First step, in the long road to being mortgage free.

Tony_R

I thought I'd update this as we haven't made an overpayment for a couple of months.

In March we decided to decorate a bedroom and also re-carpet it, and it looks really nice. We still could have overpaid that month, as we had other money to pay for it. But as soon as we got all the decorating stuff and ordered the carpet our double garage door decided to break, and then the day after that the boiler packed up, and then I broke a tooth. Its typical that expenses all fall at once.

But so far we haven't had to pay too much and the overpayment money is stuck in the joint account.

We have British Gas breakdown cover, and they came out 4 times without fixing it, and were pointing us towards getting a new boiler so we held on to the overpayment money just in case.. However, my brother-in-law is training to become a boiler fitter/he is already an electrictian, and he had a quick look and knew straight away that is was the PCB, so we pointed BG towards that, and hey presto they fixed it. I'm pretty sure they knew all along and wanted us to buy a new boiler. But the boiler broke again yesterday, this time it was the pressure release valve, which they damaged last time when they incorrectly drained the boiler. But hopefully that'll be the end of it, I think we have a bionic boiler now with all the parts they changed trying to fix it.

Trying to get a new garage door has been a nightmare.

We phoned one company saying we were debating about getting the current one fixed and a new one and they weren't interested in coming to even look, unless we sent them a photo. So I didn't bother.

The second one didn't even turn up to quote.
The third has taken two weeks to send me the quote.

We'll get there eventually.

As for the tooth that was patched up, but I might need a crown in 6 months.

Hopefully next month, we'll get back with the overpayments.

House prices seem to be going crazy, we bought for £255,000 in 2010, and the house over the road which is similar to ours but doesn't have a garage went up for sale a year ago at £255,000 as well, but didn't sell.

They sold it last week, for £325,000. So ours must be worth nearer £350,000 i'd imagine. Which is crazy.

bugslet

Sorry to hear your overpayment plan is being derailed a little, happens to the best of us!

You must be down south - we have an office in Herts and they complain that getting a tradesman to come round is difficult and then getting a quote is hardwork. Oop North, or where I live in Cheshire, it's fairly straightforward. House prices -meh! Mines gone from 130k in 2010 to 140k now for a 3 bed semi - just as well I don't intend to head south, or I would have to live in a shoebox.

Good luck with getting back on track next month.

Tony_R

Ok, so its been six months, since I last posted, and longer since I last overpaid. This year has been a bit of a write off with overpayments but hopefully I'll start again next month, if not definitely January.

In June, I found out that my thirty year old cousin has terminal cancer, and my priorities changed. I realised I was just overpaying and not enjoying life, so had a break, and spent money and enjoyed things.

I visited my cousin a few times, he lives 250 miles away, we went out places and just enjoyed our time together,

I also bought a car, my old one was 15 years old. So I treated myself, we're also getting some more external work done to the house, which has drained finances.

Anyway we've 7 months left on the current mortgage, hopefully we'll get a far better rate at renewal and we can really start eating into it again.

bugslet

Hi Tony

Sorry to hear about your cousin, that's way too young:(.

I think a balance has to be struck - I pay a bit off the mortgage, s chunk into a pension and some into savings and try to go out and enjoy the rest. Without a crystal ball, you can never tell what will happen.

Tony_R

I've just made my first overpayment in an age. £500. Hopefully I'll get back to normal in 2015. Have a good Christmas everyone.

Tony_R

I've received the over-payment confirmation, which has the balance now at £156,211. But our regular payment was due to come out the day after, and as the over-payment would have covered most of the interest, should see another £1000 of that.

We were planning on getting into over-payments again, but we may need to hold off again.

British Gas came to service the boiler today as our cover had lapsed, they can't take it on again as its old (15 years), and doesn't meet current safety standards.

They are going to give a quote on a new one, which I know will be ridicuously expensive, but my brother-in-law is training to become a boiler fitter and will have contacts, to hopefully get it far cheaper. If we do go ahead, that'll use a few months of over-payments. Though I might look into this green deal offer on MSE where you get money towards a new boiler.

I've managed to save a bit of money today though, we were paying £28 for buildings and contents, but switched to AXA where it was £17 a month, or £180 if we pay up front which is cheaper, which is what I've done. Plus I've got £32 back from Quidco.

The mortgage is up for renewal in July, I was planning on getting the balance below £150,000 by then, although boiler costs may scupper that, and as the house is worth around £325,000 we'll qualify for 60 LTV that should get us a better rate, and our mortgage drop from £1010 to £750 a month, though I might shorten the term from 20 to 15 years, and leave it at £1000.

Mrtight

I want to join in this MFW game but debt to combat 1st not alot should be overpaying by summer!

Tony_R

Another money saving thing done today. I've reduced my Virgin Media TV/Broadband/Phone from around £65 to £36.99, a month.

Last week I got a letter saying they were putting the price up by £4.50 a month, but we could leave the contract if I wanted. I looked around and saw TalkTalk has an offer for £35, and realised I didn't need the speedy broadband and TV package I've got. So I phoned Virgin to cancel and got a similar deal to what Talk Talk would offer.

So with the savings in home insurance and Virgin Media that should save about £40 a month.

I'm going to hold off the boiler work till the summer, hopefully it'll last till then.

Last month, I also put in my own PPI claim from 15 years ago, as I found the documentation from a loan I had back then. I got a phone call the other day from the bank to verify everything and I should have a decision by the 15th January. I 'm not banking on it (no pun intended), but it'll be a bonus if I get anything.

In the process I also realised I had an old TSB account with about £10 in it which I thought had been closed when I switched years ago. Which got me thinking about the TSB 5% current account, so I plan to open one of those up and stick some savings in it and just transfer £500 in and out every month. I may do that tomorrow. So that'll be 5% on some savings and 4% cash back on purchases with the Luma card I got last year.

Tony_R

Another non-intentional bit of money saving again. Yesterday I submitted the gas and electric meter readings, and as we are so far in credit, the DD has been reduced from £112 to £58 a month.

Which means in a couple of days we are about £100 better off a month.

jodles16

Wow your overpayments have been incredible! Amazingly well done!