2010 MF Wannabes

Z1ppy_2

Morning,

not sure if its the snow or the January blues but i am loosing the commitment!

We made a large overpayment this month and i have to confess, it doesnt make me feel that great! the payment hasnt really taken us past any significant milestone on our journey to becoming mortgage free and i cant help thinking i have just put my entire christmas bonus and some savings (which i work very hard for all year) into something intangable.

We have no holidays planned for this year, i am working harder than ever and need something to look forward to. A slightly lower negative figure on my mortgage statement doesnt seem to be doing it for me!

Sorry for being negative but in the hope of some positive encouragement, i though i would stick todays thoughts on here!!

clearmydebts

Z1ppy wrote: »

Morning,

not sure if its the snow or the January blues but i am loosing the commitment!

We made a large overpayment this month and i have to confess, it doesnt make me feel that great! the payment hasnt really taken us past any significant milestone on our journey to becoming mortgage free and i cant help thinking i have just put my entire christmas bonus and some savings (which i work very hard for all year) into something intangable.

We have no holidays planned for this year, i am working harder than ever and need something to look forward to. A slightly lower negative figure on my mortgage statement doesnt seem to be doing it for me!

Sorry for being negative but in the hope of some positive encouragement, i though i would stick todays thoughts on here!!

Why not overpay a little less and book a holiday? It's no wonder you are losing focus if you have no treats planned for this year.

It might also be worth putting your mortgage figure before/after in your sig. I find that really motivates me with clearing debt.

I am hoping to overpay some of my mortgage this year, and then start properly next year, but I will be leaving aside some money for fun things as well

sassyblue

Z1ppy noooo!! I don't know how much your mortgage is but you've overpaid £25K which is a whopping amount!

Remember how it would feel if you got to the end of your mortgage term and hadn't paid it off :mad: but also how you will feel when you HAVE paid it off....

Maybe you are like me and a little bit annoyed you CAN'T make another payment yet? l know l am already counting the days off because making overpayments feels great. :rotfl:

I agree with clearmydebts you need to book a little holiday or something, definitely something to look forward to.

Z1ppy_2

We bought our house in September 08 with a 222K mortgage on a 35 year term fixed for 2 years at 6.89% (valued at 265k when purchased) since then we have refitted the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, downstairs loo, redecorated every room, built a conservatory and extended the garden (fence placed in the wrong position)

After this months overpayment our mortgage is 140K think that is down to about 16 years (all overpayments for us reduce the term rather than monthly payments)

holidays are a good idea but if i am complety honest (and SWMBO will agree and hates it) even when i am on holiday the phone never stops ringing! it comes with the job and allows us to do the things we want to do!!

im guessing its the January blues. Come February when the Rugby is on the telly, i will be past my self imposed Detox for January and can drink Guinness again and this blasted snow has gone i hope things will be better!!

taka

Z1ppy wrote: »

Morning,

not sure if its the snow or the January blues but i am loosing the commitment!

We made a large overpayment this month and i have to confess, it doesnt make me feel that great! the payment hasnt really taken us past any significant milestone on our journey to becoming mortgage free and i cant help thinking i have just put my entire christmas bonus and some savings (which i work very hard for all year) into something intangable.

We have no holidays planned for this year, i am working harder than ever and need something to look forward to. A slightly lower negative figure on my mortgage statement doesnt seem to be doing it for me!

Sorry for being negative but in the hope of some positive encouragement, i though i would stick todays thoughts on here!!

((((Hugs)))) Z1ppy. You need to enjoy yourself too while doing this sort of challenge otherwise you will find yourself a bit demoralised and low... Do you have room in your budget for holidays/ trips places/ entertainment / family fun / nights out etc? I think most of us do. Its a good idea I think to live and enjoy life while doing this - OPing not a punishment, its a choice.

Why not decide to OP only a % of any money that you could OP? The rest of the money to go on saving for something you want or would like to do? Then you have the choice of a holiday or new XYZ and won't feel so hard done by and any money you generate to OP will also benefit your holiday or whatever fund! Very motivating! It may take a wee bit longer to pay off your mortgage but you may well be far happier during the process!

I OP a regular amount but anything extra I earn by Qu1dco / TCB / Surveys /Vouchers /rewards /interest etc (not much a month but it all helps!) I split in 2 - 50% to OPing and 50% to a "smile" fund I can spend on anything I want but don't really need! I find it motivates me to generate more as I feel the immediate benefit of it (if I want) as well as helping my longer term goals. :j

2009's smile fund helped to buy me a wee netbook that I didn't really need but really wanted (I have a home desktop PC) and pay for ~ 60% of a new 32inch TV (to replace my 14inch CRT from the dark ages :eek: _party_).

