The future's bright - the future's mortgage free!

setmefree2

Treacle_Toes wrote: »

I don't post very often but I feel I must today as TWO very exciting things have happened recently.

1. Our mortgage is under £100k! About £96k to be more precise! Not bad as we only remortgaged in Feb for £117k. How I've made such a massive overpayment is by selling my work scheme shares and I've also cashed in £1000 of premium bonds. OH and I have decided that each time we knock £5k off we will go out for a slap up dinner to celebrate (not very MSE but who cares!)

2. The second thing I feel is even more of an achievement - my husband is as committed to being mortgage free as me! This may not sound much but until recently he had no interest in the mortgage, and was a money SPENDING expert. How do I know he's committed? He mentioned to me yesterday that he tells a lot of people at work about his "fab offset mortgage", tries to give them advice, and that he even told his hairdresser that "everyone should be overpaying when the interest rates are low rather than just having a lower monthly payment". He really has seen the light.

So now WE are officially trying to be mortgage free in 8 years!

TT

yay well done on all that :T:T:D

Treacle_Toes

Almost three years has past since I last posted!

Since then a few things have happened:

1. I started working in a different location (same job & company). This is 22 miles from home, but I had to do it or else face redundancy. For six months I worked full time (plus extra) but the effect was too much on my family and myself so I now job share again and work 3 days per week.

2. Our mortgage is now approx. £63k. We have really benefitted from the low base rate as we pay BoE base rate plus 1.29% so it has been 1.79% for ages. Our monthly payment is £634 but we have a standing order for £900 so overpay £266 automatically every month.

3. I'm still very much MSE but haven't posted much - just lurked.

In April I decided that I would very much like to have it paid by 31st March 2015. In order to achieve this I need to carry on paying my £900 plus an extra £400. I have managed to do this for the past two months and have £800 in an offset savings account. If I'm able to do this I believe the deficit will be about £15-£20k which I should be able to have in shares by that time.

I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up the extra £400 per month as it is such a lot to find. I'm going to try and use this diary to track how I get on achieving the extra £400 per month.

Today I have done two things to help:

1. Both my & my OH mobile contracts expire within the next month so I have changed them to iPhone SIM only contracts as we are still happy with our phones. This will reduce the monthly cost from £45 to £22.50 for both.

2. I'm going on my hols in two weeks so as I was looking for any remaining currency from last year (none found) I did come across a stash of old notes from travels around the world pre-DD. Although some of the notes are now not in circulation I received £31.05 from exchanging them! Anyone have any ideas what to do with the out of circulation notes?

I also found £20 in my sock drawer!

So that's at least £51.05 towards my June target (not sure when my mobile phone reduced payment will come into effect).

TT

Treacle_Toes

This weekend has been quite MSE. Some e-bay items finished yesterday including one item which netted £57 profit! It would be great if I could find stuff like that every week. More items finishing tonight.

Today I took DD to the school's family fun day. We spent £9.50 but profits go to the PTA. In the end we spent three hours there, which I wasn't expecting as rain was forecast.

My OH also mentioned that he believes a couple of his car loans from years ago had ppi added automatically but he's not sure who they were with. I need him to get his thinking cap on!

TT

Barbeduk

Hi Treacle Toes, I have just read your thread and am feeling very motivated to start my own mortgage free journey!

Love the idea that every time you make a large repayment you have a slap up meal, will have to suggest this to DH to get him on board!!

Keep up the fab work.

linz

Treacle_Toes wrote: »

Anyone have any ideas what to do with the out of circulation notes?

Hi,

I have ebayed out of circulation notes and have had quite a few bids. They have gone for what they would have been worth. Worth a try

Treacle_Toes

linz wrote: »

I have ebayed out of circulation notes and have had quite a few bids. They have gone for what they would have been worth. Worth a try

Brillant idea - I've just checked completed listings on e-bay and some of the ones I have have sold recently.

This weekend I've sold 20 items, of which about half have been paid for. I think I'll be busy in the morning packing and sticking on stamps! I'll update when I've worked out my total profit after fees, stamps etc.

TT

Treacle_Toes

So far my e-bay profit is about £72 with 6 more items waiting to be paid!!!

With what I already had in my pay pal accounts, my totals for my June o/p are £261.99/£400 and we're not even in June yet!

This is great as June is (another) tight month and I wasn't sure if I'd make any o/p.

Treacle_Toes

I have just been offered a job 15 miles closer to home!

It's the same job with the same company, but at a different location.

I've calculated that will save me approx. £500 a year on fuel!

So happy!

TT

Treacle_Toes

I'm back from a lovely week in Turkey and I managed to bring home about £25 of currency (only took £150 in total).

With a £155 transfer from my current account balance I have completed my £400 additional target for June, so now I'm starting on July's £400 target.

Today I have shopped around for car insurance and saved £13. Not much I know, but I included car hire, which was not in my renewal price.

Whilst in Turkey I relisted a load of e bay items so that I wouldn't miss out on a free listings weekend and I sold 5 items in total. One is still to pay. I'll update when I've worked out postage/fees etc.

I'm off work still this week and my plan is to declutter and e bay!

TT
x

Treacle_Toes

My profit from 4 items on e bay were £10 after fees, postage etc - not bad for just relisting stuff week after week. Still one item at £8 waiting to be paid.

After a slow start I decluttered 3 shelves in my bedroom and two cupboards in the kitchen. I have a big pile for either the charity shops or jumble sale.

I also kept my phone with me whilst decluttering and e bayed stuff as I went. I put on 9 new items for 99p start, have 2 more 99p things to do and 4 higher price items ready for a free listing weekend. I also have 18 PSP games on schedule for tomorrow for my DH.

Bad things - had to buy small bag of oven chips in the Spar and also bought a bag of haribo (my downfall). £3.20!

TT