Any Single MFWs?

pammyj74

ally18 wrote: »

Hi pammyj74,

I'm the same as you, single 3 kids. How do you manage? My monthly budget is worked out to the penny so I can't afford to overspend on anything.

How do you work out how many years you have knocked off as well?

A

I am very strict with my grocery budget but do dooyoo reviews and enter competitions occasionally, I sell stuff on ebay and use cashback sites (although have not done lately)

I have a spreadsheet which another member kindly did for me, there is one on here somewhere if your search for it. It is a great motivational tool!

curlygirl1971

The spreadsheet I use is by a MSE'er called Locoblade (so you could do a search for him). He has a thread and there is a link to the spreadsheet in the first post on his thread. I think its excellent - you just need to give yourself a little time to orientate yourself and understand it.

pammyj74

Yes I had a look at it and was overwhelmed with it. The one done for me was a bit simpler and works really well as it was customed to me and my figures.

d-seven

Luv2Budget wrote: »

Great to see more single MFWs! - Keep the good advice coming...

Yes D-seven it is important to have fun as well! can't forget that!

By the way, have you all told any of your friends/colleagues that you're overpaying??

I only told one collegue I wanted to over pay and he reccomended the Nationwide mortgage which allowed me to overpay every month. I've since paid it all off but haven't told anyone at work. I've told a few close friends and family though.
I wont tell anyone at work because they will probably think that I get paid too much, however it's more down to thrift, doing overtime at work (too much IMHO, but it has been worth it in the long run) and sacrificing the nights out, gadgets etc to save up. Also, being single and having no kids helps immensely .

pammyj74

I have told a few people but then have to remember when i say i am 'skint' because i dont want to spend any money they know why lol

cannyClaire

Luv2Budget wrote: »

By the way, have you all told any of your friends/colleagues that you're overpaying??

My friends know I don't have a mortgage, they all earn more than me and can't believe I have done it. My mum knows, but my paying off the mortgage coincided with the death of my dad so I didn't say anything to other family members as they would've assumed (wrongly) that I had benefitted financially from his death, and I didn't.

Work is different, I told a colleague who brought up the conversation first, she is a regular lurker on here I believe, but wouldn't mention it to anyone else as my low wage would get me investigated for fraudulent activity!

tootallulah

Hi, I'm a single dfw too. I have a big mortgage and I want to pay it off ASAP now after coasting for a few years. As soon as its gone I can retire so I am hopeful that it will be gone in seven years. I now earn a good wage so I can concentrate on being mortgage free whilst living a very enjoyable life.

Prudent

I paid off my mortgage as a single mum. I took on my mortgage when my marriage broke down. I didn't really start off with the intention of paying off the mortgage it just happened.

I was in fairly insecure employment as a supply teacher. Worrying about not being able to pay the mortgage if no work came in, I started to overpay. I had a flexible mortgage and it came with the option to withdraw the money again or use it against monthly payments if need. As soon as I began to overpay, I realised the impact on the monthly interest and was spurred on. Fortunately the work didn't dry up and I got some evening work training teachers as I worked in a specialist area. That paid very well and I could add it all to the pot.

I was so frugal that we lived below benefit levels and I could save a lot. The huge benefit for me was that through this site I learned to live very well on little money. Mortgage paid off some time ago now and I still live well on little on save the rest

I really want to encourage single people to overpay. It is much tougher, but the security is lovely. I remember standing in the street looking at this house the day I got back my deeds and knowing that no mortgage company could take it away.

Luv2Budget

Well done Prudent and thanks for sharing your lovely story - yours is especially impressive as you paid it off as a single mum.

I'm definitely looking forward to the day I can look at my house and say it's all mine and owe nothing to the banks. And like you said, it does give you so much security.

curlygirl1971

Just want to say a huge thank-you to those that took the time to respond to my post (Miss undastood, Luv2Budget, Chirpchirp.....)

There was loads of good suggestions with regard to making / increasing OP's and I went through each one and was really heartened to find that actually I already do a lot of them. So I picked my bottom lip up off the floor and felt a bit better - I need to be a bit more careful than I am in some areas but I guess I also need to be realistic. If I still want a holiday, if I still want to save a little, if I want to increase my pension provision then I guess I it's going to take a little longer than I would like to pay off the mortgage - every penny counts and am still putting every spare penny towards the OP's. Whenever I've had a salary increase I've always ensured the increase goes into some savings pot. I've always shopped around for things like insurances etc., but over the past couple of months I've shopped around for EVERYTHING! and wait until things come on offer. I've also started using cashback sites. But I guess over the past couple of years the odd little treat has started to creep in (like the odd coffee on a saturday morning in town) so I guess I just need to remember my goals every time I feel tempted

One thing I did a while ago was work out how much a house brick cost. Don't mean I went down to the local brickyard. I found out that in the average terraced house there are 5000 bricks. I divided my original mortgage value by 5000 and used this as a very loose idea of how much a brick cost.

My current mortgage value divided by the cost of a brick gives me the amount of bricks I still need to 'buy' from the bank. The original mortgage value less the current mortgage value is the amount I've paid off. Divide this by the cost of a brick and I get the number of bricks that I 'own'.

Simplistic but it helps whenever I'm tempted to buy something and I realise 'That top is worth 3 bricks!' This motivation might just work for someone else.