me luck! And best of lluck to all my fellow MFWs!

(although we all know it ain't about luck, it's about damned hard work! )

evab_2

Good luck, I look forward to reading about your progress.

Ev

Optimisticpair

Well, yes it is down to making it happen not sheer good luck but a run of bad luck can put a spoke in the wheel so Good Luck that doesn't happen.

I assume you already have a slush fund for rainy days and have checked out how you can save money by not wasting it or by getting things cheaper especially without noticeable loss of quality. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I win insulation before I need to buy any

Cheers

Gillybean

Optimisticpair, thanks for your support. DH is self employed and we do have a very good policy in place, plus a good 6mths money in the 'what if he breaks his leg or something horrible' fund, so we're sorted on that score.

We've always shopped around for policies, utilities, etc. Food shopping we could rein in some more if we really tried but we don't do too bad, certainly don't waste anything thats for sure!

Need to check how the interest on our mortgage is calclulated, I *think* it's daily but need to make sure.

SmlSave

Hello and Good Luck!

frazzmunch

yay!!

well done gillybean...:j glad its started to happen for you...i have started the ball rolling today by changing my mortgage to repayment and opening my mortgage pig and finding that i have £195 in there!! £75 for the fee for changing then £120 on my first op :T its so exciting!! how sad does that make me!!:rotfl:

good luck on your journey, i'll be watching your progress!!:D

shopgirl2512

Hey Gillybeans!

Good luck with your quest...look forward to reading all about it!:j

Shopgirl

setmefree2

Welcome & Good Luck:T:T:T. Looking forward to your updates:D

Gillybean

Morning all,

Getting a bit impatient, waiting for the money from my savings to land in my current account so I can make my first OP. When I do I need to speak to them about keeping my repayments the same. When I rang up yesterday the woman I spoke to said I wouldn't be able to do that as it'd mean I'd be repaying early and incurring charges for that. But the leaflet that I dug out from when we got the mortgage says completely the opposite! It says that you're welcome to OP and if you want to keep your repayments the same to reduce the term thats fine too. Unless it's because we're in a fixed rate tie in...

I dunno.

Anyway, stuck at home today with my poorly little boy. He's 3 and normally a bundle of energy but yesterday he threw up at nursery, came home with me, slept for 14 hours (!) and is still not right. Ah well, at least I get a day off too.

Chatted with DH last night about our MF journey and he reckons we should be able to do it in 10 years. We may well move house in that time, but at least we'll have a whole lot less mortgage debt if we need to borrow a bit more. We're on the last few bits of decorating we need to do, have the money for the new kitchen we want which'll be happening next year, so after that any extra money will be going towards the mortgage.


Woohoo!

SmlSave

Morning!

I hope your little boy gets better soon, poor thing.

10 years sounds wonderful!

Gillybean

Hi all,

Well, today is a good news day in my world today!

my little boy is back to his normal whirlwind self.

I got a nice little tax rebate to put towards overpaying.

I counted up my change jar and £2 coin jar and am about to deposit £170.

I just paid £10k off the mortgage :j :j :j

I'm on such a high, it feels amazing. Unfortunately I can't keep my repayments the same as I'm in a tie in period, so my repayments will drop by around £70 per month. But I can always arrange a standing order to transfer over the difference to my OP saving account.

This financial year I can OP by a further £2669 without incurring any charges. And I am almost there with that. DH is amazed at how well we're doing. And it's all about making little changes, such as clearing out your pockets of change at the end of the day, clearing out my bank account before payday, chucking every little bit of extra cash in that pot.

I'm a happy lady!