New recruit: First steps (advice appreciated)

BaconandEggs

I've had an idea.

For my first overpayment I am going to pay £1. Yes £1.

I'm not sure how the statements are constructed - but it would be great if they recalculated the amount so that we can see how much £1 overpayment will save us on the total mortgage. Something we can pin up on the fridge to keep us going.

BaconandEggs

lincoln-potter wrote: »

Hi again B&E,

40 appears to be an age most would like to be MF by.

Could you still OP with kids and with your OH not in work? Yes I would say so, you would still have a healthy profit each month plus babies don't really cost much (except nappies and the initial one off costs, clothes buy in budles from ebay and prams etc get 2nd hand and you will save a fortune).

I am the sole provider in my household with 3 LO's and you have to identify as many small areas for improvement as you can, and as a whole it can make a big difference.

How many of your bulbs are energy saving?
Does your electric supply offer free or subsidised energy monitors?
House insulation?
Water provider, saving packs?
Do you buy items with a cashback credit card?
Is MrsB&E as fully on board with the project?

Yes - alot of people have said 40. Why do you think that is?

We are awaiting an energy monitor.

Most light bulbs are energy efficient and the house is insulated to the hilt.

What are the savings packs from water providers?

I will try and find a list of cashback credit cards.

The Mrs is onboard. Going to get her to read this thread too.

I always imagined children costing a fortune to bring up.
My rough workings are:
the anount left over each month (1408) subtracted by my partners income per month (1050)=£358.
I know this is too simplistic as there will be savings for not travelling to work, but obvious costs involved in having children.

We can certainly consider getting rid of one car if necessary.

nikim1978

Hi there,
Sounds like you're doing a great job, heard on the news that last month saw the highest mortgage overpayments ever, so we can be proud to be part of that! :A

Just wanted to let B&E know that I am on maternity leave (statutory maternity pay, nothing extra from my employers) and still managing to overpay thanks to my hardworking self-employed husband, but also thanks to keeping a very close eye on our money. I have no plans to go back to work but am watching the cash closely to keep the overpayments up.

I find that being off work means I don't actually need to spend very much at all, no pub/ restaurant sandwich shop lunches/ post-work drinks, no office clothes & shoes, no commuting costs, no contributions to leaving/ birthday gifts, etc, etc. We also don't go out much anymore in the evenings, for obvious reasons, so save a whole load of cash that would have been spent on socialising.

One thing we did when we were planning our family was to switch our mortgage to interest only, in case we felt strapped for cash while I was off. However, we kept the option to overpay and have been doing so every month.

We also go to kids showings at the cinema (MUCH cheaper, but get there early!), take packed lunches & snacks everywhere we go to avoid pricey food & do all the present-stashing, bill-cutting things already mentioned.

One thing we are still paying (because my OH is self-employed) is critical illness cover - I would love some feedback on whether people think this is a worthwhile product or not, I've heard a lot of bad things and it is a large expense each month.

Thanks

Engeroosi

If you check your mortgage documents it will tell you how many pounds your paying back for every pound you have borrowed, that is a good incentive to overpay. I also find if you look at the amount of interest you are paying daily on the mortgage that is a good incentive to overpay.

You mentioned that as of Nov you will be married, do you have funds set aside for this? The honeymoon? My wife and I recently got married and it cost 5 figures. Not sure at what stage you are in planning for that.

BaconandEggs

nikim1978 wrote: »

