Get yourself a 'Mortgage Pig'

comping_cat

DD - i get bags and count up my money myself, then take it to my bank (Lloyds tend to take however much ive got, as long as ive bagged it up for them, unlike some building societies).
Those money changers tend to charge for sorting the money, and im afraid im too tight (or is that sensible?) to pay, when i can do it myself (and put the extra into my mortgage!!!)

taylor1_2

I've just bought one of those tin things the other week, but my savings will be going towards an IVF cycle i like the fact you can't dip your fingers in like i normally do,

Curv

Good luck with the IVF, taylor1

Pigs are a fantastic idea - I love the symbolism of feeding them what would normally have gone to waste... just like real pigs!

I've actually got two pigs... one is real, for all the bits of change etc. and the other is an online saver into which I transfer my 'virtual' savings e.g. if I've used money off coupons or got something on BOGOF... I transfer the difference between what I actually paid and what I should have paid... it's amazing how quickly it adds up.

The whole family is getting 'pig bug'... DS came home from school the other day with £1.25 he'd found on the moor on his way home... he handed it straight over and said that he'd like to help feed the pig... bless him

Thanks again for a fabulous idea

gingababe

I`ve read this thread & all threads to do with mortgage, & I too am addicted, we are off on holiday for 3 weeks & saving spending money, so when we come back we are going for gold or mortgage pay off..... as we can pay off an extra 10% per year ... watch this space..

Stu_H76

Paid another 4 bags in to the Mortgage today another £31.00 off which is cool, Its slowly coming down!!!

Lotta_Littlies

Didn't make any overpayments in June but did manage to deliver a beautiful, healthy little boy to add to our Littlies instead

Lotta

comping_cat

CONGRATULATIONS LOTTA!!! Lovely news, hope your family and new arrival are happy and healthy xxx

LJD1_2

Congratulations on the birth of your littlie.

Percy, my mortgage pig, was full of 20 pences so I banked them today and put £30 towards the mortgage. Now to start again xx

reformedEffortMaker_2

:j:j:jcongratulations Lotta!!!!:j:j:j

CHARD_2

aliasojo wrote: »

I decided a while ago that I really wanted my mortgage paid off. It wasn't very large to start with admittedly, but it wasn't coming down as quickly as I would have liked.

As the mortgage was one of those background constants that just gets paid every month without thinking about it, I figured that if it was in front of us and on our minds more, we might make more of an effort to collect more money to chuck at it.

So......I got a mortgage pig.

It's a large green pig which sits on my kitchen worktop in a very central position with a 'speech bubble' printed on A4 paper and stuck to the wall above it. The mortgage pig explains (in the speech bubble) who he is and why it's a good idea to check whether you really need that bottle of wine or takeaway and if it might be better to give the cash to him instead. It also a bit to remind us why we wanted to pay off our mortgage and lists the things we want to do in the future.

For some reason, (I think probably because the pig has introduced a fun type element psychologically), we tend to have more in there at the end of every month than we ever had to put towards an overpayment before.

Anything gets chucked in the pig. Loose change taken from trouser pockets before they go in the wash / coins that have been found on the ground (yes I DO pick them up ) and sometimes when I'm tempted to get a takeaway instead of cooking, I see the pig and it makes me think twice so I feed him the money and chuck a salad together instead.

Of course, sometimes if I'm in a right old mood and just want a takeaway or bottle of wine no matter what....I'll sling a tea towel over the pig and ignore the little swine. :rotfl:

I have a friend who found this more than a little amusing and laughed at me for being daft, but she admitted the other day that she has recently done the same thing and it's become a family ritual to feed the pig in her house now. Even her eldest offspring stick the odd pound in her pig on the passing sometimes. The pig seems more of a character than her large glass savings bottle ever was and they reckon he's part of the familynow, lol.

Somehow a personalised mortgage pig is more effective than a loose change bottle or whatever else you usually collect your odds and sods in. We've been doing this for a while now and it's been really surprising how much we've collected in the pig over a period of time. If all goes according to plan.......what's left of my mortgage should be paid off in 2 months time.

Maybe you should curb the urge to laugh.........and try it out instead?

Great idea,