pammyj74's MFW diary (or possible wishful thinking!!)

Peelerfart

As long as your happy with that but it's just one months mortgage payment.It's only advice and as such it's worth the pixels it's made of ,but I would try and squirrel a bit more away into the best cash ISA you can find.

Then overpay

Shoot me down and call me wet pants if you want to ?

Catanddogs

We decided to reduce our term from 21 yrs to 12 yrs, the increase isn't that dramatic but we do have this amount in savings if need be. You need to be careful b4 making a decision like this.

pammyj74

yes i dont think i will reduce the terms down and its better to make payments when I can afford to.

thanks.
Put my carboot money in the bank today plus some money owed to me so paid off another £200 today (next months o/p)

pammyj74

right after reading on another thread a member puts there mortgage amount left on their calendar I decided to look about setting up so I can check mine online.
Tonight I have registered to do this and and they say I get a password sent through in 7 days. I think this will be a big motivator to me to see how much the mortgage is going down!
I only get an annual statement at the moment so it will be great to check it each month.

Peelerfart

Spot on Pammy.

Being able to see what you are spending this money on,which,let's face it, could be spent on so many other things, is actually doing for you, is very important.

Good luck I'm sure you're on your way

setmefree2

to the MF board and well done on your progress so far. As others have said make sure you have enough emergency savings - ( probably 3 to 6 months worth of money) because once OPs are gone; they are gone. Many people don't agree but I must point out that Martin Lewis' advice is also to use up your cash ISA allowance every year before OPing your mortgage.

Anyway, keep posting and

pammyj74

thank you
Someone said to me today that if your mortgage rate is higher than an ISA rate then surely it is better to pay it off the mortgage? My rate is 5.89%

Also I am querying the 10% o/p I can pay per year, is this based on the amount at the beginning of the year and is it wise to get it in writing how much I can o/p before i incur charges?
So for example, beginning of year had £90k so can o/p £9k (not that I ever will) 6 months in the outstanding mortgage is £86, is it still £9k limit (so I paid £1300 and have £7700 that I can still o.p in the next 6 months) Have I got this right or does the limit go down as the outstanding mortgage goes down. If you know what I mean.

pammyj74

just a quick update, checked my bank a/c today to check all my payments going out and i'd sort of remembered that i might not have cancelled a DD (which i hadnt) so i just cancelled it and thats another £18.20 a month! should have canx 2 months ago

also my DS2 does trampolining at £6 a lesson but its a waste of money and i letting him end this term (as i already paid!) and then no more.
To compensate i have bought one for their main xmas pressie

so thats £42 a month saved in 5 mins :rolleyes:

also did a shop today and saved £21 and got some school uniform!

StuartGMC

Pammy
Welcome and good to see a new active diary. As indicated we're a bunch with a common goal but we do have some differences in views, which here are all taken positively rather than lead to argument (if only the rest of life was this good!).

Anyway thought I'd throw in a few comments looking at the broad picture within which the mortgage is but one (admittedly large) part. Ideally you have a very sound household budget and accurate data in it with consideration of your average costs (monthly such as groceries, electricity, petrol; annual such as holiday, insurance costs, clothing and shoes etc), an annual sum to save so you have funds to replace things which will need replacing (e.g replacement car ever say, 5 years, so save 1/5th per year of the price to change).

Add to this the costs for school trips, holiday care (if appropriate), your own pension, and an amount to save routinely to give you a buffer for unforeseen costs (car breakdown/extra work when serviced; boiler issues etc). Such savings need to be accessible so consider carefully where these are placed. Whether you choose to place in Cash ISA and indeed build Cash ISA before OP is your call, we haven't but others do...

Finally, you need not answer here but do consider any impact that large savings may have on any means tested benefits you may be able to access. Paying extra monthly into the mortgage once you are close to any threshold will probably be ok, but not dropping in a lump sum just before you then try to call upon benefits.

Having done the above, now look at the mortgage and remember this is a marathon not a sprint so pace yourself, ensure you do enjoy things with family along the way. Try to set some short term achievable targets so you get the "buzz" from seeing progress e.g. get to £900 savings then £1200; aiming to save £150 on your different insurances and annual costs per year; monitor annual savings you make on the groceries - although you seem to have those sorted!

Finally, do engage the children in your plans as I think you will find a positive response if they understand what you are trying to achieve with them, and also it allows then to start to learn about money issues in a real sense which will help their understanding later in life.

Best wishes in your journey.

pammyj74

Thank you so much for your words of wisdom, much appreciated.
My annual holidays (one already taken this year) are paid by the lovely Mr T . we went to Cyprus AI for two weeks and I paid just £100 for the taxi transfer. I also have enough in the points pot for next years hols as well luckily. I tend to look at my finances and leave meyself £200 for unseen things llike school trips (£18 just paid for two little ones zoo trip and £5.50 for little beavers lazermaze)
Things like shoes and clothes I try and get in Tescos with mocs or charity shops (one of my favourite things to do!)
I am quite frugal with my money and always have been, having been brought up on a council estate with hardly any money. I hate to buy things at full cost and will shop around for the best deal (the trampoline for xmas was reduced to half price and then had a 30% discount code making it £61.50 in total which I was really chuffed about.)
I am going to try and put £100 in savings each month as well. ISAs seem a bit over my head at the moment. I talked to work about pension as I am not in it. It turns out that they pay an amount for me and I can add if I want to. My backup plan is to be mortgage free when I retire and downsize and live off the profit. Also if I am MF by 50 then I have a few years of saving as well to live off.

I dont know what you mean by means tested benefits? do you mean like tax credits? So it doesnt look like I am trying to hide my money? is that what you mean? There is no fear of me dropping a lump sum as I clearly dont have it unless I win big

It is a marathon and 14 years does seem a long stretch but its better sounding than 21!