Mortgage Free by 01/01/11...so goes the plan

wynnvegas

Thanks ATT,

As always, there's a wee bit of planning and a whole lot of luck that has gone into it as well as a healthy dollop of Scottish penny-pinching. I can't remember who has the diary title "pay the mortgage off and start having fun" but I take my lead from that notion. It seems very strange that we're just about there. With M's spending plans on the go though, my semi-retiral date has already been pushed back a good bit so there may be something in the "no rest for the wicked" concept.

Cheers,

Billy

Froggy-G

wynnvegas wrote: »

Thanks ATT,

As always, there's a wee bit of planning and a whole lot of luck that has gone into it as well as a healthy dollop of Scottish penny-pinching. I can't remember who has the diary title "pay the mortgage off and start having fun" but I take my lead from that notion. It seems very strange that we're just about there. With M's spending plans on the go though, my semi-retiral date has already been pushed back a good bit so there may be something in the "no rest for the wicked" concept.

Cheers,

Billy

43 DAYS & COUNTING BILLY!!
Are you gonna have a massive party to celebrate??

Froggy G :rotfl:

gerbiljo

i agree about longer signatures!

wynnvegas

Morning All,

Things are looking up! I've been somewhat vindicated in my earlier (albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheekily) view that it was shoddy cheap equipment that was holding me back. My new darts propelled me to a 5-3 victory and the new snooker cue saw me romp home 6-0 last night. Now with a wee bit of practice and a continued run of extreme good fortune, everything will be grand from here on in!

Onto more important things, we're now at 42 days to go. I've been advised by an off duty bank manager that, with the mortgage we have, it should be as simple as phoning up on the 29th of October, explaining the desire to pay the whole this off today whereupon they will add the interest to the total balance, allowing me to clear the thing online. That would potentially bring us to 39 days to go but until that's been definitively confirmed by the good people of HSBC, I'll stick to my pessimism, thank'ee very much.

We've pretty much decided that April will be the month for getting the boiler and bathroom done. The whole job needs a week from start to finish which M is going to supervise (make tea) whilst she's off school. We could have really stretched and made it February but we're taking M's auntie and little sister to Vegas in July so the flights, to be booked in December, will run somewhere in the region of £3,000 which will delay the bathroom just a wee bit. It may yet be worth getting one of the tesco 0% cards and sticking all the bathroom and kitchen stuff on it interest free for 12 months and just popping the bill down but I'm currently undecided on the best course of action. With spending somewhere in the region of £16-20,000, I'll do a bit of investigating on the credit cards next month to maximise any cashback returns we may be able to get.

Come what may, I'll be getting my fancy jacuzzi bath at the weekend! That and the Belling range cooker with the widescreen oven are my two toys so M is allowed to pick all the colours and such like - so far, black and white for the bathroom and dark grey flooring and granite worktops with beech or some such wood units and stainless steel stuff to finish. The kitchen will be July whilst we're in Vegas with the flooring project currently scheduled for October. It will be nice to see something for our money for a change as the intangible of paying the mortgage off, however fulfilling, doesn't replace the feel and touch of some new gear.

Talking of which, it's very nearly time for new phones. M is due a new phone in October as per her contract whilst I switched to pay as you go (mainly as I have the work mobile with me most of the time) which has cost me a grand total of £40 this year and still £13 remaining to do me another couple of weeks. I'm giving in to the peer pressure and grabbing an iphone whilst M, who is quite happy with her current phone, is kindly going to get whatever comes with a PS3 which will be donated for my amusement.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning Froggy,

Certainly am! We had initially planned on a bumper Hogmanay party but we've exceeded expectations by a couple of months and that may be too late in the day so we're currently sorting something for the middle of November for everyone we know as well as a couple of big family meals out. That the house will be officially ours, it should be ok to trash it...?

Cheers,

Billy

[Deleted User]

Billy
you really are an inspiration!! well done on the darts and snooker victory , enjoy your new stuff and gradually newer house, bathroom etc.. (prob a good idea to have the party before all that starts!)
it is great to see how well you have done and what life sans mortgage may be like.... spurs me on to keep at it (or start as Ive yet to be in a position to make any OPs)
enjoy the party

wynnvegas

Thanks TYO,

It was a bit of a relief as if I'd taken another hammering with the new gear, I'd have been sorely disappointed (although I would have undoubtedly blamed getting used to the new stuff as an excuse). I'll be spurring you on as I've got a subscription to your diary and I'm hoping to become something of a voice of reason as time goes by to those that aren't 100% sure of how to kickstart their mortgage freedom quests. As I've said before, my pension planning, investments and savings have all taken a big back seat to the mortgage so there's a bit of catching up to do on those fronts and that probably wasn't the wisest way to do it but there wasn't any logic that was going to convince me not to get shot of the mortgage.

