starting the overpayment journey

wiwo

will definitely start investigating cashback sites more. can't believe the sums of free money people seem to be racking up from those!

my rate is 1.99 + base so 2.49 at the moment (and for the forseeable future)

i've worked out a plan to have finished paying by april 2029 (obviously based on unrealistic no change in rates !), which would be just over 5 years early but i'm quite happy with my spreadsheet and could tweak it as soon as the rates start changing. making regular overpays of 76 a month at the moment plus little bits here and there. we just got paid tonight so i've done my 76 for august already...

we won't find out if we are getting any pay rise or one off bonus payments this year until end of august some time. obviously rise of base salary by 5-10% would be preferable but mostly likely it will be nothing at all or a quick "here's 500 quid (before tax) now go away and dont expect anything else"... if so, some of that will go into an overpay and some go towards a dry suit for the diving !

was looking forward to not paying council tax in feb and march, but i follow your logic

wiwo

the other things that have happened since my last post is i bought some scuba stuff (although got very generous discounts on it ! reckon i saved over 200 pounds on what it should have cost based on looking up prices on other websites, i think my friend who is friends with the shop manager might have told him my sob story about my dad and he took pity on me!) and i got an electricity meter which pointed out certain things in my house that really dont need to be left on all day when i'm out and use far more power than you would expect (e.g. freesat box and PC speakers. shockingly high wattage). so i'm religiously turning things off now wherever possible. the fridge freezer still seems to consume about 35 pence a day but that can't be helped.

wiwo

so, one year and 2 weeks after moving in, mortgage balance is down to 86400. airmiles are trying to rip me off if i dont book that australia trip before 16th november so that sounds like it is definitely on the cards for next year. the only problem has been my friend convincing me to invest in a dive holiday in december which wasn't in the plan at all. but this is thankfully cancelled out by a surprise one off bonus we got in august (a lot of which went to the tax man of course) so affordable as a treat. all in all, making plans on spreadsheet to finish the mortgage in another 17 years (7 years early) but who knows what any future rate changes will do to that... just have to persevere...

Aldahbra

wiwo wrote: »

I've started using one poll, but i find as soon as i answer the question of "how many children do you have" they tend to block me out of the rest of many of the surveys so its' taking ages to amass any sort of balance on there.

I am a 43 year old female with children and I seem to be blocked out of any survey which isn't to do with detergent. I am starting to wonder if this survey thing is a scam. I seem to spend quite a long time answering questions and then I am told that I do not meet the criteria they are looking for. What about the questions I have answered I am suspicious that they are using them anyway and just don't want to pay me?

downsizer3

Hi - I'm a single mum too and tried the surveys. You get half way ( or rather spend 10 / 15 mins on the darn thing) and then get bombed out.
I must have done about 10 surveys for £1! Needless to say I'm not bothering any more and spending my time ebaying instead!! Guess it was worth a try?

wiwo

down to 84190 as of this month. interest payments per month are coming down nicely. have upped my overpays a little bit. trying to have a cheap may as much as possible. good news is my student loan is nearly gone, only another 3 or 4 months to pay and then i will be 150 / month better off for the rest of my life.