I paid off mortgage in two years because of this site

Prudent

I am not sure where to post this - perhaps it should be in discussion boards?

I have just been reading the threads on paying off your mortgage (and watched some of the programmes).

I did just that on a small mortgage. I bought a house in late 2002 for £68,500. It was in a bad state and I spent another £4000 on it. My deposit was £40,000 and a took a flexible mortgae for £28,500. I was going through a marital separtion and 14 months after purchase I received a £10,000 lump sum so in effect paid off £18,500.

I am a single parent with one child. I am a teacher and now earn £30,500, but over this period earned about £27,000.I also had child benefit and basic child tax credit. I did exactly what the programme recommended. I maximised my earnings by working extra hours (training staff) which gave me around £200 extra per month. I spent as little as I possibly could. The cut in spending was due to this site. Food I bought with coupons or heavily discounted items (same for underwear which also came from Tesco!). I shoped for everything else at charity shops or car boot sales. I did most of the work on the house myself - I was a complete beginner. Any holidays were with friends or family (apart for a few very cheap travel lodge deals). At one point I worked out we were living on less than the state benefit levels. I used every good tip I could find on this site -and they really helped. For example for my daughter's friends birthdays I gave them all Boots cucumber freebies -which I learnt about from here.

I did this because my daughter had been through a lot of trauma and I felt one thing she badly needed was stability. I was working on insecure temporary contracts and my priority was to keep her home.I had a flexible mortgage and my initially aim had been to overpay enough to have a 'pool' of money to use if I was out of work. However as the total in the pool grew and I became better at extreme saving, so I decided to try and pay it off.

My main tip would be to read the advise here very carefully -and to ask for it. I found the os boards especially useful.

silvercar

Well Done! :T

I'm sure your peace of mind makes you a happier person. :A

windym_2

Well done Prudent and good luck in the future.

reformedspender

What an inspirational story. Thanks for sharing.

zag2me

Congratulations, an inspiration to us all!

Just a shame we all cant buy houses at 68k any more

swizzle_2

Well done!

You( I think) were right in giving your daughter stabillity.

We have 2 young children- and they do not get lots of treats-but they do not do without.

They get lots of time and we do lots of free and cheap stuff, they wear nice clothes that we have been given, and asda too. I know this is the age when I can do that- save money now for when they are teenagers!

We are trying to pay our mortgage off in 3 years-but eat well thanks to this site-plus us other money saving tips.

It shows it can be done-if you spend wisely.

mummytofour

Wonderful to be able to do it, well done to you.
Alas tho there are not too many ppl in the situation where they can buy a house in teh first place for such a small sum, not where I am in the south east anyway, but as I say well done, what a great felling you must have to own you one home totally.

gunneradt

well done to you.

Prudent

Thank you for all the kind comments. I hope i may have encouraged someone in a difficult situation to follow a dream.

I was lucky to get a house for 68k. This kind of house now around 125k here and they still seem to be rising fast. When I bought this one, I had really hoped to return to the south of England - I simply couldn't afford even a one bedroom flat. This is a three bed semi on a quiet private estate with stunning views of the hills.

I was always very cautious about risk taking before buying this house. It is one of the biggest risks I have taken and has given me much more self confidence to go for things.

My daughter is now a teenager and she still is happy to shop in this way. I give her an allowance and she has worked out she gets far more for her money by using these methods. Like most teenagers, she hates early mornings, but on a Saturday she is up (through choice) at 6.30am to go to the Boot sale with me.

beverleyhills

Congratulations. Best wishes for the future,

SammyD_2

Prudent, that is fantastic, we are trying to do something similar with our mortgage - we have one year to go and all being well we should be able to get the mortgage discharged after less than five years. Then I can look at staying at home with my children if I want to (which I do more than anything, but also want to make sure that they have a secure roof over their heads first).

I had a grumpy conversation with a friend today. She was saying that it is all right for me with my "small" mortgage - even though she bought her house for half what I paid and our mortgage was twice as big as hers initially. I pointed out that in the past four years she has averaged four holidays a year, including a £4600 trip to the Caribbean. Plus they have a flash car - we have a 10 year old Escort. Many people don't have a choice about trying to get ahead as they really do not have anything to spare, but plenty do and choose to spend rather than save. Fine, but I do get sick of the spenders moaning at me about their big mortgages and telling me how "lucky" I am. Perhaps a bit of hard work and sacrifice comes into it too!

Thanks again Prudent for your inspiring story.