Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

Lois_E

Ooh, I hadn't noticed that Sepa. Nice to identify another long-hauler.

What other long-haulers do you know on here? I guess a lot of them will be on the thread for people with £100k+ to pay off. I don't qualify for that thread but as a lone parent working part-time I have a fairly small standard monthly payment, so my mortgage is still going to take me a long time to pay off.

Can I be curious and ask... what is the middle number in the bottom line of your sig, between your mortgage balance and MF date?

Sepa74

Hi Lois, I have an offset mortgage, and that is the amount of interest my bank says it's saved me so far in the 5.5 years I've been living here. Pretty impressive, isn't it! The number in brackets is the age I'll be when I'm MF! That IS scary!

But I had a great time in my 20s (when I otherwise would have been buying a house!), and deliberately got a loooooong (34 year) mortgage so the payments would be smaller, knowing I could save the difference between the 34 yr payments and that of a 'normal' mortgage in the offset, reducing my interest, but still having the money available if I needed it. I'm so glad I did, because in the 5 years the pot has been growing I've used it to lengthen the lease (£5K) and buy a garage (another £5K), neither of which I would have been able to afford had I been paying for a 25 yr mortgage.

I can't think of any other long-haulers on here, although that's probably me just being brain dead I'm sure they're here!

Peonie

Lois_E wrote: »

Ooh, I hadn't noticed that Sepa. Nice to identify another long-hauler.

What other long-haulers do you know on here? I guess a lot of them will be on the thread for people with £100k+ to pay off. I don't qualify for that thread but as a lone parent working part-time I have a fairly small standard monthly payment, so my mortgage is still going to take me a long time to pay off.

There's a thread for people with £100k + to pay off! I need to subscribe to it.

Lois_E

Sepa74 wrote: »

Hi Lois, I have an offset mortgage, and that is the amount of interest my bank says it's saved me so far in the 5.5 years I've been living here. Pretty impressive, isn't it! The number in brackets is the age I'll be when I'm MF! That IS scary!

But I had a great time in my 20s (when I otherwise would have been buying a house!), and deliberately got a loooooong (34 year) mortgage so the payments would be smaller, knowing I could save the difference between the 34 yr payments and that of a 'normal' mortgage in the offset, reducing my interest, but still having the money available if I needed it. I'm so glad I did, because in the 5 years the pot has been growing I've used it to lengthen the lease (£5K) and buy a garage (another £5K), neither of which I would have been able to afford had I been paying for a 25 yr mortgage.

I can't think of any other long-haulers on here, although that's probably me just being brain dead I'm sure they're here!

I can't sleep so am having a little play on the computer before going back to bed and trying again.

Your offset plan sounds great, and lengthening the lease & buying the garage both sound like good things to have done. Thanks for explaining your sig. That really is a huge amount of interest to have saved.

I guessed the (60) bit was an age to go with the MF date. If I put mine on, it would be 65, which is just too depressing to include, I think.

I've found a few more long-haulers. These are people whose sigs list MF dates more than 20 years away:
Hurdler - March 2033
fishfins - May 2038
kimbo26 - July 2042 (with target of 2030)
juicygirl - June 2045

So it's not just you and me. But really what I appreciate so much about this place is that everyone's so supportive, and I never feel judged for having a long mortgage or only making slow progress. There's such a lovely understanding that we all have such different circumstances that there's no point making comparisons.

Peonie wrote: »

There's a thread for people with £100k + to pay off! I need to subscribe to it.

It got off to a great start and then got forgotten about again. I tracked it down on page 11, and have bumped it so you can find it easily. It's here.

Isca

I hadn't even thought of adding more of my mortgage details to my sig but our balance is around £157,000 and our MF date is currently 2045 ish I think!!

