Two years off and finish in 7.5 years !

Pennypincher2

Hello everyone,

Gosh this feels rather brave.

Briefly we hope to just bob under the £100,000 mark on our mortgage for the new year, this is made up of two mortgages:

£39450 at 2.5%
£61365 at 4.48% (goes down to 2.5% in June)

We pay out £1035 ish. We have 9.5 years left (June 2020) which takes my husband up about 6 month before he intends to retire.

Now our mortgage is a fair bit to pay and I would like to over pay £160 per month which would get us a year finished early but really I would like to complete it by May 2018 - which would be a nice 50th birthday pressie for me. Also would give my hubby and I a couple of years both working before he retires and also the kids go to university!!!:eek:

Impossible to shave this mortgage by two years - too expensive and not doable. But that is our challenge.

Also I have the added bonus of having to do it with stealth - he's not really that in to it.

So I start properly Jan 2011 and will sort out any hangover Xmas debt (nil hopefully), plan overpayment, plan and save for holiday and all else.

Bye PP

Imelda

Hi PP,

I am new to these boards too, it's quite exciting planning for MF life!

I too think I am going to be doing this on my own, although my DH likes the theory of being MF he doesn't seem to grasp the concept of saving money.... ah well, I am hoping to convert him.

Wishing you all the best, I'll keep an eye out for your diary.

CathT

Hi and welcome,

Always best to set yourself a decent challenge to keep on the straight and narrow. Good luck with it.

yukkibear

Hi welcome to the boards. Good luck with your challenge

getmore4less

Is there going to be any retirement lump sum and what sort of pension income is expected.

There may be better options to paying of the mortgage early especialy if you have some expences coming up like university costs.

Pennypincher2

My children are small and the last thing I am worried about is university - neither will probably go...

By the time they are 18 my DH will have retired and we will be down to one salary - mine and his small pension. I am relaxed about this as we have spent all of our lives together scrimping and scraping without much income. To be in the position to live within ones means is lovely as we do, to have paid off the mortgage a little early and got a little nest egg (and perhaps a bit of travelling) would be fantastic.

History of the beast.
My lovely DH and I have in the past had the smallest unsuitable flat with over 50% negative equity at the time with the highest interest on record - we stayed 10 years until the property returned to the value we bought it for. We over-paid our mortgage to compensate for our under achieving endowment - then got released from it and switched to a repayment (not noticing the increase as we had been over paying). I hated where we lived (but the house was fine) and DH said 'we are not taking a house move debt on to our mortgage when you just don't like living here' (nor did he like it, btw). So I straightened out our finances and without much income I saved and saved and saved and last year announced we had £7000 in our savings to move (three years it took). So we did. DH knows I have been over paying our existing mortgage as am able, he knows I want rid of the mortgage and I worry that interest rates will go high again, so if we get into good habits, when the rates go up we can cope without too much anxiety... But I plan really, with the thought of getting out of the clutches of building society and freeing us from the torment of mortgage debt. If we move again I hope it will be as cash buyers.

My next post should really be action plan or at least ideas (others not mine probably - so thanks to all cos I am an avid reader and I love so many threads and people on this board)..

1. Maintain nil debt except mortgage (have been sorting this out over past few months again, not one to run up big debt but sometimes things get popped on to a credit card and it takes two months to disappear - this will stop).
2. Set budget and closely monitor to see it is realistic and we are sticking to it. (£400 per month to include food, school dinners, cleaning products, pet stuff etc). Shop in Wilkos for cleaning products not T, once a month Aldi visit and greengrocers and butchers cos we like to.
3. Review utility bills, turn down heating, hot water, only shower, wear extra jumpers - ha ha ha.
4. Be inventive with pressies and a bit stingy - use Tesco vouchers and Boots points. Make things or little sets of things cheaply and inventively.
5. Join Top Cash Back - have joined now see how it goes.
6. Plan and save for up coming things. I did a SOA some time ago and tried to forward save for all up coming things but couldnt switch it forward, as each month I didnt have enough extra to convert my bill paying over. To try again for January...
7. Spent less money, is it need or want.
8. Grow veg and fruit (very small garden but will do my best)
9. Not to waste food, cook, freeze and make the most of what ingredients we have. Re read Economy Gastronomy for tips.
10. Reduce car use to only work and essential, walk and cycle (must fix tyre).
11. Bake cakes for lunch boxes and develop a fruit snack bar that I can cook easily and cheaply as I spend too much money on lunch box stuff and fruit snack.
12. Kids in hand me downs (they know no different), even I get hand me downs from my friends - I love it...

Gosh is that enough...

I don't do clicks or mystery shopping because I don't have lots of time,I dont really understand them and I don't work in town so would have to make a special journey. I do work 30 hours per week (which is too much but lets not go there) and my children are juniors at school so still require lot of time and attention. My husband works full time and requires lots of attention, as does my home. My mum and sister live nearby and I see them, my Mum does some childcare for me but I also use a child minder but she is great and not at all expensive all things considered.

I am not a teacher!!!:D

My mantra has always been spend less to work less but I am not working less, I am working more. So now I have modified it to, This debt owns us and I hate it, lets work more, spend less and rid ourself of the chains of debt. Not catchy but you get my drift.

Bye PP rudolf

ally18

Hi PP,

Just wanted to say Good Luck on your journey, you have set yourself some fab targets so I hope it works for you.

I have just started my journey too, it does help keeping a diary even of the mundane things and you don't realise how little costs add up so quickly.

brizzledfw

Hi and welcome!! Sounds like a plan....

[Deleted User]

Hi and welcome
sounds like a fantastic plan! always good to have new diaries to get extra tips from!

golfiematt

i couldnt agree more about the mortgage deciding your life, good luck with your challenge, it will be worth it in the end!

Pennypincher2

Quick up date...

Bills paid for Christmas and not a lot left for January. I need to be very tight in Jan to make ends meet.

No credit card debt left. Nil overpay this month but hoping for one end of Jan.

Fingers crossed that Jan slips by...

Oh leaking drain and other bits need man in but have nil monies till Jan pay day in about five weeks time.

Have been shopping today and will be having eggs for dinner one night per week and something on toast to keep budget down.

Shall keep you posted.