My Mortgage Free Diary

mpgsheep

Oh dear, have let this slip. Work and Christmas has kept me pretty busy. Only 2 months until bonus, really hoping my hard work is recognised!

Latest outstanding balance: £247,159.19 - basis our purchase price 12 months ago, we now own 19.62% of our house - £1168.5 more to the milestone of 20%. Question is whether possible to get it to 25% in time for remortaging in Jan 2015...seems quite unlikely but we will see, house is likely valued more by then, so might just creep into it.

mpgsheep

Again time flies, and have got extremely poor at updating this.

Since my last post I have received my annual review, and did really quite well, suprised myself in fact! What this means is I can now resume making overpayments.

Currently on hold with RBS, but plan is to increase actual mortgage payment by £100 per month, and yesterday set up a First Direct Regular Saver for another £300 a month, so a virtual total overpayment of £400 per month. Also scope to do a bit more, but concentrating on clearing the 0% credit cards first, plus enjoying a bit of extra money after being quite tight over the last 12 months.

What is funny is that despite having a bit of extra money, we can't decide what to buy. Apart from buying a new hoover, as previous one was (quite literally) falling apart, there is nothing majorly of note that needs replacing. We have a plasterer coming in next week to do the hall, stairs and landing, but we will probably paint that all ourselves, and the carpet is already bought and paid for (had to buy a lot at same time to ensure didnt go out of stock). Is strange, but i think MSE has fully converted me!

Happier_Me

Hi mpgsheep, just read your diary.

We made our move when second child was eight months old, so probably the most expensive time to move when you take into account childcare costs etc. But we actually found this to be the best time - no fancy holidays or expensive meals out for us with children to think about.

My youngest has just turned six and we are hitting the mortgage hard now I am working full time. Good luck with the overpaying and that balance will be smashed when your children are at school and a second income can be thrown at it.

Don't forget to enjoy the journey though. Sometimes I don't always get the mortgage free/live a little now balance right.

mpgsheep

Hi Happier Me,

Yes my wife and I are both quite committed to not wasting money on "things", but more on "experiences". Looking forward to taking the boys (2 of them) away for their first holiday together later this year.

We definitely have the opportunity to smash the balance now tbh, but after a year of seeing the emergency fund slowly whittle down to nothing, nice to have a cushion again. We are able to remortgage next January, so if still in a good position financially then will look to overpay more.

Peonie

mpg, in your signature is the current mortgage balance for 2014?

mpgsheep

well spotted Peonie, duly corrected.

Not quite accurate as do have some money saved which intending to allocate when remortgaging next, but is what the online banking shows.

mpgsheep

As usual, strategy changed. Decided that the 6% interest minus tax wasnt as good as just overpaying on 5.95%. So have closed the regular saver, overpaid the £1200, and set new overpayment to £415.74, which kicks in on 1st July.

So exciting stuff! one of the 0% credit cards is cleared now also, so the money going to that will switch to the other one, plenty of time so shouldn't be a problem.

All in all quite positive!

Peonie

Do you have a new OP target for the year?

Well done clearing the CC. Are there many more you need to clear?

mpgsheep

Hi Peonie,

Target wise nothing, just continue with what we are doing. Cc wise only one left (never had more than 2 simultaneously). Money is there to clear it but have until February 2015 to do so. However prefer to leave that money where it is and essentially pay it off every month. Once that is done then that frees up some extra per month, potentially for overpaying I guess, but will see.

mpgsheep

So the effects of the £1200 and increased monthly overpayment have hit, which now takes us into the 80% LTV territory for the first time which is nice in anticipation of remortaging at the start of next year. What is even more positive is that with prices going up, basis a revaluation we might actually be nearer 75%, question is can we get it to 70% by remortgage time...