Mortgage Free ASAP

Queen-Bee_2

I’ve been having a sociable time of it recently. Having decided to make the most of my work-free interlude, I decided to spend some time visiting my relatives and also invited a couple of friends I’ve not seen for ages to come and stay.

I set myself the challenge of trying to do everything in accordance with my new MSE philosophy!

• Entertainment - Fortunately, I am lucky enough to live in a part of the country which is bulging with things to see and do, many of them free (or very low cost) with a bit of research and advance planning. Free entry to galleries, including ones with fun exhibitions for children, museums and parks. You don’t need to pay to go into places such as Buckingham Palace – the outside is enough for most children and it doesn’t cost anything to see the changing of the guard. If you attend a service at St Pauls Cathedral, you don’t get hit with the stupendously high entry fee (we are regular churchgoers BTW) and can then walk over the Millennium [wobbly] Bridge to Tate Modern

• Food – potentially, this was a big one. Each day we breakfasted on freshly made bread (courtesy of the secondhand breadmaker I bought on ebay last year for £20) and home-made compote made with home-grown fruit. For lunch and snacks, I made sandwiches with lemon and coriander humus, home chopped crudities, slices of home made cake, fruit, yogurts and bottles of orange squash. The children loved the bread ‘cos I’d involved them in the making of it. I prepared batches of soup, pasta sauce etc, for supper in advance so I didn’t spend too much time in the kitchen. Lots of child-friendly dishes such as toad-in-the-hole and apple crumble (again using home grown fruit) aren’t expensive to make

• Other Things to Do – my relatives aren’t interested in spending much time in the kitchen, but their children love cooking. So we had fun picking blackberries and turning them into puddings, and I showed them how to prepare a really good pasta sauce from their home-grown veg. The kids loved their ‘lesson’ and we all enjoyed the result!

• Travel – This proved a primary expense, though with an Oyster card, fares are roughly 50% less than tickets bought in cash. I keep a spare pay-as-you-go card for anyone staying with me to borrow so they can benefit. Also, bus fares are a flat £1 fare, which is a lot less than a tube ticket, so we took buses into the centre of town (children love the top-deck experience and you can point out landmarks along the way) and then spent the day there. I planned visits to places proximate to each other so we could walk between them in the course of the day (rather than take more buses), taking advantage of parks where we could picnic en route. When visiting my relatives, I travelled by coach for the first time since I was a student! National Express offer fares called ‘Fun Fares’ which offer amazing value for money and are a fraction of the cost of travelling by rail. Plus I got a seat. The last time I travelled by train I had to stand nearly the whole journey, so I felt this was an added bonus!

All in all, we had a lovely time – and by advance planning, we were able to do, see and enjoy a lot without my having to worry about the budget. We were of course, assisted by the weather, which has been glorious throughout and enabled us to picnic outside every day. As a contingency measure however, I’d also researched a few places where we could go had the skies opened!!

SmlSave

Hi Q-B Just caught up with your thread and wanted to say well done.

Queen-Bee_2

Thanks SmlSave! Yours is one of the diaries I read on here, and I gather you've just got married? Congratulations!!
I also see from your signature that you're on the live on £5k challenge... As I'm planning on returning to full time education next September, I'll be casting my eyes over threads like that one (I assume there is a thread?) to glean more ideas. I am learning a great deal from other MSEs on the Forum, and everyone seems supportive of each other, which is nice. QB

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Afternoon QB... great to hear that you're adopting the "MSE philosophy" (nicely put) soon it'll be second nature. You sound like you're doing really well though and you've already figured out that all it boils down to is planning ahead. Keep up the good work.
MRN

setmefree2

you sound like the perfect host. I'm sure your friends and family really appreciated your thoughfulness. It sounds idyllic!

More good ideas, maybe for next time - the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum (both free). Don't know if you are near Richmond Park - also free....walk along the Thames...freeee..

out of for being an ace host:T and also a MSE one:D

Queen-Bee_2

Another action point on my recent MFW List was for me to consider additional income boosting measures. Since 16th August, I can report the following progress:

• Paid Survey Sites – I’ve signed up with PineCone Research, Lightspeed, Saros, Ipsos, Onepoll and YouGov, linking my details to a separate email address to keep the traffic separate from my usual emails. Frustratingly however, most surveys, especially those from Lightspeed, require you to undertake a preliminary mini-survey and simply awards 10 points as a ‘thank you’ rather than the 300 or so promised at the outset. It seems like a bit of a waste of time to me. Has anyone got any tips that could help me get past this initial selection process?

