It's Simple To Be MF

LilacPixie

Well Done. Personally I could not go for 6 years with no holidays/nice cars etc etc.

We are lucky in that we can still afford these things and overpay the mortgage. I see my own MF journey as a balance between having an nice but not wasteful lifestyle and enjoying ourselves as health can fail at any moment

madeupname1

LilacPixie wrote: »

Well Done. Personally I could not go for 6 years with no holidays/nice cars etc etc.

We are lucky in that we can still afford these things and overpay the mortgage. I see my own MF journey as a balance between having an nice but not wasteful lifestyle and enjoying ourselves as health can fail at any moment

Nice point. OP found the balance that worked for him/her and it appears to have you. Still trying to figure out mine - don't want to live like a hermit until my late 40s!

thaylock

Quite right, you do need the right balance between work & pleasure & your health does come first. You don't have to live like a hermit, just give up lifes luxuries temporarily (you won't miss them really - it's just marketing men telling you you need lot's of things) - I still enjoyed myself during those 6 years & didn't go without. You are also correct in saying your health can fail at any moment, in which case you probably won't be able to afford to pay the mortgage if you are not able to work so you will end up losing your house. People who have a live for today attitude should consider someday tomorrow will come & they will wish they did things a little differently when they had the chance. Good luck to those of you who are making a serious committment to reducing your mortgage - you are sowing the seeds today to reap benefits tomorrow & you deserve everything that's coming to you - best of all peace of mind.

Thrugelmir

LilacPixie wrote: »

Well Done. Personally I could not go for 6 years with no holidays/nice cars etc etc.

Life is so so unpredictable. For many reasons.

When you reach later life all you may have left is the memories.

missrlr

I started from zero (again) 5 years ago with a 30 year 135k mortgage on a £150k property for various boring and mundane reasons which resulted in a set of not so specific personal circumstances. Big points on my side = zero debt and a complete aversion to lending ANYONE ANY SUM OF MONEY EVER AGAIN.

So, all set, can afford it will use any pay increases to overpay mortgage and wil rent room. Rented room, bought (secondhand) car I have always wanted. It is not practical, cheap or sensible but I love it, and as the horse died it made little difference to the grand scheme of things.
Started to over pay mortgage regularly - mortgage now has 18 years left and will be done sooner than that. I don't have holidays (I travel a lot for work so can tag extra days on when I am somewhere nice usually for no extra cost on the flight and only hotel bills to pay) car is still with me (now a 9 year old cherished darling) and I have a second home.
I don't go to the pub, eat out, buy new clothes unless work ones are beyond reasonable and have holidays. Although I could use the car for commuting I don't and I pay the price in terms of time (x3 on train to get there versus using car). There is me and only me left sorting my life out so the "premium for liquidity" in my savings account is the only luxury I leave myself.

As others have said it is about what you think and know you can do without so find your level and go for it, never forget the power of one small step.

Luv2Budget

thaylock I agree with you. I'm paying off my mortgage on my own and hoping to be mortgage free in 4 years. You never know what's around the corner, I have a job at the moment, but who knows what tomorrow brings. This government is making so many cutbacks and it is looking very worrying for for the future. Holidays to me are a luxury that I'm willing to do without for now. You only have to look at the DFW board and see many couples say they were managing their debt well and suddenly OH has lost their job and they are suddenly struggling. Being on your own it is all down to you, so I'd rather a little savings behind me and pay off as much as my mortgage as I can.

BARGAINHUNTER!

Well done! If you keep a spending diary for a couple of months you should easily be able to see where you can trim a bit off here and there. Food is one of the easiest ones to do - write a meal plan using cheap recipies (brilliant threads on this board) and go shopping once a week only if you can. All those little trips to the shops add up!! Also sandwiches taken to work and no buying expensive coffee out. Cheap trips out can be cinema tickets from free cinema ticket forum or orange wednesday (take your own drinks and snacks in). Stop buying books and newspapers - newspapers can be read online and books ordered in from library. Lots of tips on MFW board but must admit ive been a bit lax recently not keeping an eye on spends but still managed to overpay as I have already set up monthly direct debit to do so.

Nothing more motivating than setting up a spreadsheet and seeing the term reduce significantly each month!!!

Keep at it - every little helps!