The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 2 challenge (MFiT-T2)

Captain_Pie

I've been reorganising some of our accounts - academic really as the contents were all offsetting the mortgage, but did it to see the balance of the mortgage actually "go down".

Also, I think that once the money has gone into our offset mortgage, we're less likely to spend it on something than if it were in our current account!

We're down to £143,800 after all of this jiggery pokery. I'm also expecting some expenses to be paid from work (which I'd totally forgotten about until recently) so they will be heading straight against the mortgage.

Looking on course for the target - particularly if the BoE play nice and leave interest rates as they are

aprilshower

Hi

I have been reading the thread and really would love to join.

My user name is Aprilshower

Can I take on Number 10 if it is still available.

My objective will be to reduce my mortgage off £54905.25 to £40,000 at the end of December 2012.

Any tips or help really will be appreciated.

Aprilshower

Captain_Pie

Hello Aprilshower -

What sort of mortgage do you have and have you checked to see what the situation is with overpayments (when you can make them, how much they can be and whether a penalty is incurred)?

With interest rates so low, it's definitely a case of making hay whilst the sun shines

CP

RosieTiger

aprilshower wrote: »

Hi

I have been reading the thread and really would love to join.

My user name is Aprilshower

Can I take on Number 10 if it is still available.

My objective will be to reduce my mortgage off £54905.25 to £40,000 at the end of December 2012.

Any tips or help really will be appreciated.

Aprilshower

Welcome aboard, we always like another fellow MFW !

aprilshower

Captain_Pie wrote: »

Hello Aprilshower -

What sort of mortgage do you have and have you checked to see what the situation is with overpayments (when you can make them, how much they can be and whether a penalty is incurred)?

With interest rates so low, it's definitely a case of making hay whilst the sun shines

CP

Hi

I have checked and I can make an overpayment in 2011 of £5900. I can make payment whenever during the year but the payment needs to be £500 plus.

I have just upped the monthly payment by £40 per month which is also allowed as it is a regular payment and not an overpayment.

Any help would be appreciated.

Aprilshower

curlygirl1971

Hi Aprilshower & welcome to the challenge,

I'm not sure what kind of help you are looking for? So I'm not sure if I'm saying something obvious / going over things you already do?

What has helped me with my personal finance management and also get to a point where I could do this challenge and stay on it, is the following:-

* Understand what money you have coming in / going out every month. I go as far as having a budget written down and making sure I stick to it.

* Know exactly where your money goes. There are a number of ways you can do this. You can have a fancy spreadsheet or you can keep a little notebook with you and keep a note of expenditure by category (eg. Transport, Food, Social, Utilities.......). And this also helps you not to exceed your budget. I think this is easier for single people like me and a little more difficult for families or where there are two people spending money

* Look at spending categories that you can improve, reduce, set money aside for. Depending on how far you want to take this - consider cutting things out of your monthly spend

* Make sure that everyone in your household is on board with what you're doing. If you decide the only way to OP is to be frugal then it's almost pointless you being frugal if no-one else is.

* Use a mortgage calculator /spreadsheet. There are a number of them around. I use Locoblades (he's an MSE'er). At first I thought I never get to grips with it but now it's my favourite hobby It's great to see the impact of your OP's and helps you to understand how your mortgage works.

* Get the best deals, offers, avoid temptation, take rewards, cashback, vouchers, if you have savings make sure they are earning the best interest available - make sure that the money you do have works hard for you

I guess there are different levels you can take it to. You can strip back everything - no clothes, no holidays, no Sky, no social.....check out the old-style MSE threads. Or you can just pay that amount you know you have left at the end of the month. I'm probably somewhere in the middle - I'm obsessive about what I spend but I still have holidays etc.

You have to decide what is important to you, what you can live with and get your head around the fact that you are going to do it for X number of months / years.

If you can only OP a certain amount (due to restrictions on your product) then you could also put money aside into a Savings account ready for when those restrictions are lifted. I personally prefer to have savings in anycase 1) money set aside for annual expenditure such as insurances, christmas etc. 2) money for emergencies so I'm not then having to scrabble around put stuff on credit cards and end up paying interest

If this is no use then let us know what specifically you'd like help with

Captain_Pie

I'm really happy with how the OPing is going. Received the expenses for work that I was waiting on, so they went straight into the mortgage account - rounded up to the nearest pound of course. I can't be done with odd numbers in my mortgage balance thank you very much

The recent jiggery pokery and the expenses now brings our balance to -£143,010; with August's mortgage payment being imminent.

I am afraid that I was naughty today - was in the office (unusual) and succumbed to the temptation that is the local Subway. Oh well, all overpaying and no treats make Captain Pie a dull boy. Or something. :rotfl:

Captain_Pie

I've just found the "Get yourself a mortgage pig" thread and it's an amazing idea!

Starting tomorrow, Mrs Captain Pie and I are away on holiday (only in the UK). It'll be a brilliant opportunity to find a suitable money box, so hopefully we can start feeding our friend as soon as we get back home.

gallygirl

Captain_Pie wrote: »

I've just found the "Get yourself a mortgage pig" thread and it's an amazing idea!

Sure is - little Peefer (as in P for Pig ) just coughed up £30 and that was enough to tip the balance and knock a month off the mortgage :T

aprilshower

Hi Everybody,

Thank you all for your comments. Curlygirl mentioned a mortgage calculator /spreadsheet has anybody got a link to a good one that I could use?

I have received a letter this morning from the mortgage company.

Our balance is £54976.55 and the term is 6 years 10 months.

I recently paid £1000 off the balance and have increased the monthly payments by £40 a month.

I am allowed to pay another £4900 overpayment this year so I think my aim is to have paid as much of this as we can.

Take care

Aprilshower