HEG 2010 - Once upon a time ......I want to be a mortgage free queen of my castle

herewegoagain2010

Hello everyone

I'm a newbie, but have been greatly inspired by the diaries on the board and hope you don't mind me joining you all on the DFW journey.

Me, I'm a full-time mum of two little monkeys and have a lovely supportive full-time working hubby. We've battled debt and have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel. We've currently have a loan £5700 left and this will be paid in full by July. It's been a long journey, but we're nearly there. We managed to scrap £950 overpayments off the house last year which gave us a huge moral boost.

I've taken the drastic step today to change the term on our mortgage today and I'll put some numbers down in a little while. We've been discussing doing this for a while as our mortgage is currently fixed at 5.79% which happens to be the same our the personal loan. We can't overpay on the loan and need a lump sum to settle the account. People may think we're mad not clearing the debt first. The additional cost on the mortgage, was the same as other debt repayments in the past. Rather than this money getting swallowed up in family life, we'd make the effort and commit it to the house, before we get used to it.

That's enough waffle about me....one thing you might have gathered, is that I've got a tendancy to waffle!

herewegoagain2010

Nutshell History
Jan05 Bought house £168145 - borrowed £107500
mortgage fixed for 2 years - 360 month term, deal ended Jan07
Jan07 - new mortgage
Reduced term by 24 months
Fixed 5 years @5.79 payments £648.59 - 312 months term
2009 Realised we needed to do something!
Overpayments in 2009 - £950

Today
Mortgage balance £97910.35 - 264 months remaining (22ys 10months)
Reduced term & increased payments now £779.13 - 192 months (16yrs)

Summary & Celebration
By increasing our payments by £130.54 per month we have shortened the term by 72 months.....a whole 6 years. The penny has finally dropped and I feel so positive.

To Do Future Plans
* Save all spare income to pay off loan 12 months x £475.16 (aim for end of July) Huge change in income after July, so it needs to be done!
* Increase income selling,another job etc
* August re-do SOA and budget to new income level
* August start making an overpayment a month min £20 a month.
* Start a mortgage pig for spare change

To continue enjoying the free things in life and make more family time.

That's it guys.....my masterplan. I think we'll be around for a long time to come, but it's baby steps today. Our future looks bright and we're well on track for a secure financial future.

GreenNinja

:jLove your title! very inspired. Good luck on your journey!

SmlSave

Well come to MFW world HEG! I love how you sound all positive and cheery

herewegoagain2010

Thanks for the replies guys. I feel really welcome already. It's a bit nerve racking posting on here as we've still got some debt. I hope you understand why we've started now and not postponed it. I'm quite a happy-go-lucky person in life and think it's only 97.9K......EEEEEEEKKKKKKK! My darling hubby and have managed on a lot less income with a lot more outgoings. It's been hard work, but we're more stable and contented after the struggle. Everything is a balance and we live by the saying "work to live not live to work" I'm 33 and by reducing the term means we'll be mortgage free by the time I'm fab & 50 :-) Our house isn't our forever house, so I can see a move up the ladder in a few years. It'll be great to chip away at the mortgage in the mean time, until we're in a position to buy 'the one' All aboard my mortgage free journey!

wantabetterlife

Welcome and goodluck HEG, i look forward to reading your progress

alfiesmum

Good luck with your plans. I love to read how everyone's getting on, so will be following your progress.

alfiesmum xxx

hughmungas1986

Good luck with your new MF plan

hugh :beer:

Catanddogs

Good luck!

tootallulah

I've still got some debt too, it is on 0% so I am ignoring it. I have had my mortgage for six years and I have only paid off £7k so it is time to concentrate on it and get it GONE. Good luck, you have done so well getting the term of your mortgage reduced by so many years.

herewegoagain2010

Thanks again for the replies. It's great to see so many people attacking their mortgage, with some amazing results. It's always going to be tiny setps for us, but we will get there. My DH and I are still in shock that we've managed to reduce the term to 16 years by increasing the payments by £130 a month. My Child benefit £132.80 and tax credit £41.37 are now both now paid into the mortgage account. This more than covers the increase and leaves some extra for a rainy day fund. This is all we're going to commit to the mortgage at the minute, as we're saving to pay off the loan by July. You probably won't see a lot of me until then, but I'm always lurking As soon as the loan is gone, I'll pootle back over here and start making op's and joingin the MFW challenge.