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

gentlepurr

I can't believe a year has gone by since this board was "born" and i posted this thread.

alot of things have changed since starting the thread, not the least of which being that i moved house last sept, so thought i would do a complete update on my second post just to make things a little clearer!

My mortgage now is a repayment mortgage for £40,000, originally over a 15 year period,

as below:

mortgage £281 now £450
council tax £110 now £105
gas £50 0 (see below)
elec £34 0 ( see below)
bt phone £19 now £17.50
water rates £19 0 (see below)
dog insurance £21 now £22
sky tv £21 now £21 (have had some periods of half price )
broadband £18 now £13 (haggled with existing provider )
building& contents ins £27 0 (see below)
tv license £11 0 (see below)
car tax £12 now £0 (use expenses from milage for this)
car insurance £17 now £0 (use expenses from milage for this)
petrol £60 now £0 (use expenses from milage allowance for this)
sons school dinner money £35 now £40
music lessons £40 now £0
sons pocket money £13 about the same
holiday savings £125 now £140
food/clothes/payg top up £216 about the same
suite (3yr interest free, 1 year left) £48
credit card (0%, £600 o/s now, yay!) £100
NEW utility bills savings a/c £180 per month

grand total £1138. now £1365.5
monthly salary £1213. now £1240
maintenance for ds £216
child tax credit £113
child benefit £66

TOTAL INCOME £1635
TOTAL OUTGOINGS £1365.5
AMOUNT TO PLAY WITH £269.50

So, as you can see, on a very tight budget!

am finding i can cut back alot though, and still have enough left for the little luxuries in life for myself and ds, any spare left at the end of the month goes into my "lump sum mortgage payment" fund.

oh, and i should also add that i save the child tax credit for clothes, shoes, school trips, christmas and birthday for ds, who is now 14.

its scary writing all that down, but at least it proves its acheivable!

good luck all!

xx

Flashdaisy

Hi Gentle Purr

I am new to the Mortgage-free board and have just read this thread for the first time, and just wanted to say it is inspirational the way you are paying off your mortgage.

Well done you and keep up the good work!

gentlepurr

hi all!

a quick update. have just had my statement from the bs, really like the fact that they send statements every 4 months, it gives me a regular kick up the butt to keep going!

anyway, balance o/s £37,898, so i have paid off just over £2000 in 8 months just with the regular overpayments alone . have today posted off a cheque for £1000 which i have saved over the last 12 months, so that will make just over £3000 paid off in 8 months, well on track for paying off within 10 years, despite the interest rate increases.

i really have to say even I dont know how ive done it because it certainly hasnt cramped our lifestyle too much. mostly just buying what we NEED, rather than what we "want", and careful shopping. using coupons in tesco:) and taking advantage of whatever is on offer to stock up.

Nearly paid off my 0% credit card now, just £300 to go. that has been a big pain, because its a debt i "inherited" when oh and i split up and never would have been there at all if he had been as frugal as i have always been. ah well, these things are sent to try us!

hope everyone else is getting on ok with their challenges too.

xx

beanielou

You are doing so well gentle purr.
Keep it up!

GreenNinja

Hi gentlepurr,

Have just stumbled across this thread and it has really cheered up my day and renewed my motivation! :T

Your blog is the most similar situation to mine that I have read so far, although I don't have kids, am divorced and surviving on one wage and struggling a bit. My aim is to save up enough for a "survival fund" should I lose my job and would dearly love to pay off my 30,000 mortgage.

Sometimes I get down cos I can't afford to go out and my shopping basket is filled with "basics" items but the pot I am saving is growing ever so slowly!

On the plus side I paid the final instalment on my credit card this month which was fab but on the minus side my car broke down 50 miles from home last week and I had to upgrade my AA membership at a cost of £93 to get home. Car needs a new clutch and am waiting to see how much that will cost. Luckily my ex owns a car garage and as we are on good terms will do it cheap as possible for me, but heyho you have to keep going don't you.

Look forward to reading your next installment to see how you are doing!

:beer:

Madnessa

Great thread! I am still on the DFW board for the moment but as soon as my debts are paid off I will be joining you all. I have a £79,500 mortgage and with overpayments of £500 per month I should have it paid off in just over eight years.

Can't make any overpayments yet as I am still working on the debts and I've only made three payments to my mortgage so far, most of which was probably interest.

Am aiming to be debt free by Xmas so I will start overpaying in the new year :j

See you all then and good luck

benbenandme

Quick update from me .... well I finally moved in June and am sooooo happy now!!! My mortgage was knowcked down from £122k to £60k :j :j :j and I absolutely love my new place. I got a new job as a teaching assistant which starts in Spetember and mean I will be able to earn money AND spend loads of time with ds, especially in the school holidays, so all in all everything seems to be going right for me at last! I am part of the Mortgage Free In Three Years challenge - I'm aiming to get it down to £50k by April 2010 and am on track so far !!!:beer: Good luck everyone else and keep posting !!!! x

Madnessa

Well done.

looks like eerything is going really well for you :T

beanielou

Great news for you.You are doing really well.