2010 MF Wannabes

someday_soon

Hey crushedkitten

Challenge yourself.

Moving targets are harder to hit than stationary targets but more of an acievement when you do. Make a small change this month to allow you to OP by 10% more next month, and go from there.

Someday Soon

gallygirl

I agree with SS, every little helps, and it would be a good idea to up it by 10% & see if you can do it.

Why don't you set yourself a challenge to raise more money, and pay it all to mortgage? Ebay anything not nailed down, how about some mystery shopping? Stick your loose change in a piggy bank & pay to mortgage when full. Set yourslef a grocery challenge - do you cook from scratch? If you buy any reduced items put the savings in the piggy bank etc.

Good luck :T

Needhelpsaving

AHHHHH!!! I couldn't help myself - I took the £253.75 out of my savings (getting about 2%) and paid it to hit my target. Now I just need to spend a couple of months topping my savings back up.

NoobySaver

crushedkitten,

Firstly the vast majority of people never overpay. We are the enlightened ones. This mortgage overpaying business is a long term objective for most and every payment you make however small will take you that one step closer to paying it off. You say that your overpayments are small but if you hit target that will be £700 you will never have to pay interest on for the rest of your mortgage which will amount to considerably more.

You also pay into an ISA which is a great idea and will probably pay more interest than your mortgage saving in overpayments depending on the deal you are on. For the last few years I have solely concentrated on overpayments even though I knew financially it made more sense to do an ISA. If I had looked at it ourely financially I should have done both which would have made my overpayments considerably smaller.

Don't judge your overpayments to others - all of our circumstances are unique. Just overpay what you can when you can and you wll be mortgage free and savings rich before the majority of people have even discovered what an overpayment is.

cha97michelle

crushed kitten some good ideas already. I know it seems hard but at least you can guarantee that £40 every month. I have to see where i can bring things under budget to to make any inroads at all as there is never any flex to say we will send £x amount every month.

I just look on any money i wasn't expecting as something i can send to the mortgage instead. So, interest paid on the current account is usually a couple of quid, telephone bill and DHs mobile usually give another tenner at least, and over the month it slowly but surely builds up. I sometimes extend this and save the difference if i buy something cheaper, and i have been ebaying like a mad woman for the past month or so which is not inspiring i have to say, but the house is a bit less cluttered and we are a bit better off.I also send any cashback from quidco there as i wasn't guaranteed it. It has added up to about £1500 so far this year so i must be doing ok. You just need to think a bit laterally and you'll get there.

crushedkitten

Thanks everyone. You are all right, ANYTHING is better than nothing. I've saved over £5000 in interest payments already since I started and perhaps I need to concentrate more on that figure, rather than getting hung up about the £40.

Love the 10% extra idea. I will defo try that next month. Will dust off the money box too.

Thanks y'all. I'm feeling better already xx

someday_soon

crushedkitten wrote: »

Thanks everyone. You are all right, ANYTHING is better than nothing. I've saved over £5000 in interest payments already since I started and perhaps I need to concentrate more on that figure, rather than getting hung up about the £40.

Love the 10% extra idea. I will defo try that next month. Will dust off the money box too.

Thanks y'all. I'm feeling better already xx

I'll be looking out for your post next month!

Go for it!

uzubairu

gallygirl wrote: »

I agree with SS, every little helps, and it would be a good idea to up it by 10% & see if you can do it.

Why don't you set yourself a challenge to raise more money, and pay it all to mortgage? Ebay anything not nailed down, how about some mystery shopping? Stick your loose change in a piggy bank & pay to mortgage when full. Set yourslef a grocery challenge - do you cook from scratch? If you buy any reduced items put the savings in the piggy bank etc.

Good luck :T

Every little helps, and once you realise that you can make savings on nearly all aspects of daily expenditure, those savings can be used to increase your overpayments.

I set myself challenges every month, to stretch the mortgage overpayment.

Last month I had to lend my dad £560 from my money planned for May's overpayment (which he said he would pay back on the 1st June).
Based on previous form I know that I won't get it back any time soon, so I set myself a challenge to eBay as much stuff from around the house/garage to replace the money I lent him.
After 3 weeks, I'm up to £312 (and I've sold some cr*p).

Review the cost of your utilities and insurances and see if you can save (using cashback sites where possible).
Use cashback sites when shopping online and any other loyalty schemes (e.g Tesco Clubcard, Airmiles, Nectar and Boots)
We've had £2600 from cashback sites since 2007.

Batch cooking lunches has saved us loads (and tastes much nicer too).

Always make room for small treats once in a while so that you don't feel like you are not having a life too, as treats can also be acquired in a cheap MSE friendly way too.

Cortinaa_GTR

No. 177 - Parnott

May OP -£1200

SmileyG_2

crushedkitten wrote: »

No 82 here.. I need a boost guys. I know I shouldn't compare my OP's with everyone else but I'm finding it hard to get excited about my monthly £40 OP's. My savings are pretty low so I've been plowing money into my ISA religiously, which only leaves me with a small amount left for an OP. I've been playing with the OP calculators to try to get my OP'ing mojo back but I think it's gone forever.

Any words of wisdom to keep me on track?

CK xx

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
Lao Tzu

SmileyG