Isle of Man Mortgage Free Wannabe

GetTheMortgageGone

Well firstly abit about myself as this is my first post (but hopefully the first of many). I'm 33 and my OH is 34, we live in a 4 bedroom house on the Isle of Man (quite expensive place to live). This our 3rd house and have been quite lucky to make abit of cash on each house. We are currently in a 290,000 valued property with a mortgage of 190,000 owing from July 2010 for 20 years at 1.75% which is £938 per month (currently pay 1000.00 which is an overpayment of 62 per month (1.4 years off the term).
I stay at home with our three children, a 5 year old who attends school, a 4 year old who will attend school starting September and a baby at 6 months old. (We may yet add to that number).
I wondered if before I post all my SOA, anyone had any Isle of Man specific ways of increasing our mortgage overpayments or rather decreasing our monthly out goings, the Isle of Man only has ONE TELECOM COMPANY:mad:, ONE ELECTRIC COMPANY:mad: AND ONE GAS COMPANY:mad: so there appears no way to save on any of those - only to use less ! In addition I shopped around for all the cheapest insurance deals - pet, life, car etc - most of the cheapest ones wont entertain Isle of Man location.

So in all I will start my thread or mortgage diary off with this post, I will of course post a statement of affairs and various targets etc to keep me motivated - but if for the moment anyone has ideas that would be greatly accepted.

Yeah first post done ! :T

GetTheMortgageGone

Hopefully I have now added my signature ?

lincoln-potter

Hellot GTMG,

Welcome to MFW, thats not so good having only one supplier for those utilities. I guess your best bet is as you say to use as little as possible, so you will have to check your insulation, boiler efficiency, light bulbs, water tanks etc. Buy a water butt for outside to save on using the hose etc.

Look forward to your SOA but by the sounds of it the usual easy money savers are out of the window.

Best of luck
LP

GetTheMortgageGone

Thanks for that - water butt - wrote down.

lincoln-potter

Few easy and cheap solutions to insulation (had ours done in Dec)
- cavity wall insulation (done via council so didn't cost much)
- roof insulation (done via council so didn't cost much)
- draft proofing (we have single glazed windows, so got strips from B&Q)
- Thick curtains to keep the heat in on a night

Anglian water do free water efficiency packs, (not sure if your supplier does)
Electric monitor (£40 from Maplins or some utility firms supply them FOC)

Is your OH fully on board with the tightening of the belts in order to OP? How soon would you like to be MF by?

GetTheMortgageGone

The house which we bought is only 7 years old, so most of the things you have suggested are most probably done - although of course I will check - its just one of those things you take for granted. As for the missus she earns 48k per year working in the finance sector on the Isle of Man (big money) plus around 7/10k bonus per annum - so she is only half into the money saving thing. The mortgage we have is with her company, and so its very easy going even to the point of missing a payment at christmas should you need to (this of course would do no good at all in the grand scheme of things). As far as targets etc - at 20 years (2031) the mortgage payments are 938.00 per month, paying 1000.00 per month takes the term to 18.6 - I have juggled about a few figures in my head and would really like to overpay by 300 per month and take the term right down

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PROBLEM

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unforeseen parameters change --- when do I go back to work ? are the bonuses secure/guareented ? interest rates will rise but by how much and how quick ?

lincoln-potter

GetTheMortgageGone wrote: »

The house which we bought is only 7 years old, so most of the things you have suggested are most probably done - although of course I will check - its just one of those things you take for granted. As for the missus she earns 48k per year working in the finance sector on the Isle of Man (big money) plus around 7/10k bonus per annum - so she is only half into the money saving thing. The mortgage we have is with her company, and so its very easy going even to the point of missing a payment at christmas should you need to (this of course would do no good at all in the grand scheme of things). As far as targets etc - at 20 years (2031) the mortgage payments are 938.00 per month, paying 1000.00 per month takes the term to 18.6 - I have juggled about a few figures in my head and would really like to overpay by 300 per month and take the term right down

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PROBLEM

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unforeseen parameters change --- when do I go back to work ? are the bonuses secure/guareented ? interest rates will rise but by how much and how quick ?

Have you looked at the mortgage calculator yet?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-overpayment-calculator

If seeing the savings on interest doesn't get the OH fully on board nothing with

By doing no OP's and assuming your rate stayed at 1.75% you would still pay £35323.00 in interest. Obviously even with your OH working for your mortgage provider your rate will not stay that low for the full length of your mortgage.

At seven years old you are right you would expect all the things listed to have been done. In which case I have run out of initial ideas

GetTheMortgageGone

outgoings
TV LICENCE-12.12PET INSURANCE-21.83MANX TELECOM-60.00SKY DIGITAL-41.00MANX ELECTRIC-89.00HOME INSURANCE-14.97MANX GAS-175.00LIFE INSURANCE-116.92CAR LOAN-137.50LOTTO-30.00RATES-63.05PETROL/DIESEL-160.00TOBACCO-140.00TESCO-150.00ALCOHOL-60.00PENSIONS-131.10MORTGAGE-1,000.00

LEAVES AROUND 181.00 AFTER MONTHLY SAVING & LITTLE SHOP VISITS ETC....
CHILD BENEFIT NOT INCLUDED - ANY CB LEFT OVER GOES INTO CHILDRENS BONUS BONDS WITH NS&I

GetTheMortgageGone

Thanks Lincoln - living on the island is beautiful but - cant use coupons - no pizza hut, no burger king etc ! -- no second class post from Island to Uk so people on ebay dont want to pay the higher postage costs for my items to sell. I read so much on this website and go down each avenue but so much is not applicable to the island !:mad:
Think what I need to address or sort out is the second income road - any second income could go straight to mortgage - but my hours of free time away from the kids is limited and even then I do have to sleep - so cant take on a twilight night shift anywhere..... Just so pumped up from other peoples stories on this website that you kinda want it to happen overnight ! But I must understand its a long long road of little bits and pieces along the way...

newgirly

Hi, have you thought of doing surveys online if you are at home with the kids?

GetTheMortgageGone

Thats a good idea:), will have a look into it - any websites in mind ?
Would prefer cash rather vouchers if you know of any ?

Thanks for your post.