Ambitious MFW 28 October 2010 at 6:57AM edited 1 November 2010 at 3:24PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 133 replies 9.4K views

AnnaBeth

Not sure how to start this!
Have been reading the forums for some time and decided I should be joining rather than just reading.

We have lived in our house for two years it is worth more than we paid for it, so we're fortunate considering when we bought.
We both lived with our parents for over 4yrs after uni to amass a deposit to afford the house we bought. In those days I saved loads as goal was for the house.
When moved in seemed money was needed all over and although income has risen since first left uni have so quickly got used to it along with house needing money that saving loads hasn't seemed as worthwhile almost as if big debt nothing I can do about it!
Until reading these forums this week have inspired me to sort our finance out again and repay as what we owe of our mortgage is enormous and even with a lowish rate it's so much on interest we're giving away that it makes me feel v v sick!

We earn more than most, planning to start a family in the next few years and have been inspired here that perhaps we can overpay our mortgage while our earnings are high before children (would love not to return to work!).

My dh and I are 27 with a large mortgage of £155,500 :eek:
Have a new fixed rate of 3.89% for three years can overpay by 10%.

Have joint monthly income of £3,449.89 and the following monthly budget:
Mobile phones: £15
TV Licence:12.12
Cleaning products: £1
Internet inc home phone: £25
Gas & Elec:£52 - will be going up next month
Water: £20.24
C.Tax: £122.70
Home Ins: £13.39
Mortgage repayments: £853.39
Mortgage Protection Ins: £24.34
Food: £250
Window Cleaner: £8
Diesel: £110
Car Tax: £15.42
Car Ins: £41.67
Car Maintenance: £41.67
dh's Car loan: £186.79
Wedding credit card debt: £303 (0% Interest)
Mortgage shortfall: £190 (used to pay £190 more a month this is going into savings account to poss end up paying off mortgage in fixed rate of 4% for 12 mths)
Dry cleaning: £4.17
Cash withdrawal: £100
Cinema: £8
Hobbies: £20.83 (dh's and non-negotiable I've tried!)
Love Film: £3.99
Contact Lenses: £15
Haircuts: £8.33
Dentist: £10
Gym for two of us: £66.16
Clothes: £33.33
Uni Fees: £91.67 (Doing my masters)
Prof Subs for both: £50.15
Birthdays: £10
Holidays: £41.67
Christmas: £16.67
Lunches at work: £5

Underspend is £674 a month according to budget brain.

This seems really possible when look at it like that but where does our money go????
I am back to writing a detailed spend account which I have done before but lost the will to carry on with it when bought the house which seems backwards when I think about it! I'm keen to see how the budget and spending diary match so be gentle on me I'm not sure we really spend what's detailed above apart from DD's.

Gyms are v high I know but new and need to get fit+++
My gym v posh so thought would motivate me, verdict isn't clear yet.

Any advice/encouragement/ripping up of our budget welcome.

Putting it down here I know we are doing well with earnings etc which makes me think get on and overpay already! you all prob agree!

Overpaid by £100 already this month.

Sorry this is far too long but never posted before:o

CathT

Hi AB and welcome!

Have you used any of the mortgage calculators to see what difference your overpayments will make?

That's a good fixed rate too, i'm on a tracker at BR+2.69% and am dreading an interest rate rise!

mennie

Not got long so just a quick post. First well done for realising so early on in the mortgage, My biggest piece of advice is all the small overpayments do make a big difference so dont get disheartened

Looking at your outgoings, there are a few things I can see that could be cut down on quite easily.

Window Cleaner - If you did your own that would save nearly £100 per year
Food £250 is a lot for 2 people, especially as it doesnt include cleaning products, we are 2 and a dog and we eat well for £150 a month.
The £100 withdrawel, what is this for?
A lot of people find that giving them selves weekly/monthly pocket money works and use a spending diary to see where the money goes

The OS board is great for getting your shopping/heating bills down.

Good Luck x

SmlSave

Welcome to MFW Anna

Do you think you could cut for food spend to £200 a month? That would be a saving of £600 a year!

I spend £36p/m on the gym too and I generally go 2-3 times a week so its worth it for me and I agree that spending that money makes me go! My DH on the otherhand still pays the money and maybe goes twice a month.

I look forward to hearing about your MF journey

AnnaBeth

Thank you all for your replies already, this is so quick a lot of like minded people really are out there!:j

Not too sure that really is what we spend on food hence the spending diary to really see.

Will think about window cleaner definitely.

Checked ISA balance this morning and have more than I thought I did so that's a bonus, it's our emergency pot of money aiming to get it to £7,000 and just under 2,000 to go so not too bad, hoping to save in there and make mortgage overpayments too.

£100 cash is something we thought we might do but not sure where the money goes or indeed if it is that amount, the spending diary will help us a lot.

Like the idea of just using cash but like getting clubcard points on tesco credit card so not sure if it's worth it?!?

SmlSave

I can't get used to the cash system but I know it works for lots of people.

AnnaBeth

Forget the first overpayment it didn't work as can only make overpayments of £1,000 or over every quarter so not as flexible as I thought but flexible enough. This has made me want to aim higher to pay off more quickly along with other peoples posts - thanks for the inspiration, sorry names escape me and haven't worked out the quoting thing yet!

Adjusted the budget this morning and set up separate accounts for one off's like car insurance etc as had in one account which then looks like you have more money than you do and prob end up spending what you budget for each month to cover costs such as car insurance.

DH did stringent food budgeting last night with planning what we need for each meal we cook at home which should be useful.

Off to the gym now to make up for expensive membership costs!

SmlSave

OMG! A DH that does food budgeting! May I borrow him?

To quote I just hightlight and copy what I want to quote, paste it into my reply box, highlight again and hit the speech icon at the top It allows me to multi quote easily.

AnnaBeth

To quote I just hightlight and copy what I want to quote, paste it into my reply box, highlight again and hit the speech icon at the top It allows me to multi quote easily.

Thanks SmlSave testing if it works!

AnnaBeth

Sort of worked!
Withdrawn cash for our new smaller food budget for a month going to see how we get on

nellis10

Hi AnnaBeth and Welcome to the MFW Diary Club!!!!

I've found that using a spend diary/excel spreadsheet REALLY helped me...I used to go about 3-4 months without opening a statement or going online, and when I would go on, I would close one eye and squirm...now that I go on at least weekly if not daily I can really see where my money is going and what I am spending on and more importantly WHERE I CAN SAVE!!!!!!!

I'd say a 1/3 of my spending goes on Mr T and Mr A and general crap, so for me there is a lot of saving to be had!!

I also get reduced/subsidised Gym, but haven't been since MAY so there's £15 I can get abck into my pocket immediately...in fact just sent an email to Finance at work asking when I can stop the gym!!!! We have a hill out the back of our house...that's more than enough GYM for me and its FREE!!! :rotfl: