My MFW diary to reduce mortgage as much as I can

newgirly

Hi Linz, it must be the same sort of thing but you collect points, but there are not always piggy points to click on every day though so I not sure its worth it. I will have a look at topcashback as I am a memeber anyway, thanks for the help

linz

Yey! I have my online banking details

So I have set my preference for the overpayments to reduce the term rather than the monthly payment amount and following my overpayment on the weekend my balance stands at £43,054. When this months payment comes out according to a fab spreadsheet I found on the stickys my balance will be £42,874. Not bad in one month

My spreadsheet tells me I would be MF in 4 years if i carried on with this overpayment every month but I know I will be moving in the not too distant future so just need to overpay my £500's as much as I can and also try and save towards the next house when I move so the additional borrowing is as little as I can get it.

Hope everyone's having a nice evening. I have Masterchef and Lord Sugar to look forward to here!

linz

Hmm, my spreadsheet is a little out as my monthly payment has come out and mortgage is now lower than the online calculator prediction Oh well, i'm not complaining! Think it's probably to do with the interest coming off the day after any lump sum overpayment gets paid in.

Am down to £42,764 now Next month all being well should be not much over £42,1xx, yippee

Apart from that clicks are going ok and am umming and aahing about opening one of the new 5% Lloyds monthly saver accounts for anything left over from overpaying each month.

LilacPixie

Linz I'm umming and AAing over the same thing. my mortgage rate is lenders SVR and is down to 3.xx% so a 5% gross is still better return by my calculations. I need to investigate tie in periods and if there are any first.

pammyj74

linz wrote: »

For a bit of extra pocket money I do daily clicks and have made over £500 this year so far I also do online surveys, free scratchcards etc, all things I have heard about on this wonderful site.

I buy mostly basic range food, shop in the evenings to get reduced food, take packed lunch to work, eat 'something' on toast once a week, cook in bulk and freeze extra portions, buy work clothes from charity shops and other clothes in the sales. I have also recently discovered budget airlines and hostels which are ace for cheap city breaks so I can still have holidays, just on a shoestring and get to see really cool places :j

I actually feel a bit sad at what a cheapskate I sound! but feel that it will be worth it later on in life when I can look back and be glad I did it while I was in a position to.

You're on the right track and doing similar things to me. I do like the idea of the holidays on a shoestring. Can I ask where you look for these?
Are you on your own, have family? Do you have good LTV on your property at the moment?
Sorry being nosey lol

If you sound like a cheapskate then we all are but we will be the ones smiling in a few years when we are free earlier than expected and we can then enjoy the later years in life when kids move out etc.

Good luck with it all and hope you find a dream home when you do eventually have to move.
x

LilacPixie

Linz - What are the daily clicks like now a days?? LLoyds regular saver is looking like a good bet. There seems to be no tie ins at all.

linz

pammy - It's just me at the moment, LTV well the house is worth approx 105k and mortgage is 42kish. Does that make it 40 or 60%? I don't know which way round it goes!

As far as holidays/city breaks I look for deals with Easyjet/Ryanair/Wizzair when they have promotions on and go for a few days, hand luggage only. I look for hostels on hostelbookers.com. The website gives really clear instructions on how to get to the hostels by public transport so I don't use taxi's which can save a lot. Most hostels only cost £5-£10 a night and lots do breakfast aswell. They also have fridges so you can buy food in the supermarket and cook in the hostel and it works out really cheap. I like to eat out aswell though, when i'm away, but the facilities are there if I ever fancy a cheap night.

So far i've been to Krakow, Riga and am off to Budapest next month Hostels are not everyones cup of tea, but you can get private rooms, even with en suite bathrooms. I have seen families in hostels before. The locals on reception will also tell you the best places to go to eat, give you directions to get to places etc. I love them now.

Lilacpixie - daily clicks are ok, not great at the mo, although there are some good sites (speedcashback, ecasher, fatcheese, getpoundsback, topcashback are my faves) I also use TCB for every online purchase, car ins etc. I also do a few others, probably about 10 in total and am currently getting about £40 a month. Random car insurance quotes help the balance tho It's not exactly a fortune but it's free money at the end of the day so i'll take as much as I can! Probably takes about an hour a night and I do it when I get in from work before tea.

linz

Have just made my overpayment for November, has to be £350 this month as i'm off to Budapest for a long weekend (Wizzair deal and hostelbookers ) but if i'm doing well later in the month I will move over whatever's left in my current account at the end of the month aswell.

Is it sad to look forward to a new month - not for payday but for overpayment day? :rotfl:

linz

Ace, I've just used Martin's overpayment calculator and worked out that the £850 I have overpaid in the last two months have saved £1248 in interest and took 7 months off my mortgage end date :D

Apart from that I have sent off an old mobile phone for recycling for £48 and am going to downgrade my mobile phone contract next month, when i'm allowed to. Have done almost all of my Christmas shopping so no need to battle with the crowds in December Hope to manage a £500 OP in Dec but we'll see. I have 3 Christmas parties to go to aswell

Am probably going to change my current account from Halifax Rewards (but keep it open, plonk £1k in it, take it out again, to get the £5 a month) and open a current account with First Direct instead. I like the sound of their 8% Regular Saver account, plus £100 for switching.

I've been helping my mum and dad save a bit of money aswell. I've reduced their phone, broadband and tv package with Virgin as they were paying through the roof and didn't watch half the channels. I think Virgin are a bit of a rip off and they could save so much by switching back to BT for phone and broadband and just watching the freeview channels so once the Virgin switching/downgrading has settled I will approach them about going back to BT. Saw an offer in the paper for £13.99 a month for phone and broadband. They were paying £46 a month for Virgin, for all the channels bar sports and movies :eek:

katsu

I'm helping my parents too. They had never used comparison sites for insurance :eek: and have been with the same companies for years. So far their savings are over £500 pa! We still have lots more things they can do.