Cheers,

Billy

abouttimetoo

Hi Billy

I like the sound of your new kitchen, sounds lovely! I think you do the right thing by having a good look around at what credit cards you can use as with the amount you are going to spend should be be beneficial in terms of point/cashback etc. I had a mailshot this week from Amex but it was for a Amex/Br Airways credit card - I've only had a quick glance but the air miles and bonus miles looked pretty good - was wondering whether this might help with your next trip to Vegas?

Re your new phone, mine will be due for renewal in February but I can actually do it from December, I'm feeling more than tempted by the Iphone 4, like you I can't resist the touch and feel of a new gadget

Do you do anything with your old mobile phones? I know there's a lot of companies out there but I've used mopay in the past and really had good service from them and the cashback is good. I really need to get myself back in gear with this actually as I have an embarrassment of riches on this front - far too many old phones lying around the house as with my own and work ones they soon mount up!

Regards
ATT

wynnvegas

Morning ATT,

Thanks for that. We'll probably pick up a Virgin credit card to hit the flights with as we've already got 35,000 miles sitting with BMI which we might well use for a European jaunt at some point - still never been to Paris. At £3,000 for this year (4 folks) and probably £4,000 (5 folks) for the 2012 Vegas trip, we'll soon pick ourselves back up to the business end of the plane. As nice as it was, I don't think I'll ever pay for business or first class at the prices they charge for it. I'll have a wee look at the 0% cashback cards as we may be better saving the 2.5% VAT by buying the bathroom and kitchen before January. That being said, we may be better waiting on the January sales. No doubt we'll make a hash of it somewhere down the line!

I must confess to never really having been all that much of a gadget person. Even the phone I have just now does 1001 other things that I've nver bothered to find out how to use. The iphone looks pretty decent (once you get past all the nonsense apps) and, despite having never seen one, I do fancy the ipad (or maybe just the idea of it) as well. That being said, I've seen all the integrated entertainment pieces at friends houses and it looks properly decent so we'll steal a wee bit of that idea once I get round to understanding how it all works!

I inadvertently discovered a wee bit of a fiddle the last time M was changing her phone. The boy in the shop (carphone warehouse I think) offered her £150 cash to trade in her old (and pretty dodgy) Nokia so long as she took out the insurance. After getting past my steadfast "not being conned into anything" routine, I thought we might manage to pull a fast one. We took the insurance, took the £150 (plus they threw in a couple of SD cards) and then cancelled the insurance as soon as we got home, citing the fictional current account we have with HSBC which gives us mobile phone insurance as standard. I'll be trying something similar x2 this time round in addition to the £30 referral piece that M will get when she pops her phone in for renewal a couple of weeks after mine.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning All,

Just the 41 days to go now. Had the joiner round yesterday to do some measurements and give some more advice on the planning of the bathroom. I love the attitude of the guy. Painted the ceiling badly - that's ok, it's coming down anyway; struggling to fit in the big sink unit - just have the door swing inward the other way; want the big fancy dan bath - knock through the wall and rebuild the wall in the spare bedroom. I stupidly assumed that knocking down a wall and rebuilding it was a big deal - not a bit of it! My DIY experience runs to a grand total of changing the odd lightbulb and (badly) putting a picture hook in the wall. Our hammer (pretty much the only tool in the house) gets used primarily for bashing digestive biscuits to make truffles which pretty much epitomises my feelings toward any kind of manual labour! We should get the artist impressions of the kitchen and bathroom in the next couple of weeks so that will give us an extra push to get things moving.

Decided to pop into HSBC next Thursday to see what's what on the payment front. Thereafter, we'll have to have a wee think about splitting the joint account into single accounts and moving them to one of these "we'll give you money to come to us" lot. Despite it meaning a wee bit of jigging about, it should hopefully be a fairly painless and profitable experience. M will go her nut when she find out about this as she is currently of the opinion that we'll eschew any money saving or money making ideas and it will be spend spend spend all the way from the mortgage freedom date to the end of time.

Cheers,

Billy