PJF's New Quest

sarahevie

PurpleJellyFish wrote: »

The other options are to open a new regular saver and drip feed back in or to make an OP of course. Decisions decisions...

My OH and I are big savers and have always had savings, but recently we realised we were getting such low returns for savings that it was better to whack it off the mortgage.

In doing so we have knocked 6 years off the term and saved ourselves in excess of £48,000 in mortgage interest - now I am worried about the unexpected as we have a small reserve (£3000) but do believe it is worth it for the savings in interest.

To make our decision we played about with the mortgage overpayment calculator, I'd recommend it.

Our decision might not be the right one for you, but it is worth looking at how much interest you might save.

PurpleJellyFish

Soooo, it's been a while since I posted...

£380 OP since my last post which I'm pleased about as I've reached my £1K target. I've just changed my target to £2K but does anyone have ideas for something other than just upping the target? I've thought about getting it down to a specific figure owed but not sure if this is the way forward

PurpleJellyFish

Another £20 OP squeezed from the budget.

Now starting to muse about next year's ISA allowance. Wondering whether to chuck everything at the mortgage or to save the allowance. I know I have a few months before ISA season but I like to have a plan in mind. I do already have a couple of years ISA saved and am slowly building up another emergency fund but am drawn to having another chunk in there. I suppose it will come down to the interest rates on offer in April though

linz

Am thinking the same thing about ISA's PJF.

Keep an eye on the Savings & Investments board - people on there think the banks will be offering new deals in March time to attract customers.

gallygirl

Me too pjf & linz. With the added complication that interest rates are likely to rise during the tax year so we'll be able to face the dilemma again a few times during the tax year

PurpleJellyFish

It makes my head hurt thinking about it! Oh for a crystal ball...

Another £10 today so I'm doing ok this month. May start to siphon off a few pennies in preparation for the big ISA decision, well I might count my money pig and bank it!

PurpleJellyFish

£30 OP today - payday in a week and money burning a hole in my bank account!

Rather than getting daunted by the amount left to pay on the mortgage I'm starting to calculate other things to spur me on - I'm now paying £5 a month less interest as a result of my OPs! :T

I think my long term aim at the moment is to reach 50% LTV by the time I remortgage at the end of Aug 2012. On course for that if I continue as I have been!

PurpleJellyFish

£30 OP today - coming along nicely now. Even though I've got another year and a half on my fixed rate I'm still checking the mortgage deals out there. Anyone else wondering how they'll fare when the rates increase? I just hope my good LTV helps when the time comes to remortgage or stick on the SVR

PurpleJellyFish

£160 in OP since the last time I logged on. Small steps forward but I've now saved over £1000 in interest over the term of the mortgage and my daily interest is now under £6 - just!

I've got to pay for the next part of my Masters this week and it's coming up to the time of year I'd planned to have some stuff done to the house. Decisions decisions...May have to step back a bit on the OPs as although I've enough saved for some of it (fees for uni and a new back door), there's also a window to be replaced and the small matter of wall ties and repointing. I do have funds in ISAs and an emergency fund but I'm trying hard not to dip into these so there's some serious money saving planned

PurpleJellyFish

Long time since I've posted here but good news to report. I've reached my target of £2000 in overpayments. Now for a new target. Need to do some number crunching to work out what is realistic but still a challenge.