My Mission For Overpayments Starts With My Cow Jug!!

trudypretty

I am now on a mission to start overpaying much more on my mortgage now that i have seen how much years/interest can be saved!!!

I have a cow jug which i am aiming to fill with 50p's all towards overpayment...this started today after feeling very lucky when i found 50p on the floor at the cinema...how lucky did i feel :j !!!

any other tips to save from anyone???????????

StuartGMC

Trudy welcome. There are plenty of diaries here which all contain good pointers on savings and how to "top up" your overpayment savings, just browse around and chip in on the specifics. Things include getting your household budget pinned down (I can send you a spreadsheet if you don't have one), then where to make savings, plus hints on getting a few pounds extra from cashback sites, online surveys etc etc

Hope you'll consider running a diary too as it is a great incentive and others here are very, very supportive.

Good luck

trudypretty

hi stuartgmc,

yes i have been reading on here for ages and you're right it is a great incentive reading everyones diaries, so i have registered myself now!

i have a 53800 morg, which i am paying off at £100 a week it is supposed to be 400 a month, so intheory on 5 week months i am now overpaying by £100. i am then overpaying each week cash at the bank 20.00, i do it weekly as i am getting the cash weekly and find it easier to pay off straight away rather than save for a lump sum..as when i have tried it in the past i always find a 'need' for that lump sum! i always thought the 20.00 a week wouldn't make loads of difference but actually welshlassie last night worked out on egg calculator that i am looking so far to save 7 years off my morg which is fab...now i just want to pay more and more and cut lots more years off!!

your spreadsheet would be great..really helpful as i am not too good at excel!!
thanks for your welcome and help

StuartGMC

Just sent you a PM

financialbliss

Welcome to the mortgage free wannabe forums trudy pretty.

It's a fairly friendly section here - lots of good tips and ideas - in people's diaries and elsewhere.

In mine, on page 27:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=572849&page=27

see posts 534 and 536 for details on how to create a spreadsheet to track your mortgage reduction and how any overpayments are going to change your term.

If you've having difficulty following that, send me a personal message and I'll e-mail on a sample sheet which you should easily be able to customise.

Do keep us up to date on how your mission is progressing...

Financial Bliss.

trudypretty

hi finanicalbliss...thanks for your welcome!

i will have a look at your link now!! thanks for the help...this can become quite addictive i think :j

trudy

EssexHebridean

Hi Trudy - welcome to the world of the MFW. :beer:

Something we've found works well for us is that as and when we "gain" a bit of cash we would not otherwise have had, we've added that to our monthly payment for the mortgage. This way the OP has slowly mounted up to the 18% we're now OP'ing by, but so far we've actually not noticed the going of the money! Examnples of what I mean are - electricity DD being reduced when I really started getting a handle on our power usage - the gain earlier in the year when tax codes were changed, and then the further gain when the 10p tax debacle was righted, 50% of my monthly pay rise earlier in the year. If you've read my diary you will see that we are only at stage one of a multi-part long term plan so we've not even really started attacking the mortgage yet and we're already chipping away at it - it's amazing how things like that mount up.

You mentioned saving 50p's - well why not just chuck all your spare change 50p pieces and below into the cow? We have various savings pots on the go - a large pig which all our change goes in to and that goes towards our holiday spending cash, a smaller pig that we each throw a couple of pounds into each week is spending money for our annual trip to the Good Food Show, and we also have the "mortage pig" (Pigasus!) where we put money we have saved by making a conscious decision not to spend it (ie - cooking a meal on a Friday night instead of getting a takeaway, washing the car by hand rather than using the jetwash).

Good luck with it all - I look forward to reading your story on here as it unfolds!

trudypretty

hi essexhebridean

thanks for your welcome and advice...really lovely to hear it:)

I like your ideas about any extra money that comes our way though things like the extra tax/dd's changing etc...problem i always have with that there always seems to be something else that seems more important ...so money generally goes to that instead...also having 2 sons (6+7) makes it harder to pay off any extra cash into the mortgage!

spare change idea...i also have lots of pots!!! one being 20/10/5p's which i pay the kids 20p each when they do jobs around the house for pocket money, which is why i started the 50p one for morg payments...i don't want to have to keep dipping into it, so keep them separate!!!

i think the main thing is getting my head round the idea that mortgages are a debt that is building up in huge amounts of interest more and more every day and i should focus any spare change into making overpayments!! i am sure it will come to me...as the posts and diaries on here are really inspiring and helpful!!

thanks again...i am just going to look at your diary now for some ideas :j

Lily2009

week it is supposed to be 400 a month, so intheory on 5 week months i am now overpaying by £100. i am then overpaying each week cash at the bank 20.00, i do it weekly as i am getting the cash weekly and find it easier to pay off straight away rather than save for a lump sum..as when i have tried it in the past i always find a 'need' for that lump sum! i always thought the 20.00 a week wouldn't make loads of difference but actually welshlassie last night worked out on egg calculator that i am looking so far to save 7 years off my morg which is fab.

evab_2

Welcome Trudy and good luck with overpayments.

There is some brilliant advice on this forum and some very friendly people.

Ev

setmefree2

Welcome & Good Luck:T:T:T