single parent with new £70,000 mort to pay off pdq!

gentlepurr

hi all!

well, lots of things have happened since i last posted on here, but upshot of everything is, moved into my new house at the end of september. bit of a rocky road along the way, but then isnt it always with buying and selling:o . ended up having to renegotiate with my buyer, and spent a couple of weeks haggling, as you do! so ended up having to have a £40,000 mortgage on my new house. but hey, son and i just love it here, and we still got a steal, well worth the money i paid for it.

anyway, back on topic:D . took mortgage out over 15 years, £315 per month, and rang building soc straight away to amend my direct debit to £450 per month. could probably afford to pay a little more every month, but hey, got to have a life too (hopefully, at some stage!) so used the overpayment calc to work out should be paid off in less than 10 years. not too bad, but also doing some saving, so i can pay off chunks when i get a bit of cash behind me. thats now happening very much atm, things you need to buy for a new home, and xmas comming up, but hey, i'm getting some saving done, so feeling ok about things.

also got broadband reduced from £17.99 to £12.99 a month (wanadoo) and still getting sky for half price. must admit to treating myself to some new clothes though, but new start and all that, and it wasnt a great amount of cash!

anyway, back here now, so onwards & downwards i say...........

xx

beanielou

Thats just what I like to hear gentlepurr.
Dont know what happenned to me though!!

benbenandme

Please keep posting your updates on here for us ... I'm in a similar situation to you ... exdh came off my mortgage this year and so I now have a 122k mortgage on my own (total income approx 1600 per month). I have spent most of this year sorting out my finances, making savings wherever possible and generally getting ready to move on!! I'm going to put the house on the market after Christmas and relocate to where I grew up which should knock my mortgage down to about 75-80k. I am currently saving money for an emergency fund (aiming for 3k) and then I am going to try and make regular overpayments to try and clear the mortgage by the time ds leaves school (2018??).

Like you my ex scoffed whenever I did anything to try and save money ... and at last its a lovely feeling to be able to check the bank statement and find its exactly what I thought it would be rather than seeing extra payments to various clothes / music shops that he forgot to mention!!! :mad:

I love reading how you're getting on ... good luck and please keep us updated!!

gentlepurr

Al_Mac wrote:

Was going to be 70k now 40k, confused £18.5k salary and can afford £450 a month, confuses me as well.

Really glad things are going good for you

you confuse me as well! why shouldnt i be able to afford £450 a month on a salary of £18500? my salary is what my employers pay me, and as a true follower of :money: philosophy, i reckon my income is substantially supplemented by other "income" generated by my mse ways. of course, coupons help for the grocery shopping, as does buying whatever is on offer/reduced when i shop. cooking from scratch, thaqnks to old style, free holidays (thank you pondie1:D ) i work hard, and save wisely. always have done. cashback sites, thank you topcashback, got £110 cashback on a car insurance premium of £184. cashback cards, use them when buying petrol and other larger purchases, have got £50 cashback already, and when anniversary is due, hope to have £70-80 to draw back.

so in answer to your confusion al mac, i would say that if you are determined enough, you will find a way. thank you for your post, because its given me the motivation to be more determined than ever.

can't be done? OF COURSE IT CAN! and i hope my thread encourages others to do it too.

xx

Queenie

gentlepurr wrote:

....

can't be done? OF COURSE IT CAN! and i hope my thread encourages others to do it too.

xx

:T :T :T :T
You take my breath away! Your posts are incredibly inspiring and I also hope they encourage and motivate other women who have found themselves in similar circumstances.

You go girl!! :beer:

xadoc

gentlepurr wrote:

can't be done? OF COURSE IT CAN! and i hope my thread encourages others to do it too.

xx

Gentlepurr, I've come late to this discussion, but I can't help but reading your posts and thinking that you're bound to pay it off quicker than you think even now because of your determination!

Well done you! Where there's a will, there's a way! :T

gentlepurr

hi all!

not posted on here for a while, to be honest, with Christmas and a glut of birthdays shortly after it, there really hasnt been alot to say.

Have continued to pay £450 a month mortgage payments, but have yet to make any lump sum overpayments on my new mortgage, although i do have the first £1000 in a 90 day notice account that i have just given notice on to put towards it.

Have just had my first statement from bs, and since moving here 14th sept last year, my overpayments alone have meant that i have paid £997.92 off the capital, which has brought a smile to my face.

My son is growing up so quick, i have been thinking that perhaps this year will be the last year he will want to go on holiday with his old mom, so i have pushed the boat out and booked a safari followed by four days on an unspoilt Kenyan island, so the £3000 that could have gone on the mortgage will be paying for that instead. i really think this forum has helped give me the ideas and the motivation, but at the same time, not losing sight of having a life, and realiseing that you only have one chance to spend time as you would like to with your children, so far from losing sight of my original thread and plan, its sort of helped me get my head around things and strike a balance. Most of the holiday fund has come from the monthly savings i do, now £140 per month, and by letting my sons maintenance accrue for some of the cost of his booking. it seems unreal, even to me, that i have been able to do so much, and i have to say a big thank you to my parents for bringing me up to understand old fashioned thrifty ways, and also to Mr Tesco for happily accepting all sorts of weird and wonderful coupons in payment for my weekly shop.

ex and i are still on speaking terms, and son gets pocket money every week (£5) from him, which in true mse style he is frugally squirreling away for holiday spending money.

still saving the child tax credit for sons clothes, christmas 07, and birthday, so once the holiday is over i intend to up the regular overpayments by £50 per month, just to keep ahead of the game, as the mortgage rate has increased slightly over the last few months.

have already told son that this years holiday is a one off, camping in the garden next year:D

i hope everyone that posted their ideas on here is also getting on as well

xx

benbenandme

Nice to hear how you're getting on ... holiday sounds wonderful and to me shows the real benefits of living thriftily - not even many two parent families could afford that without borrowing the money, well done you !!:T :T
I have sold my house and am hoping to exchange in the next few weeks on my new property - luckily I got more than expected for mine so my new mortgage will be £60k instead of the £122k I've got now or the £80k I expected to have!!:D
I do need to sort out a new job once I've moved which is scary as I haven't done interviews etc for years and years, but its all part of my new adventure!!
Can't wait to get settled and start knocking down tht new mortgage figure!! Good luck everyone else and keep posting!!

gentlepurr

hiya benbenandme, well done on finding your new house and getting such a good deal. i hope you will be as happy as i am now, and just keep on chipping away at things, we can do this!!!!!!!!!

xx

Firefly

What an inspiring thread! Well done for sharing your motivation. :T

I'm in similar circumstances to you although don't get any maintenance for my son :mad: but this thread has reminded me that I need to be doing much more to pay off my mortgage before the current predicted date when I'll be 61 :eek: .

I'm quite good at moneysaving, and after 8 years of singledom I've managed to clear ALL my debts so have had the past 6 months of not being so focussed with my saving.

So thank you gentlepurr, you've inspired me.

(off to write new spreadsheets and financial plan!)