mse - mfw addicts thread

alfiesmum

pencekeeper wrote: »

I am very mortgage free obsessed.

I live by myself and in the last few years have developed problems with my eyes which makes it very uncomfortable to drive, work in an office, use computers. Not ideal as I work 25 miles away in IT! When my current job goes I'm really going to struggle for income - and definitely won't be on the salary I'm on now.

So a few years ago I started seriously paying off the mortgage as aggressively as I sensibly could. And my £127K mortgage at the end of 2006 is now £17K

But now I'm getting near the end I'm becoming more impatient - I'm very aware of what the balance is, what interest per day I'm paying, how quickly I can theoretically pay it off.

That is FANTASTIC! :T Now you really must think about it every day! I hope I'm as successful as that. Hoping to be rid of our mortgage in 6 years total instead of the 25 years is started at. So...Am I addicted? Erm, very probably ..yes. Oooooh there, I said it.

pencekeeper

alfiesmum wrote: »

That is FANTASTIC! :T Now you really must think about it every day! I hope I'm as successful as that. Hoping to be rid of our mortgage in 6 years total instead of the 25 years is started at. So...Am I addicted? Erm, very probably ..yes. Oooooh there, I said it.

Thanks that made my day Yes - I really do think about it a lot. And it's been pretty skewed in terms of coming down - January last year it stood at £91K, so to come down to £17K means about £5,000 capital paid off every month for the last 15 months (a big proportion of which was savings that had built up during a fixed interest period where I couldn't overpay lots without penalty) + monthly overpayments of around £1,500.

Planned MF date is December this year. If I make it it won't make me fireproof, but at least I won't have to worry about losing my house if/when my income plummets.

But I'm always waiting impatiently for that next pay day when I can overpay and get that debt down!

cha97michelle

That is amazing progress Pencekeeper. I am always at least a month ahead of myself trying to work out what big things we need to do with our money and what we can overpay. I can only imagine that i get even worse when we hit the twenties, the teens and a 4 figure mortgage.

I can't make up my mind if i am maybe missing living somehow always wishing time away, or if i really have got my head screwed on.

At least we all have that bit of breathing space for the future don't we.

pencekeeper

cha97michelle wrote: »

That is amazing progress Pencekeeper. I am always at least a month ahead of myself trying to work out what big things we need to do with our money and what we can overpay. I can only imagine that i get even worse when we hit the twenties, the teens and a 4 figure mortgage.

I can't make up my mind if i am maybe missing living somehow always wishing time away, or if i really have got my head screwed on.

At least we all have that bit of breathing space for the future don't we.

Absolutely. No matter how far you have to go, and esp. if you have the type of product where you can build up an overpayment reserve, it's good to know you are ahead of repayments.

It is addictive though. I tend to plan the payments from paydays I've not had yet - especially the next one. Then I tend to think of the mortgage being that figure - yet, of course, it isn't that newer lower figure yet. There's also been times I've put money in the mortgage under the strict understanding with myself that I can take it out again if I need to - e.g. £5K for a car. But then after a while I don't think of the mortgage having a real balance of £5K higher than shown in the account, and then save up for a car all over again.

I hate debt. And I've always lived well below my means (I put something like 70-75% of my take home pay in the mortgage). Just have to strike a sensible balance between spending money on other things (just bought new TV for the first time in 20 years as old one on the way out) and getting the mortgage down.

chirpchirp

Pencekeeper, that's amazing and inspiring. Well Done, my mortgage seems so high compared with most on here but hearing how quickly yours has plummeted has really given me some motivation.

cha97michelle

That is a big proportion of your income goes on the mortgage pencekeeper. :T I squeeze out what i can, but if we hadn't got the kids i know we would be miles further ahead. 1 - i'd still be working full time for £30k a year, 2 - the kids always need something wether nappies or snacks or clothes or toys. We would make do a lot more as we do now.

When i think of our early years as a couple when we spent so much on food and booze i wish we had been a bit more savvy with it. I guess it is part of the learning curve though.

fluffysox

MFW is very addictive- I check my mortgage and current account balances several times a month to look for spare pounds. ;)
OH says, "There's something wrong with you"- but of all the addictions to have I know he's pleased mine saves us money. :rotfl::rotfl:
Realised earlier in the past four months we've reduced the balance of our mortgage by more than we did in the first 2 years (2005-2007) This just seems unbelievable to me. Basically as our income has increased, interest rates dropped and we've used the extra cash from both to OP.

pammyj74

My name is pammyj and I am a MF addict also and proud to say so.

I have shaved off 9 years so far off my 23 year mortgage over the last two years and now down to 12 years and finally below £80k

I think about being MF ALL the time. every time I have to pay for something, or drive somewhere or use an electrical item or the kids leave a light on lol

I am a single mum and this past year have really got into the grocery challenge and cooking a few meals at once and freezing them and also started bulking meals out with grated carrots and red lentils etc, and have this past week started baking my own bread (although tonights went flat haha)

I also walk as much as I can, taking kids to their clubs, shopping (bought an old granny trolley bag lol).

I use cashback sites, do reviews and use bingoport for amazon vouchers which buys a few

So what have I done today?

• have transferred seedlings into pots and hoping they will survive and save me buying plants from the garden centre (first time growing from seed)
• baked bread
• walked to Aldi to get their bargain potatos and fruit
• played and posted on BP
• rated a few reviews on dooyoo
• browsed here and HUKD to see if any bargains about
• NOT turned the heating on when it got a bit chilly tonight
• kids had a shower at swimming and not at home
• transferred £7.53 into my virtual sealed pot

I am sure there are a few others things but I cant remember.

I love this thread already, there is anywhere to post things like this and where you can get other ideas all in one place.

pencekeeper

cha97michelle wrote: »

That is a big proportion of your income goes on the mortgage pencekeeper. :T I squeeze out what i can, but if we hadn't got the kids i know we would be miles further ahead. 1 - i'd still be working full time for £30k a year, 2 - the kids always need something wether nappies or snacks or clothes or toys. We would make do a lot more as we do now.

When i think of our early years as a couple when we spent so much on food and booze i wish we had been a bit more savvy with it. I guess it is part of the learning curve though.

Yes it is a big proportion - but salary for now is well above national average, and I've always been reasonably careful with money. I mean, I buy alcohol and a couple of takeaways a month etc, but I don't buy things like clothes, electrical goods etc unless I really need them.

Without the mortgage to pay, I reckon I could live on £500 a month (without a car). I wouldn't be flying around in a gold helicopter on that you understand, but it's comforting to know my needs should be quite small if I can get rid of the mortgage millstone around my neck.

Glamazon

Wow pencekeeper - amazing work :T