Hi there,
Sounds like you're doing a great job, heard on the news that last month saw the highest mortgage overpayments ever, so we can be proud to be part of that! :A
I also read that in the news today. I'm not surprised people are taking advantage of the low interest rates (although I think it would be better for the economy for people to borrow and spend more due to low interest rates)
Just wanted to let B&E know that I am on maternity leave (statutory maternity pay, nothing extra from my employers) and still managing to overpay thanks to my hardworking self-employed husband, but also thanks to keeping a very close eye on our money. I have no plans to go back to work but am watching the cash closely to keep the overpayments up.
This is great news. Good to know it can be done. Good luck!
I find that being off work means I don't actually need to spend very much at all, no pub/ restaurant sandwich shop lunches/ post-work drinks, no office clothes & shoes, no commuting costs, no contributions to leaving/ birthday gifts, etc, etc. We also don't go out much anymore in the evenings, for obvious reasons, so save a whole load of cash that would have been spent on socialising.
I didn't think of this.
One thing we did when we were planning our family was to switch our mortgage to interest only, in case we felt strapped for cash while I was off. However, we kept the option to overpay and have been doing so every month.
Wow - cunning. I didn't think of this. This effectively minimises the risk but still allows for overpayment and reduction of the mortgage in the same time or less than the repayment period. Something we will definitely consider in the future.
We also go to kids showings at the cinema (MUCH cheaper, but get there early!), take packed lunches & snacks everywhere we go to avoid pricey food & do all the present-stashing, bill-cutting things already mentioned.
Another good idea.
One thing we are still paying (because my OH is self-employed) is critical illness cover - I would love some feedback on whether people think this is a worthwhile product or not, I've heard a lot of bad things and it is a large expense each month.
I don't know enough about this to comment - hence my questions. However, others have said that there are often instances where they do not pay out and that they prefer to save the amount to be paid up themselves. I think that is fine, but while we are starting out and have relatively little capital, I feel safer paying.
Thanks

Thanks again

BaconandEggs

Engeroosi wrote: »

If you check your mortgage documents it will tell you how many pounds your paying back for every pound you have borrowed, that is a good incentive to overpay. I also find if you look at the amount of interest you are paying daily on the mortgage that is a good incentive to overpay.

You mentioned that as of Nov you will be married, do you have funds set aside for this? The honeymoon? My wife and I recently got married and it cost 5 figures. Not sure at what stage you are in planning for that.

It does indeed. But for some reason I like the idea of overpaying by 1 pound first if possible. Like that single pound is worth so much.

We are getting married - this spring (the Nov thing is when the breakdown cover ends ).
We have put some money aside. We've already sorted much of the bits and bobs for the wedding. Just need to sort the venue. We are having a small scale wedding and have considered just the two of us going away to get married and having a get together with family and friends when we get back. Out honeymoon will be our normal summer holiday brought forward, for which we budget enough to have a decent holiday hopefully!

katsu

HI B&E,

Nice to see you are cracking on. I guess I'm a bit passionate about breakdown cover because I was paying £200 for AA cover when I had a lot less money than I do now. My DM was also paying the same to the AA, and as a disabled person they have to have reliable cover but can ill-afford the expense. I switched to autoaid and have just switched DM to autonational (which I think is what the autoaid people are directing you to for £66 as they are part of the same group of companies IIRC).

I feel the AA/RAC are just such bad value and want to make other people aware of the great saving they can make on this one simple thing. I feel AA and RAC charge too much and take advantage of their customers and market position.

I hope I was being a helpful evangelist I'll talk about something else next time

BaconandEggs

Don't apologise Katsu - it was great advice - that I'm taking and I can understand your feelings on it. I get equally enthusiastic over much more boring issues.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Welcome aboard B&E, it's the first time I've seen your diary and I've just finished reading through it now. You've got your absorbant pants on I see and are learning everything you can which is awesome . I've been doing exactly the same. The first bit was just setting up the basics but now I feel I'm ready to start dipping my toes into the wonderful world of real cashbacks and credit card stoozing. Oh, I'm all grown up!

lincoln-potter

BaconandEggs wrote: »

Yes - alot of people have said 40. Why do you think that is?

We are awaiting an energy monitor.

Most light bulbs are energy efficient and the house is insulated to the hilt.

What are the savings packs from water providers?

I will try and find a list of cashback credit cards.

The Mrs is onboard. Going to get her to read this thread too.

I always imagined children costing a fortune to bring up.
My rough workings are:
the anount left over each month (1408) subtracted by my partners income per month (1050)=£358.
I know this is too simplistic as there will be savings for not travelling to work, but obvious costs involved in having children.

We can certainly consider getting rid of one car if necessary.

I guess generally people like to pick a round number, and forty is a nice age in most peoples mind for still being fully fit and able to do what you like, where the MF would come in very handy. Most mortgages are 20-25 years so OP's would idealy reduce that by up to half so that would put the average MFW user in the mid twenties when they start.

Anglian water have some packs (not in my area unfortunately) where they can fit your showers and taps to reduce your usage. They can also come and check your property for leaks.

Don't get me wrong kids can cost a fortune, because it is so easy to spend money on things that look nice but might not actually be needed. And once you have one the rest hardly cost anything.