Mortgage free/reducing mortgage - Individuals approach

thriftychap_2

Basically - I want to pay my mortgage off asap but ill put it into perspective for you.

Im 27, earn 33500k a year, OH is 24 and earns 22k a year. We are getting married next year. Our earning potential over the next 5 years (before kids) is likely to be a joint income of around 65k so not great.
As mentioned above i want to be mortgage free asap....however....as you can see we are at he start of our journey, marriage kids etc. We have a 2 bed flat and want to move in a couple of years, meaning a bigger mortgage.

Many people say im boring, being fixated with being mortgage free and that i should live a little. We have no debts except student loans. I drive a 99 v plate audi a3 and OH a Citroen C1 which costs £100 a month (her dad works for citroen) my car will go in feb, mates say i should have fun and get a sports car, i do like cars you see!!

I would just like to know how others go/went about paying their mortgage off. Is it normal i dont want holidays and dont want to upgrade my car? I get a little down knowing i will take out a bigger mortgage in the years to come. The target of being mortgage free seems so far away and sometimes i think what is the point?

How did you guys go about doing it? not spend a penny? I get annoyed that my OH wants a 6k honeymoon. Is it weird that i get enjoyment from seeing money accumalate in the bank and would rather pay 6k off the mortgage than go on a honeymoon? I would enjoy that more.

moneysaymoneydo

65k a year not a lot? ...

museumworker

Hello and welcome. There is not one way to be an MFW and I'd recommend you take a look at a few diaries to see how others approach it. wynnvegas would be a good one for you, he has kept his annual trips to vegas but become mortgage free - and is now saving to build a house without a mortgage.

What size is your mortgage? And 65K is a lot - our joint income is around that, and we have a child to pay for and social lives, but we still managed to save around £20k this year.

Every penny off your mortgage saves you interest, and will mean your next mortgage is even smaller.

flatmate

Ha ha a joint income of 65k is above average so don't knock it. How much is your current mortgage?
I'm the same age and have just started trying to pay more of mine off, must have something to do with getting closer to 30 lol!

cha97michelle

I guess 65k is relative to your location and situation.

When we first started working we were on about 34k between us, which we built up over a few years to about 55k, which since we got married and had 2 kids is now more like £30k with child benefit and tax credits.

Within that, we have over the past 7 years:

• purchased a 95K house with a 73k mortgage, and reduced it to 30k
• spent about 10k getting married
• bought furniture, done house rennovations,
• had 2 kids, so had associated expenses such as childcare while i worked part time
• swapped both of our cars for newer models.

It totally depends on your priorities. It is definitely worth getting yourself more comfortable before having kids, but not at the expense of all experiences. One thing we do regret a little is our friends have had holidays in nice places abroad which we haven't before the kids came along, and now we won't be able to do stuff like that till they are either big enough or leave home.

You need to know what your comfort levels are. Eg. Don't suggest having no honeymoon or your OH will kick off especially if their expectation is a 6k one. Compromise and spend 2 or 3k.

We get one shot at life. No-one is going to do it 100% right, but don't make yourself miserable.

The advice to read the diaries is great, as you will be inspired by looking at what some people do manage on much smaller budgets. It also helps if you are on the same page with your OH and both have the same sort of vision.

tootallulah

However you do it getting mortgage free is a long haul and life needs nurturing along the way otherwise what are you doing it for? You have a good income and are young and have no ties beyond each other. Time to live a little, save a little, pay off a little and love life I think. Perhaps setting some enjoyment goals as well as saving goals would be a start.

thriftychap_2

Really loving that last reply - tululah i think. That really hit home and made sense. Thanks.

We will move in about two years so im guessing it will be about 160k. Is currently less.

Sorry if i offended anyone, i know 65k is ok but compared to what some people earn........

Oh! and no chance of the OH agreeing to a 2/3k honeymoon!!

I will set myself a goal, at the moment it will be wedding related. We are saving about £1200 a month for it at the moment which is annoying as i wish this was going off the mortgage or being saved to move!!

Lynn11

I overpaid our mortgage about 2yrs before we had DD and this year we moved to a 3 bed so we can extend our family in the near future. The overpayments certainly helped as our mortgage went down and we ported over the remaining amount and managed to get a fairly good rate for the extra money needed. I am now paying in a bit more overpayment than usual to bring the increased amount down slightly. Good luck but you need to have a reasonable standard of living.

My hubbie is ok about me doing the finances and agrees with the overpayments but does not really know the full facts but he is happy with our family life otherwise I think he woudl have his opinion on things.

originalmiscellany

the ever reliable Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1293121/Average-annual-salary-drops-2-600-just-months.html

states the average salary is well under what you 2 are on, but as you said, it's where you live. Having read other forums, the more you save earlier on makes a huge difference - I go on and on about them, but getting an offset could be perfect for you, as it encourages you to squirrel as much as possible, and if you're disciplined you do have access to the money for fun things.

A diary is great fun to not only read but to update, although that said mine's rubbish as nothing really ever goes on, apart from over payments.

An offset could work as for example wedding saving - you can save it and offset the mortgage until you spend it.

Worth a go?

thriftychap_2

do you not lose the benefit once you have spent it?

jennikitten

You live in south east England, am I right?