• Cashback Sites – I’ve registered with Top Cashback and Quidco. Top Cashback don’t charge a £5 annual fee, so this site is my primary focus. Today I completed an application for a Alliance & Leicester bank account (£55 cashback), a L&G investment which I’d intended to take out anyway (£50), and a 5% cashback on a cycle helmet and new bike lights from Evans. As it’s the first time I’ve used such a site, I won’t believe in the cashback until it materializes! But the topic of cashback generally reminds me that in due course, I am owed a cashback cheque of £50 from Simplify Digital for signing up with TalkTalk..

• Lodgers? – I’ve discovered it’s possible to earn up £4,250 pa tax-free under the Rent-a-Room scheme. Having never had a lodger, I am slightly nervous about this and have decided that in the first instance, it would be better to scope part-time options. As such, I am considering just renting out the room during the week from Monday-Friday or perhaps offering bed and breakfast to tourists. The bed and breakfast option sounds attractive, but I am not sure what regulations etc would need to be complied with or where to advertise. Some more research beckons. If any of you have any experience in this area, please share it!!

Pea-pod

You've made so much progress in such a short space of time and you are so organised.

MFW is only a dream for me I'm afraid, but I 'll be following your journey and hoping I can learn along the way.

SmlSave

Morning QB

I also see from your signature that you're on the live on £5k challenge... As I'm planning on returning to full time education next September, I'll be casting my eyes over threads like that one (I assume there is a thread?)

Just in case you haven't already found it the £5k challenge is on the Debt-Free Wannabe board. They're all lovely and very chatty.

Re Paid Survey Sites - I find Lightspeed quite good but god arn't the surveys boring!?!

Totally agree that the idea of a Lodger is scary, DH suggested getting one but I'd personally feel really werid. My Nan takes in touists at racing time (she's in Cheltenham) and occasionally short-term lodgers, she's never mentioned anything about regulations but then she does it by word of mouth and doesn't advertise.

See you soon!

Queen-Bee_2

Lots of MFWs seem to be keen [and successful!] e-bayers. Now whilst I've bought on e-bay before, I'm less good when it comes to selling stuff. I've always thought I've probably not got much to sell.

However, I have been wondering what MFWs do sell, and what, in their experience, does well.

Do people buy from jumble sales, charity shops to sell on? Or do they simply raid their old cupboards and sell those jeans etc that were bought and never worn?

Everyone seems to be in on the act these days, which makes me think I must be missing a trick somewhere!
QB

Queen-Bee_2

In July, I temporarily reduced my mortgage term to 1 year 7 months to facilitate the transfer of some savings to the mortgage.

I’d already made a 10% overpayment for the current financial year (as much as I am allowed under the terms of my mortgage), but Nationwide also allows me to alter my mortgage term as often as I want without charge. This means that in reality, I can pay off a lot more than 10% without being penalized. Of course once it’s paid, the capital cannot be drawn down upon in the way overpayments can, but I still have the satisfaction of seeing the total amount I owe go down and knowing the more I pay off now, the less interest I’ll pay in the long run.

With regard to that last point, I’ve yet to create my own spreadsheet to quantify the interest savings on a monthly basis. One day, when I’m in the mood, I’ll have a go at writing one. In the meantime, the fact that everything seems to be going in the right direction and it’s all to my benefit is a powerful motivant!

Having just made my monthly payment for August, I can see that the total amount owed has a ‘6’ in front of it for the first time. I find this tremendously exciting!!!! :j

As at August 28th therefore, the key figures are as follows:
- Total payments (Year To Date) £18,208
- Total interest charged (YTD) £2,436
- Current balance outstanding £69,961

If I’d paid in accordance with my original mortgage payment schedule (which anticipates a September 2025 end date), my balance would still be £88,179. This means that I’ve paid off £18,208 more than would have been expected in my pre MFW days.

It’s a pity I can’t just carry on paying at my current rate, but in a few months time, I’ll need to extend the mortgage term to March 2017 again.

So… in essence? A long way to go, but I’m still on target to get there. Nice feeling!