When I get time I will add those details to my signature. Our overpayments are small in comparison to our outstanding balance, but every little helps!

mouche

Another long hauler here and thank you for mentioning the thread for those with over £100K to pay off - I need to join it. Current mortgage end date is 2036 - need to put that in my sig. If it really takes that long, I will be 57 and OH will be 61 but I hope the OPs, though tiny, will make *some* difference on the end date.

twinklie

We are due to finish within 10 years, BUT hate the little house we have in a horrid area. So we'll be 100K+ at some point, just trying to be as good as we can now to make it a bit easier then!

originalmiscellany

Well, Lois_E, I find you pretty inspiring! A very positive attitude and a great constant chipping away at a huge mountain. It's always encouraging to see how many people post and feel connected to your thread, as well as you being open and honest and in telling us what you're doing - it always makes great reading!

Lois_E

Peonie wrote: »

I like number too, keep sharing them with us.

Now, I'm ok with numbers, but what I really like is graphs. Lots and lots of graphs of different kinds.

Hello. My name is Lois and I'm a graph/chart addict.

Just so you will realise what a geek I am, here's a list of all the graphs/charts on my money excel workbook.

1) Net money = current a/c + savings a/cs - CC + adjustment
(The adjustment deals with money owing to or by me, or already allocated - eg when I agreed to chip in with my brothers for a present for my mum, but hadn't paid it yet, or when I lent money to a family member who had temporary cash flow problems when moving house, or the tax bit of any income I've earned that's taxable but not taxed at source, or things like that.)
This graph is a very wiggly line plotted against date. It has a little yellow marker for the 6th of each month, and a little red marker for today, so I can see how I'm doing.

2) Total owing = very similar to "net money" but includes mortgage and house loans.
Another wiggly line with yellow & red markers.

3) Mortgage & house loans from when I started borrowing until now, in detail, plus extra chart showing close-up of the last month or two, so even small payments can be seen.

4) Mortgage projected forwards to MF day with three lines:
- if I just pay the standard payment from Sept 2011 til the end
- what I've actually paid so far, including OPs, and then the standard from now on
- what I've actually paid so far, and a bigger monthly payment going forwards

5) Pair of pie charts, each showing equity, mortgage, loan 1 & loan 2. One chart is when borrowing was at its highest (last month) and the other is up to date.

6) Pair of stacked bar charts, one for income and one for spending, by month, in lots of categories.

7) Pair of column charts for utilities (water, gas, leccy), weekly. One chart shows units/day, and the other chart shows £/day.

I don't think I'd admit all that anywhere else but here.

Lois_E

Isca wrote: »

I hadn't even thought of adding more of my mortgage details to my sig but our balance is around £157,000 and our MF date is currently 2045 ish I think!!

When I get time I will add those details to my signature. Our overpayments are small in comparison to our outstanding balance, but every little helps!

I would never have thought of tracking the way in which the projected MF date gets earlier if I hadn't seen other people on here doing it, but it's really fun to see it moving. (I say that in hope, because mine hasn't moved yet, but it will, it will!)

mouche wrote: »

Another long hauler here and thank you for mentioning the thread for those with over £100K to pay off - I need to join it. Current mortgage end date is 2036 - need to put that in my sig. If it really takes that long, I will be 57 and OH will be 61 but I hope the OPs, though tiny, will make *some* difference on the end date.

Small OPs had better make a difference to the end date, or I'm not going to be happy. :rotfl:

twinklie wrote: »

We are due to finish within 10 years, BUT hate the little house we have in a horrid area. So we'll be 100K+ at some point, just trying to be as good as we can now to make it a bit easier then!

You are going to end up with a nicer house in a nicer place, and you will have a lot more options and opportunities because of what you are doing now. Go twinklie & Mr twinklie. :T

originalmiscellany wrote: »

Well, Lois_E, I find you pretty inspiring! A very positive attitude and a great constant chipping away at a huge mountain. It's always encouraging to see how many people post and feel connected to your thread, as well as you being open and honest and in telling us what you're doing - it always makes great reading!

Thank you. You are so encouraging. :A

I enjoy your thread too. I bet you get more people commenting on it once you start putting baby news in it as well as OP amounts!