MFW by 40 - I'm trying (Very Trying Apprently !!)

hillcats

MFW by 40 years old, Full Details in my signature below...

Catanddogs

hi i will be watching with interest.

Catanddogs

We are hoping to get our mortgage to below £100000, this will make it more affordable. Not sure what the timescales is yet. I have just reduced mortgage from 22 to 12 yrs.

LilacPixie

I will be following with interest Hillcats. What is your plan?? shifting over 90k in just over 6 years is quite a challenge.

AFM we need to upsize so i am reducing current mortgage rather than saving in an external account. Plan is when we do eventually upsize then we will continue to OP.

Floxxie

Welcome hillcats,

In September 2007 I started with a similar outstadning mortgage as you had and just under 2 years later we are now down into the £50k and planning to have it all paid off by the end of 2012. We also have a tracker with a very low interest rate so all the overpayments have made a huge different to the balance. The downside is that the overpayments come from income I can make at home and that is damn hard work!

I shall be watching your thread with interest and looking out for any ideas of how to reduce mine quicker.

hillcats

LilacPixie wrote: »

I will be following with interest Hillcats. What is your plan?? shifting over 90k in just over 6 years is quite a challenge.

Well, the mortgage is an OFFSET mortgage and we have some savings being offset against the balance, we will more than likely use some of this towards the end but for now this stays as our "rainy day" money.

We are both pretty good with the savings habit and we live to a sensible well balanced pre-planned monthly expenses sheet. By this I mean we have every outgoing written down in a spreadsheet and also save for other expenses every month, including Christmas, Car Expenses, 2 Kids Birthdays, Tv Licence etc etc.
This way Nothing is a surprise....

ANY joint money earned above our set monthly figure gets moved out of the current account into a savings account where it either gets used to save and pay for other big purchases, (Recent new kitchen) or just left alone to offset, the plan is to use this extra money earned to kick the mortgage down now......

Floxxie wrote: »

Welcome hillcats,

In September 2007 I started with a similar outstadning mortgage as you had and just under 2 years later we are now down into the £50k and planning to have it all paid off by the end of 2012. We also have a tracker with a very low interest rate so all the overpayments have made a huge different to the balance. The downside is that the overpayments come from income I can make at home and that is damn hard work!

I shall be watching your thread with interest and looking out for any ideas of how to reduce mine quicker.

WOW Excellent well done, How did you manage to shift such a large amount ?

I was kinda hoping for ideas as well?

-

Floxxie

I've also got an offset although I find it really hard to have a savings pot and prefer paying it onto the mortgage although next year I'm going to try really hard not to.

To raise funds I eBay, sell books, CDs and DVDs on Amazon and Greenmetropolis, do mystery shopping, match betting, use cashback sites for online purchases and join Bingo sites etc. for cashback.I also get referral money from Zopa when people use my username. Some of these have been pretty successful.

There will be plenty more ideas on this forum for you to try out! Good luck.

setmefree2

hillcats

Still pushing away, its an uphill struggle but we push on...

fattyamal

Good luck, it's well worth doing so you can relax knowing your home is actually yours!! But even if it takes a bit longer you'll still be young!

I am in the same boat but am 36 so only have 4 years to go...and still £63k outstanding. Making some overpayments but with only 1 income and 2 small children (and an expensive wife!) it's very hard going financially.
Unless I get additional income I think I will miss my target as mortgage has still got 7 years left even with £100pm o/payments

Here's to 2010!

LibbyR26

Hi, I'm also hoping to be MF by 40 (5 years to go.) I started with mortgage of £75k 4 years ago and now down to £48k. I've included my overpayments in my direct debit each month so that the overpayments always get paid.

My best tip for keeping on track is thinking first whether I actually need something before I buy it - I know it seems obvious, but its amazing how many times I have realised that I already have something in the house that will be do the job.

When I have rough days at work I keep reminding myself that I'm that bit closer to being debt free and that helps keep me going. Good luck!