Fresh start, new home!

kmcld2

Afternoon everyone!
I am hoping to make over-payments to my mortgage from January next year to pay it off sooner. At the moment I am saving £100 a month so I'll have an emergency fund to fall back on. Come December there should be about £4K in it. My mortgage is a two year fixed repayment mortgage with Nationwide over 25 years. I took that out in September 2009. The interest rate is 5.08%. My balance just now is just over £64K. I have no other loans or credits cards. The only Direct debits / standing orders that come out of my account every month are as follows:

Council tax: £130.67
BT: between £30 - £35
Gym: £20
Buildings insurance: £23.05
Contents insurance: £23.66
Gas: £33.50
Elec: £33.50
TV license: £11.93
Critical illness: £10.64
Pension: £30.78
Internet: £14.99
Mortgage: £421.98
Christmas acc: £100
Emergency fund acc: £100
Saving acc: £100

At the moment I earn approx £1500 a month, sometimes a bit more, sometimes less. I'm going to start shopping at Aldi / Lidl and try and budget myself to £100 a month and pay cash instead of using my debit card all the time. What I was wondering was, what is a realistic timescale for me to aim for? Ideally I would like like to be mortgage-free by the time I turn 40 in five years but if I could do it sooner that would be even better.

Many thanks,
Kelly.

Queen-Bee_2

Hi Kelly,

The name of your thread is the same as mine - I was somewhat confused as I'd clicked on it to update my own diary...

... however, welcome to the board. Everyone is very friendly here...

... looking at your SOA, have you considered merging your BT and internet accounts? I used to have one with BT and a separate one with Virgin - taking one account with TalkTalk slashed my bills by literally hundreds a year.
QB

kmcld2

Hi Queen-Bee,
My phone and internet are both with BT and I am tied in just now in a years contract. I've a funny feeling now I think about it that the broadband price might be included in the phone bill. I'll need to double check that.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. This is just the best web-site!

Kelly.

dimbo61

If you really want to be mortgage free in 5 years you need to start overpaying the mortgage NOW!
Check with Nationwide but I think they allow most customers to overpay by £500 a month so that would be a good starting point.
you are putting money into 2 savings accounts which will not be paying 5.08% interest after tax so consider the overpaying option.

MrsManda

As Dimbob said, it may be worth overpaying now.
Look at your Nationwide T&Cs, my NW mortgage allows you to take out the money you've overpaid or use it to give you a payment holiday should you require it without having to apply for your mortgage to be extended. Therefore you can use your overpayments as your emergency fund
New NW mortgages I don't think have this facility but I can't remember when they changed it so check your T&Cs

kmcld2

I am going to seriously start this again. I did make some overpayments to my mortgage over the last few years, just whatever I had left at the end of the month went towards my mortgage. I was originally on a two year fixed term from when I took the mortgage out in 2009. I am now on a five year fixed term until 2016 and I am determined to get the balance down as much as possible by then. My monthly mortgage payment has reduced to £378.22 and I can still make overpayments with Nationwide of up to £500 a month. I'm going to look through my direct debits today and see where I can make savings as I was originally tied in to some of them for a certain length of time but not now. Ive done away with a couple of them but also have a couple of new ones. I'll do a new SOA once I've got proper figures. I'm in the process of getting a vegetable patch done in the back garden so hopefully if that goes well that should save me money as I'm vegan anyway and I'm looking for a bread machine as that'll save money too in the long run. I'm also in the process of starting a small business as a knitwear designer. I bought Martin Lewis' three books so will be studying them today. I'm annoyed at myself as if I'd really stuck at it I could've had quite a lot knocked off the balance by now. I'm so inspired reading everyone else's diaries in here.

P.S: Does anyone know how to change the title at the very top of the page? I'd like to change it from 'Mortgage Free ASAP' to something else.

kmcld2

Had quite a busy and productive day today. Bought myself a bread maker which was on offer and made a loaf which was delicious. Tidied out a cupboard that I don't go into very often and found umpteen packets of herb seeds so I've planted them in pots on my kitchen window sill. Found a packet of pumpkin seeds in among them. I can't wait to see if they take and what it will taste like if they do. It's something I've never tried before. I also found a pasta maker, still in its box and never used so will be having a go at home-made pasta too.
I've been looking around at all areas where I can cut back on and cleaning products is one. I have two cupboards bursting at the seams with cleaning stuff. I'm going to try cleaning with vinegar, lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda and carbolic soap which I have bars of already once I've used up what I have. I'm going to have a look for a small chest freezer so I can start proper meal planning and cooking big batches of food instead of running to the shop every night and coming out with more than I intended. I'll go through my direct debits tonight and see where changes can be made.

lilyp

Hi Kelly,

Good luck with your diary and overpayments. I find posting in my diary every night really helps keep me focused.

I am a veggie who is trying desperately to be vegan. Its hard because work provide free lunches and while there is a veggie option its never dairy free. Whichever way I look at it eating lunch at work saves me loads of time and money but I am vegan for the rest of the time. Having said that I save a fortune not eating meat I am sure.

Anyway I didn't mean to hijack your diary. Keep going - you are doing really well

lilyp

oh and I only ever clean with bicarb, lemon and vinegar. Saves a fortune and I don't feel intoxicated by fumes. I used to get a migraine everytime I cleaned my bathroom even with ethical products like Method or Ecover. Just fill a spray bottle with half vinegar, half water, grab a microfiber cloth and you are good to go:j

kmcld2

Thanks and feel free to hijack anytime. I was just reading your diary when you posted on mine! I probably will try and post every night even if it's just ramblings. It's actually quite exciting trying to make changes to be mortgage free a lot quicker. I find I'm thinking about everything I'm doing a lot more and if I'm in a shop for example, do I really need a certain thing or is it just because I want it. I'd like to pay mine off and have a lot more time to concentrate on setting up as a freelance knitwear designer and working from home without having to worry about bills etc. That's the plan anyway. Good luck with trying to become mortgage free!

Thistlewhistle

Hi Kelly,

Looks like you're starting as you mean to go on!!!
Good luck!

Thistle