Louba's MF Challenge

Louba

I'm not sure where this diary should sit as there are a few bits to the challenge although the ultimate aim is to be mortgage free by 40........I'm fast approaching 33. Hopefully it will find a good home here

About me - I am 32, divorced and living with my lovely new partner. I recently moved jobs and cities, my partner moved too and we own a small flat together. I have a flat in my home town which I rent out, the rent doesn't cover the mortgage but I can't sell it at the moment due to the market and I'm fortunate enough that this isn't a complete disaster financially :j. The new flat was bought with a view to renting it out when we can afford somewhere bigger. My OH also has a number of buy to let flats which are intended to provide a long term income this makes our financial position a bit complicated!

The challenge:
I've just stopped overpaying the mortgage on my original flat so I can concentrate on saving for a deposit for a new place with OH. At present we have just over £26k against a target of £65k, we're hoping to move around June next year so that's the target to bridge the gap. I also need to either reduce the mortgage on my original flat to a level where it covers its costs or sell it when the market picks up. So the challenge breaks down as:

1 save £62,500 by June 2010 :eek:- currently 42% there
2 find beautiful house to buy
3 do something about my original flat once one and 2 are achieved
4 reduce mortage on lovely new home to zero by the time I'm 40 :A
5 last one is un-house related by should stop me pouring over property websites - I've signed up for my first marathon in may new year so goal 5 is to complete a marathon, eek

At the moment the challenge seems huge so I'm hoping posting here will keep me motivated!

The savings plan works out like this: -
£2400 per month until march 2010
£3200 per month from March 2010 (when current car loan ends)
£26500 current savings
Total £48100 by June 2010 with the gap to be filled with any additional income we can make, savings on household stuff, bonuses from work and if need be releasing money from OH's buy to lets
Our household expenses are pretty lean but I'm trying to work out what more i can do while leaving us room to do some fun stuff.

Phew, sorry for the long post! Hope I haven't bored everyone to tears

L

SmlSave

Hello and welcome Louba

alfiesmum

Have you factored in the interest that you'll be earning on your savings to get to the target you require? Albeit a tiny amount, every little helps!
This is a fave calculator of mine:
http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/calculator/home.asp?ver=bos
Good luck with your plans.

alfiesmum
x

chirpchirp

Good luck Louba. Sounds really exciting, looking forward to reading your diary!

Louba

Thanks all! Alfiesmum the calculator looks great I'll need to take a closer look at the figures and factor that in too

setmefree2

and

Louba

Thanks Setmefree2

I've just started reading memorygirls 2008 make do and mend challenge and am feeling totally inspired - I've still got lots more to read but thought I would use a few of her tips to help me along. I love the idea of daily challenges so it feels like I'm making progress - hopefully I can keep this up! I'm very bad for having whim then putting it off.......so here we go
Challenge for 29 October:
Am delighted that 5 out the the 24 things I listed on Amazon the other night have sold, yay. I've put them all in envelopes and tomorrow's task is to post them. I haven't made alot of money on them but it's its all going the right way and I nearly out them straight to a charity shop!
Challenge 2 for 30 October - move money from savings account to current account, register for premium bonds and move money into bonds. Rubbish interest rate but there are tax advantages and I might win a wee prize.

Oh dear OH is wanting to go to bed and I still have to dry my hair.......our flat is too small to cope with doing separate things quietly so it's goodnight from me!

gallygirl

:hello:Hello Louba. Your affairs sound very complicated so I hope you have lots of spreadsheets to keep track of everything

Look forward to following your progress :T

Louba

Thanks Gallygirl, I have a little army of spreadsheets although non of them are very complex!

Louba

Just a quick note on yesterday's acheivements:

I have four nieces and a newphew to buy Christmas presents for - and two nieces and the nephew have birthdays near to Christmas too :eek:
I've been looking out for things so I don't have to buy everything together and made lots of progress yesterday thanks to a great tip on here about make up brushes and the Boots Christmas offer. I picked up my extra Boots points and paid for it all using cash credited to my cash back credit card so no money has left my account :A. Once my Amazon money comes in i will transfer this and something equal to the cash back amount to savings and update the totals.

That leaves me with just birthday presents for a niece and the nephew to get plus presents for OH and his family........my family is huge - there are five kids so we agreed a couple of years ago that we wouldn't buy each other presents. It has taken some getting used to and it sounds a bit bahh humbug but it saves people spending time and money buying things that don't get used.

If anyone has any top tips on presents for teenage boys and a youngish 12 year old I'd be very grateful!

L

getmore4less

Welcome a good overall plan with a great savings rate.


If the rent does not cover the mortgage on the old place can you sell it and cover the debt?

The longer you subsides the mortgage the higher the selling price needs to be, thats property speculation not a letting business.

Is this place the best option for that money.