Mortgage Free ASAP

setmefree2

Glad everything went well with the sofa covers:D Keep up the good work:D

Best Wishes

SMF2

Queen-Bee_2

When chucking some stuff out this afternoon, I came across an old Nectar card that’s been sat gathering dust at the back of a drawer for some time. I remember signing up for it in my pre MSE days (when my organisational skills were considerably more haphazard than they are now), mislaying it and never getting round to applying for a replacement.

Part of my casual attitude towards its loss was my belief that loyalty cards weren’t really worth the effort and that you had to spend a fortune before accumulating enough points to do anything interesting with them.

Out of curiosity, but mainly to confirm these preconceptions and my belief that such cards are simply more clutter for the handbag, I took it with me to Mr. S’s this afternoon. Having stocked up on Felix for Twiglet - tins, not pouches, as they’re half the cost (sorry cat) – I ran the card through the till at the self-scan. Hmmm…. Just short of 23,000 points.

Well apparently, so an assistant at Customer Services told me, 1,000 points are worth £5, which means there’s around £115 on there.

Not bad! After the first flush of novelty had worn off, I’d obviously got in the habit of using the card until it was second nature. The points were a drop in the ocean on any one visit, but over time, they’ve rolled up to a useful little sum. A few thousand points more and I can treat myself to a cheap freezer at Argos (wonder if I can go through Quidco to do this and get cashback at the same time?! :rotfl:).

This is all good. At the back of my mind though, part of me regrets the points I could have earned by didn't by giving up after the card's loss. If only I’d kept on going, I could be enjoying a top of the range Bosch by now!!

In some ways, this experience reflects my ‘light bulb’ moment regarding the mortgage. Especially in these early years, the impact of my overpayments has seemed almost trivial. Over time however, they’ll start to pack a punch way beyond their weight. So I mustn’t get bored or go off the boil with my aspirations. It’s going to be a long haul. But with the cumulative impact of my MSE lifestyle and new spreadsheets, I’m determined to make it.

QB

setmefree2

Yay well done on finding the nectar card - get collecting and don't be too sad about the lost points;)

chirpchirp

Queenbee - excellent news. I have a nectar card where I am the joint holder with my ex and I have got him to agree that it can be used purely to buy Christmas presents for the children. The nice man at nectar was insistent that I shouldn't come off it as there was over £220 on it!!

Who provides your electricity? My nectar card is now linked to my EDF account building me up loads of points. The great thing with nectar is you can collect them in so many places.

Queen-Bee_2

Hi CC - my electricity is with British Gas, but I agree about where you can collect points these days - apparently they're now available at BP garages and Homebase! What surprised me however, was how many points I accumulated without even trying. QB

setmefree2

I love my nectar card too and my Boots card:D

chirpchirp

The day before Queen Bee found the nectar card, I found my boots card. I managed to get a temporary points card added onto it with 1000 points from two years ago:j I thought these points may have expired by now but they have honoured it.

I have also found out I can use Boots to recycle ink cartridges and mobile phones. I've been holding onto my two phones for a long time now so really pleased with this. Definitely worth it as I think they will say that they both don't work but I will still get the equivalent of £3.00 per phone. All money towards Christmas presents! At this rate the kids teacher's presents will be sorted without me spending a penny!

Queen-Bee_2

I checked on line this evening and was pleased to see that the Nationwide has extracted the balance of my increased payment from my current account and applied it to my account. However, as the payment is dated August and there's no further detail, it's not possible to tell if it has been applied to my account with effect from the end of July - when it should have been taken - or today. I will follow up with customer servces tomorrow.

I've also bitten the bullet on producing a chart which shows my actual payment profile/outstanding balance in comparison with the profile associated with the original repayment schedule, and two other scenarios - one which anticipates the mortgage being paid off by March 2017, and another slightly more bullish version whith an enticipated end date of March 2015. Both scenarios anticipate the transferral of substantial tranches of funds from my savings to the mortgage over the next 2 months.

Unfortunately, despite Financial Bliss posting some very helpful instructions on how to copy an Excel chart into 'paint' and thereafter upload it into Photobucket, I've not managed to paste it into this thread. However, as it's the first Excel chart I've ever done, I still feel a great sense of achievement and maybe at some point I'll manage to work it out!!

As I now have up-to-date information from Nationwide, I can report that my current mortgage balance stands at £73,806 out of an original £100,000. And from this, I've finally been able to create a signature. I'm hoping that as my understanding of exactly what the figures mean starts to improve, I'll be able interrogate them in different ways.

QB

Queen-Bee_2

I've finally managed to upload my anticipated/actual mortgage balance chart. Feel so chuffed... it's not just financial acumen I'm developing on here!!

Some explanation...This is a snapshot of my mortgage situation over the next five years.
- The blue line plots my anticipated mortgage balance over time if I follow the original repayment schedule.
- The red line (scenario 1) plots my aspirations if I follow my current plan of paying the mortgage off by March 2017, with the assistance of some hefty payments over the next 12 months. This is my current plan of action.
- The green line (scenario 2) is broadly similar to scenario 1, but slightly more bullish, ending March 2015
- The mauve line plots my actual balance at any given time. I like the fact that already it's dropped well below that orginal blue line. The more it drops, the more interest I save, and the more likely I can afford to go to university next September.

Queen-Bee_2

Hmmmm.... something has gone wrong with the dates on the horizontal axis in that chart. I thought I'd fixed them, but evidently not! They SHOULD read June and December each year, but February and October appear to feature. Don't know why. Ah well. I'll sort this out later. The lines are accurate and give a good overall impression of the general plan.

QB