Introduction, MF wannabe

lincoln-potter

Hello one and all.

I have been somewhat of a casual browser over the years but have finally got round to registering.

I am the same as many of you and wishing to be mortgage free.

Seeing the other posts everybody gives a brief background insight so here is mine.

I have only recently (6 weeks ago) moved into my second home with my partner and children, it is what we class as our final home as the location is perfect for our childrens upbringing and close relation to my work. We are in our mid to late 20's and are quite sensible so have set ourselves a goal of being mortgage free by our 40's.

Now regarding my mortgate situation it is daunting £195,757 over 30 years.
We are on a fixed rate 2 year of 2.95% (if my memory serves me correctly).
Monthly payments of £796.52.

Having moved house we saw it as a good time to look at our costs and have taken a few steps so far to reducing our costs. Cancelled sky, online food shop, contact lenses online rather than monthly through D&A. Had the loft space insulated via council.

There are several more steps for us to take (just ordered our energy monitor), our windows are single glazed and currently even without the seal strips in many places.

Thank you for reading and I hope to have some engaging conversations and general tips and advice.

katsu

Welcome l-p :wave:

MSE is a fantastic community and you will get lots of support in making OPs on your mortgage. We started out with a 30yr too and have made 4 years of regular payments and taken a year off our mortgage by increased payments when we did a remortgage. Every OP you make makes a difference as you will save 30yrs of interest on the sum you OP.

I recommend lining your curtains and hanging a curtain over the front door - amazing what a difference that makes, even with double glazing. We got some thermal curtain linings from dunelm mill and they are great - keep heat in in winter and keep house cool in summer. Def worth a look - or for more MSE winter linings fleece is popular.

Look at grocery ideas, comparison/switching services for insurances etc and ensure you use cashback sites where possible.

Hope this is some help

Engeroosi

Do a SOA to allow people to make suggestions

lincoln-potter

Engeroosi wrote: »

Do a SOA to allow people to make suggestions

I use our works accounts package at home for our exactly monthly incomes and outgoings, but don't have that to hand so here are our general costs (i shall update it with the exact figures when I can get chance from home)


Copied the SOA from sarahevie it looked rather good I thought.
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2256.36
Partners monthly income after tax....... 532.07
Benefits................................ 171.20
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2959.63
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 796.52
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 210.00
Electricity............................. 31.50
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 200 (400 lasted us two months over xmas)
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... inc with phone
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0 (pay annually)
Car Insurance........................... 0 (pay annuall)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 25
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 55.40
Contents insurance...................... combined
Life assurance ......................... 34.68
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 2200.47 (the oil will drop obviously in summer)

Assets
Cash.................................... 2000
House value (Gross)..................... 335000
Shares and bonds........................ n/a
Car(s).................................. 15000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 352000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage.......................195500....796.52.....2.95
Total secured & HP debts...... 195500....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2959.63
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2200.47
Available for debt repayments........... 759.16
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 759.16
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 352,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -195,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 156,500

There are a few items which we pay for annually in one lump sump rather than monthly (I would spread it out over the year for the SOA figures but I don't know the amounts off hand at the moment)

There are a few things to note though
- In June I expect to take a pay cut (how much at the moment I am unsure could be from 500 to 1000 (before tax)
- I plan to bulk buy oil in summer to last me the winter
-

Many thanks
LP

originalmiscellany

are you a Stoke fan? I hope the name's not an elaborate rouse to throw me off scent

As others have said, 30 years is huge, as you know the first five years of a mortgage doesn't really touch the actual value of the house - it's all paying off interest, but anything you do now will benefit you hugely long term - as you know!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1157173

is a great link to a super spreadsheet which lets you factor in loads of settings etc and see how overpaying will benefit you.

Welcome again,
OM

lincoln-potter

originalmiscellany wrote: »

are you a Stoke fan? I hope the name's not an elaborate rouse to throw me off scent

As others have said, 30 years is huge, as you know the first five years of a mortgage doesn't really touch the actual value of the house - it's all paying off interest, but anything you do now will benefit you hugely long term - as you know!


is a great link to a super spreadsheet which lets you factor in loads of settings etc and see how overpaying will benefit you.

Welcome again,
OM

Hi, thanks for that link I shall certainly add that on my list of things to do!

Yes 30 years is rather a time, I didn't say but i managed to reduce the mortgage on my first house by 14 years in just over 4 years. But that was mainly due to a good disposable income and no other half at the time.

No i can't say I am a Stoke fan i'm afraid. After last nights 5-1 defeat at home i hardly dare say I support my local Lincoln

lincoln-potter

Right weekend is coming up (my birthday too, 27) and I am going to set myself a few tasks (along with the decorating the OH has planned for me).

- Going to look into stoozing and see if it is something for me or if cashback CC are better
- Fit draft proofing on the windows
- Balance the radiators
- Sell some more items on musicmagpie
- Buy an energy monitor
- Look into the electricity supply (british gas) and see if there are cheaper options

Think that should be enough to keep me going.

lincoln-potter

So a quick update on what I managed to get done over the weekend.

I managed to draft proof all the windows (95% had no previous padding at all so felt an instant benefit in most rooms)
Bought the energy monitor and plan on setting it up tonight
Looked into the electricty account and realised with our new mortgage we had a £500 payment into our ultility account (so i won't be moving anytime soon)
Enquired with Anglian water to see if we were in the area for any of their water efficiency packages (unfortauntely we are not though)

Unfortauntely didn't do the rest as I had a set back on the sunday with a punctured tyre which left me £160 lighter in the pocket.

Along with setting the energy monitor up I plan on looking at the bulbs in the house tonight as most are halogen spotlights which are quite costly I would imagine.

newgirly

Hi, hope you had a good birthday, shame about the tyre though. You seem to be off to a good start already, our house is a bit cold at the moment as I have decided to have the heating off as often as possible due to a huge gas/elec bill, I could probably do with making some changes to keep the heat in.
I'm sure you will get down that 30yr end date, and your kids must be quite young still, which makes it easier as the bigger they get the more they cost. Good luck, newgirly.

lincoln-potter

newgirly wrote: »

Hi, hope you had a good birthday, shame about the tyre though. You seem to be off to a good start already, our house is a bit cold at the moment as I have decided to have the heating off as often as possible due to a huge gas/elec bill, I could probably do with making some changes to keep the heat in.
I'm sure you will get down that 30yr end date, and your kids must be quite young still, which makes it easier as the bigger they get the more they cost. Good luck, newgirly.

Hi NG,

Yes the birthday was quite nice thanks, had visits from the family wishing me well.

Keeping the heat in is the hardest challenge, is your loft well insulated? The council grants at the moment for cavity wall and loft insulation are great, was the first thing I did when we moved in.

The kids are young, one boy (almost 2 1/2), girl (1 1/2) and another one due (anytime now).

The OH finally seems to be fully onside with making as many OP as possible after showing her the amount of interest we will save if we pay the mortgage off early.

kiran83

found you! im going to phone up my energy suppliers and see if they are able to provide the energy monitors for our home!