I also find having a visual of how much I've managed to achieve is also helpful! I have a grid of boxes to colour in whenever I've paid off a certain amount. In my case my target for 2010 is £2000 so I have split it into £5 boxes...

sassyblue

Yikes Z1ppy you've HALVED your mortgage in a little over a year!! :money: I think you have got a case of a mid-mortgage crisis a bit like a mid life crisis have that guiness tonight and tell yourself you could be mortgage free in less than 3 years if you keep up the good work.

clearmydebts

Z1ppy wrote: »

We bought our house in September 08 with a 222K mortgage on a 35 year term fixed for 2 years at 6.89% (valued at 265k when purchased) since then we have refitted the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, downstairs loo, redecorated every room, built a conservatory and extended the garden (fence placed in the wrong position)

After this months overpayment our mortgage is 140K think that is down to about 16 years (all overpayments for us reduce the term rather than monthly payments)

holidays are a good idea but if i am complety honest (and SWMBO will agree and hates it) even when i am on holiday the phone never stops ringing! it comes with the job and allows us to do the things we want to do!!

im guessing its the January blues. Come February when the Rugby is on the telly, i will be past my self imposed Detox for January and can drink Guinness again and this blasted snow has gone i hope things will be better!!

Wow, that is an amazing achievement to have reduced it by that much. Wow

How about turning your phone off every 2nd day on hols. That way you can still take calls but enjoy some relaxation as well. Saying that I would rather take calls by a pool in the sun then not go at all!!!

Z1ppy_2

clearmydebts wrote: »

How about turning your phone off every 2nd day on hols. That way you can still take calls but enjoy some relaxation as well. Saying that I would rather take calls by a pool in the sun then not go at all!!!

tis a good idea and i agree, would rather be in the pool or on the slopes skiing answering the phone but due to the nature of my work, if i dont answer the phone, i could loose that bit of business and with the way the world is, i dont really want that!

can get interestering if i have had too many drinks in the sun tho!!!:p

sassyblue wrote: »

Yikes Z1ppy you've HALVED your mortgage in a little over a year!! :money: I think you have got a case of a mid-mortgage crisis a bit like a mid life crisis have that guiness tonight and tell yourself you could be mortgage free in less than 3 years if you keep up the good work.

Think you might be on to something there! problem is, december was full of rather too much excess and i need to loose some weight so booze is off until February! that and i want to prove to myself i can do it! will make feb better as well as its SWMBO's birthday so something to look forward to!!

The longer term goal is to have cleared this mortgage by the time we are both 33. (4.5 years time) hence our challenging target for this year! maybe at 28 i am starting my midlife crisis a little early!!!

taka wrote: »

2009's smile fund helped to buy me a wee netbook that I didn't really need but really wanted (I have a home desktop PC) and pay for ~ 60% of a new 32inch TV (to replace my 14inch CRT from the dark ages :eek: _party_).

i like the idea of a smile fund! maybe i could yse my Smile account for it so its separate to my current, joint, savings, isa's etc etc....

if i am completly honest, we are both impulsive and if we want something, we tend to go and get it and this year we are trying to stop that and OP more! maybe thats adding to my frustration with paying off seemingly intangable sums of money (i know its not in the long run!)

i have decided, for good or bad, when we finish decorating the spare room (this weekend if the new furnature ever arrives) i am going to get an estate agent around to value the house.

We bought it as a wreck in an area we LOVE and have made it something we want as our home, (even when the puppy chews the side boards in the conservatory!) We dont want to sell it but i am interested to see how the not insignificant sums we have spent in modernising the place have affected its value in the light of everything thats happened since Sept 2008. Our thinking behind the big push to overpay now is if we can get the mortgage down low or gone, whatever happens in the future, we will have out home to sit in knowing it cant be taken away...

anyway, im rambelling now, thanks for the positive replies! i am looking forward to the letter from nationwide telling us what our recalculated term will be after January overpayments! :j

miss_undastood

Crikey Z1ppy, you're doing really well.
You've already OP'd by more than I earn in a year!

You've done really well, and when the snow goes and you can get from A to B easier then you'll feel much happier. Everything is nicer in (the small bit of) summer we get when the sun is shining.

curlygirl1971

LOL, Thanks Miss Undastood you've just given me the reality check I needed before I get too sulky about my low OP's. I sometimes read through the MFW threads and think ' I really need to do better, some people are so good at this and so committed', but you've got a point.......you have to take it all in the context of your income and the life you want....I need to remember that I have one income, I don't want to give up the odd european break and my salary will only go so many ways.

Having said that....I'm still obsessing about my next OP and what I can cut from my budget!