My MFW diary to reduce mortgage as much as I can

linz

Just made a £500 OP for December Balance at today £42,416.57. With this months OP plus monthly charge balance should be down to about £41,8xx for the start of the new year- hurrah!

Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and New Year xx

linz

Can anyone answer this question for me I wonder ?

I am hoping to buy a house nearer to work some time in 2011 which will mean borrowing more, probably about 30k adding on to my mortgage. At the moment my OP's are reducing the term rather than reducing the monthly mortgage payment. Does it make much difference if my OP's reduce the term or should I be choosing to have the monthly payment reduced instead? Payments would go down £3 odd a month if I chose that option. I'm not really sure which option would be better for my circumstances or whether there isn't much of a difference.

Thanks in advance..

linz

Happy New Year fellow MFWers!

£500 O/P on it's way today - I wish Halifax to Nationwide faster payments worked! Grrr.

Balance today is £41,788.08, daily interest is £6.23.

I've been making a list of New Year's Resolutions and have come up with the following for 2011 -

- OP mortgage as much as possible (of course )
- Experiment more in the kitchen, learn to use leftovers more.
- Bake more for works lunches and instead of buying snacky foods.
- Buy any clothes from charity shops as much as possible. Don't really need any for a while anyway so can't see me buying much this year.
- Make as much free money from daily clicks and online surveys as poss.
- Buy birthday / Christmas presents throughout the year as and when I see something that would suit.
- Do lots of camping in places in the UK i've never visited when weather gets warmer.
- Save £2 coins and 20p's/coppers. Can't really get away with saving 50ps as well as I find I dip into it to buy milk or bread. I have a piggy bank I have to smash open for the £2 coins and a big whisky bottle for the rest. Not sure what the savings will go towards yet, still thinking.
- Hopefully move house sometime in 2011.
- Be happy and enjoy life - we only get one !

All the best

romylou_2

Happy New Year Linz

You are getting on really well with your mortgage o/payments. I can only manage £100 per month until I finish clearing my dreaded credit cards (Thats what I get for holidaying on plastic!!!!):mad:

Anyway, new year, new start and all that. I've started my own diary so feel free to have a look to see how I'm getting on.

You are quite an inspiration and I hope I'll be as successful as you when the tie comes for me to start chipping away at my mortgage.

Well Done.

linz

Awww thanks for your kind words Romylou, i'll pop across and check out your diary and see how you're getting along.

romylou_2

Hi Linz

Saw your mini challenge thread (£1500 in 3 months) what a good idea. Ignore the muppet who declared the xmas bonus! Some people take all the fun out of things. I'll be eagerly following your progress. I have too much stuff to pay out just now, otherwise I would have been in.

Good Luck

linz

Tks Romylou! Yes, I need more emergency savings but don't want to stop my OP's :rotfl:

I'm hoping i'll be able to do it without that much difference to my normal routine. I will have to watch the food spending though. No bottles of wine on a weekend (a good thing, drank enough over Xmas!) and will be browsing the s**t shelves in Morrisons (but I do that already too haha)

Got enough Xmas goodies aswell for packed lunches to last a couple of months.

I'm not up to much this weekend so will try and do some meal planning, plonk a load of veg in the slow cooker and make some casseroles and stews.

My petrol lights about to come on aswell and i'm determined not to get petrol until I have to go somewhere that I can't walk to, which up to now is not until Monday lol. I 've started walking to work again, it's not far and good exercise at the speed I walk, I just tend to drive so I can have an extra few minutes in bed!

I'm a totally over-the-top determined person though, and when I set myself a goal if I think i'm going to be a bit short I know i'll become a total hermit and WILL eat beans on toast for 2 weeks just to make sure I get there!

romylou_2

:T Wow you are determined.

Following with interest

Good Luck x

linz

Well a quick mid-month update, this months OP and monthly payment have now come off the remaining balance and am now at £41,028.45. Two months until in the thirties.

Am currently having a mega frugal month as i've decided I don't have as much emergency savings as i'd like so have set myself a goal of saving £1500 by 31 March, whilst still OP'ing. I should get there barring any mishaps so another couple more MSE months to go then i'll feel a bit more comfortable.

I think i'm doing things in the wrong order and maybe should OP a bit less for a few months til savings have gone up a bit but can't bring myself to lower them :rotfl:

Also only 4 months til my mortgage switches to SVR and i'll be able to OP as much as I can, rather than £500 a month i'm limited to at the moment.

Onwards and upwards!

mortgage_girl

Found you! *waves* Wow, i'm amazed at how much you made from daily clicks last year! Have you heard of bingoport? If you haven't you might want to give it a go as you can redeem the points you get there for Amazon vouchers - pm me if you'd like any more info or there might be a thread on it somewhere on the forum.

I like your idea of having something on toast once a week. I think I might give that a go. Well done on your £500 overpayments too, that's a fabulous amount.

Good luck on your MF journey - you seem to have got off to a really good start