Mortgage Reduction Beginner to Novice - The Show Begins

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Spreadsheets focusing on the positives:

Student Loan at Sept 2012
With voluntary repayments predicted end date Nov 2014.
If I hadn't voluntarily repaid during PhD predicted end date Nov 2019
Interest savings so far £1,285.07
Why am I focusing on this? Once it's gone, I get a take home pay rise!

Mortgage
With OPs - 1 month shorter (predicted end date Oct 2033)
Without OPs 25 years (end date Nov 2033)
Total OPs so far £319.15

Starting LTV 85%
Current LTV with renovations and OPs 71%

numptyknownothing

The end date is depressing but only when you think that its a long way off. We all took out mortgages for X amount of years and happily signed. Now we have seen there is another way we are beating ourselves up to pay them off early. Deep breathes. I am only overpaying by as much because the interest rate is so low. I hope that I can knock a chunk off before it starts to climb. You are doing the right thing. Living the MSE life and as and when you will chip away at your mortgage. Last month I was on cloud 9. This month I was skink before we even hit September! Nothing to do with budget or planning just how it is some months. Roll with the ocean rather than be bashed by the waves:)

sweetdaisy

I started my MFW journey in October 2012 - wish I had started it years ago but better late than never, as they say. I only started making overpayments from last October, but already I have knocked 1 year and 9 months off the mortgage, so I am slowly reducing the term and on my way to reaching my target.

I hope to repay mortgage by Feb 2022 and I'll be 42 years old. I would ideally like to get it repaid by 2020 as I'll be 40 years old so there will be double celebrations , however I know that it is unlikely as it would be a struggle. Also as we don't know what's around the corner, there has to be a balance and I don't sacrifice doing fun things with our children, but I have become less wasteful with money and hardly ever impulse buy.

OS_QS

Hi MRN, just wanted to say I understand where you're coming from with the age thing. I think we're of a similar age, situation and have similar mortgage amounts, and I too had my heart set on being MF by a certain age (35). Unfortunately this will be unlikely, the calculators say 37, if I keep going at my current level of overpayments, which isn't too bad age wise.

However, reading these threads I came across the term 'mortgage neutral' which absolutely works for me. I'm now aiming to be mortgage neutral by 35, the aim to have enough savings to pay off my mortgage at that age, should I need to.

I feel this is a more balanced approach, not horsing everything into the mortgage, as should I need access to money I'll have my savings. Of course if the rates change, I'll need to work out which is more favourable interest wise, but for now my mortgage and savings are practically the same rates.

Wow that was a bit lengthy, but it might work for you?

ammonite

I am trying the mortgage neutral approach like OS QS says above.

We sound like we are a similar age MRN. I also like my holidays and days out with the family too much to give them up. My mantra is frugal 90% of the time, splash out 10% of the time. We are currently spending money on house renovations. I want to spend the money on that but when I plug the amount we are spending into a mortgage calculator it makes me want to cry when I see how many years we can knock off. However, I am young (ha!) and want to enjoy my money whilst I'm young but have a buffer to fall back on in the next few years.

If we saved and saved and saved like some really good folk on here do and don't spend a penny on anything and took all the overtime we were offered we could probably pay the mortgage back within about 6 years, but we want to take the scenic route, saving enough but enjoying our life while we can. Who knows, I might never see the day I become mortgage free so if I've got the money to go on a wild holiday and I want to, then I'll do it whilst I'm young and still able to.

Everyone works in different ways and it just depends how you want to do it. I started working on being MF in April this year but as we aren't 100% sure of our financial future over the next year or so I can't bear to overpay the mortgage if it might leave us short next year so I'm doing the mortgage neutral thing. We currently have 8.959% of the total mortgage saved up. I worked out that I'd only have to pay £2100 per year off if I wanted to clear the mortgage by the time I'm 40. We certainly have more than that saved at the moment but that is the maximum I'd be willing to pay off until I can be certain of how our finances may pan out in the next year or two. Just knowing I could pay some of it off if I wanted to makes a huge difference.

I was only intending to save £2100 in one year and I've ended up saving three times that amount in 6 months thanks to MFW board and the fact saving is totally addictive!

What a long post but I hope it spurs you on.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Morning all and welcome to another week... miserable weather though. I put the washing on the line while it was still dark this morning and I couldn't predict the day's forecast, I hope it's not wetter by the time I get home from work!

My weekend to do list was as follows:

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

Finish hand sewing the second roman blind
Two gym classes (walking to gym - 5 miles! each day)
Two mystery shops
Plant onion sets (garlic can wait till Oct)
Job search/applications (two closing dates passed in Aug and I've heard nothing)
Complete Textbroker assignment
Meal plan, write shopping list and do the shop

All completed with an additional gym class on Sunday, MrMRN attached the blind to the wall and we managed to evacuate more DIY dust from the house with a thorough clean!:T

Packed lunch today is quite a treat - roast beef sandwiches and HM lemon and poppy seed muffin! (with my usual two pieces of fruit of course!)

I was shocked by so many posts over the weekend - thank you for your personal stories and thoughtful contributions. The thing that became more obvious to me was that we all have different circumstances; income, size of family, length of mortgage, mortgage loan amount and the extent to which we're prepared to cut back to OP. The two common factors are that none of us can predict the future (changes in circumstances) and we're all trying to reduce our mortgages! So good luck to everyone on their personal mortgage free venture.

misscousinitt

Hi MRN

I think you have hit the nail on the head - none of us can predict the future. Although it might seem like its a long haul remember that your circumstances could change for the better aswell as thinking they may change for the worse.

I have found that as I have progressed through life that although my income has hardly changed (well it hasn't for the last 6 years), I am better off now than I ever was. Different things become important.

So, I say this - don't loose sight of your goal of 40! But don't worry if you don't make it - aim high and you just might get there sooner than you think.

BUT, there has been some sound advise on here that you should balance your approach to being MF - life is for living, so enjoy and don't worry too much.

PS the lunch sounds nice today - better than my plain old ham sandwiches and fruit!

MCI

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

:TI had my pay rise approval through just before I left work. I think it'll work out about £40 extra in my bank account (after tax, NI, pension) and an extra £6 off my student loan too. I'll post exact figures when I get September's pay slip.

Sausages, HM stock gravy, carrots, broccoli and mash - made by MrMRN

I have my third MS of the week tomorrow and another on Friday too - the pay will come in handy towards Christmas time. I've squeezed in two textbroker assignments this week too - one of them must have been good because they rated me fully excellent then invited me into their team orders!

Just one more day to push and I've done two working weeks of packed lunches in a row (tomorrows is already made and in the fridge).

I have two odd days off this month - no commute means £15 per day saved.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Brilliant news on the MS and text broker assignments. I have no idea what the latter is so will have a g@@gle.

Two weeks of packed lunches is a big step forward and really does help the pennies. I had another person at work moaning about money today, WHILST eating a sandwich, pack of crisps, choc bar and drink :eek::eek::eek: purchased from the on site canteen.

Madness

Tiily x

BaconandEggs

Congratulations on the payrise, lunches and assignments.
would you recommend textbroker? Is it worth the time put in?