Craftingmad's NEW diary to Mortgage Free Freedom

craftingmad

Hi all,

Well I have flitted in and out of diaries before but August sees the start of a more positive and determined craftingmad.

As I have mentioned in different posts we were working hard to clear the mortgage on our own home (and I hoped to be mortgage free by the time I was 40 - I am now nearly 37 (in Sept) and have reduced the mortgage from £125k to £59k in the 5 years we have lived here).

However our long term plan was always that once we finished paying the mortgage on our place to get a couple of buy to let properties as long term investments which would eventually be sold (or continued to be let) and used as our pensions. As the market is quite low at the moment and interest rates are good we have decided to bring forward our plan and are in the process of buying another property which my BIL is going rent from us.

Therefore I am more determined than ever that I am going to clear our mortgage asap in order that we can then purchase our second BTL.

So here goes, craftingmad's diary to mortgage free freedom.

I'll be back soon to post the facts and figures and hopefully a cunning plan - any ideas are most welcome xxx

linz

Not sure you need any ideas having cut your mortgage by so much in 5 years !

I'll be following your progress, as I said on your other thread am thinking of doing the same thing. I've stopped OP'ing for the time being, and am concentrating on building up a deposit on a new place.

Good luck !

craftingmad

Thanks linz,

As promised here are our figures - I shall provide an SOA at a later date as we are off to nanny's tomorrow in Wales for a few days and I need to pack!

Mortgage on our house - £59k at 1.6% variable - due to end in 18 years time - can OP as much as we want without penalties.
Mortgage on our BTL house - £86k at 4.25% fixed for two years - due to end in 22 years time - can only OP up to 3% of original loan value for first two years withour penalty. (This mortgage is actually not live yet - we are due to complete on house at end of Aug '11)
Credit Card - £2100 at 0% - rate ends March 2011

Curently monthly OP - £0
Current savings for deposit - £1000 per month

Savings - £13,000 (excluding those in our deposit fund)


The plan

Savings:-

1. Save on our food bill which currently averages approx £350 per month. We have two adults, two children (aged 8 & 4) and one cat in our household so am sure I can get this down with meal planning, careful budgeting and using what we already have in the freezer and cupboards etc. I also plan to look on the old style moneysaving forum for some cheap meal plan ideas.

2. Switch utility suppliers for the best rates. We have just signed up for fixed rate electricity for two years (we have no mains gas in the small village in the swamp where we live!) and joined callconnect for phone calls only (I thinks what they are called - you dial 18185 before numbers to only be charged a 5p connection charge per call). I also intend haggling with sky for a cheaper deal, looking at insurances etc.

3. Now this is a biggy - STOP SPENDING ON CRAFT THINGS - and this time I mean it - I have a craft room full to bursting point plus excess spilling into my spare room, bedroom, landing and two sheds full of crafting stash. I really don't need any more but I have to stop having the urge to add pretty new things to my stash until I have used up lots which I already have!!
I am also intending to try and cut out most of the craft magazines I buy as I am looking on the internet and finding great inspiration for free from various peoples blogs and docrafts gallery etc. The couple which I will still buy I am going to try and get a subscription deal for them as this usually works out much cheaper and will stop me entering the dangerous world of craft shops.

4. I am going to keep a spending diary tracking everything I spend for the next three months so that I can really identify exactly where the money goes and try to stop spending on the little things (As I am going to be away on holiday for most of August I think I shall start from Sept).

5. I am going to try and pack up lunches for my hubby so that he stops spending money at Mr T's each day.


Earning

1. I going to Quidco and Topcashback myself out collecting all the free money and also using them for all the shopping I can in order to gain cash each month. Target I am aiming for is at £10 a month from these.

2. I am going to sign up to mystery shopping agencies - I am already registered with ESA and had a payout of £32 added to my bank account today.

3. I am going to book more craft fairs in order that I can sell my handcrafted items.

4. I am going to set up a shop on Etsy and Folksy to sell my handmade wares. I am also going to open my own internet store (I used to be a member of wahmall.co.uk which has since closed down but my store is still live and costing me nothing so am going to publicise this site at craft fairs etc).

5. When my little boy starts school in Sept I am going to approach some local shops etc to see if they would be willing to sell my items for a small commission.

6. I am going to Ebay and carboot all my unwanted or not used items to earn some extra cash.

7. I am going to look for a p/t job to fit around school hours from Sept (as I will not know what to do with myself once both my babies are at school!)

8. I am going to design more craft sheets for cardmakingdownloads and also try and sign up to crafting rabbit and craftsuprint in order to earn a bit of extra commission.

9. I am going to set up a blog showcasing my handmade items and knowing me random chat and add some affiliate links from people to earn a few extra pennies.

10. From Sept I am going to attempt to write at least 3 dooyoo reviews a day in order to try and earn £50 cash in the future.

11. I am going to do online surveys as much as can in order to bring in some extra pennies/ vouchers which can be used towards presents for christmas, birthdays etc.

If anyone can think of any other ways to save/earn please let me know or point me in the right direction on the forums taht would be great. All ideas would be gratefully appreciated and welcomed.


Mortgage Free here I come ..........

Thanks for reading xx

craftingmad

oooh..... meant to say started well today -

NSD for me

I normally buy a few magazines for me and the kids for when we go away to see the in laws but this time I found out some old ones we had'nt really read and we taking those so thats £10 saved already.

I feel good .....

craftingmad

Well had a lovely cheap break visiting in laws in Wales for a few days but am back now and ready to go.

7 days and still no craft spending - Mortgage free here I come!!

Plus on my return I have signed up for 3 mystery shops which will net me £32 so thats good. Carrying them out on Wednesday. Also listed a couple of bits on Ebay which finish today and currently two will sell so thats a bit extra for the pot.

We go on holiday to greece for two weeks soon (its all inclusive so hopefully we should'nt spend too much money while away). I did however go a bit overboard with new clothes for holiday (I did need some things like shorts, dresses etc) but am going to go through all our holiday wardrobes today and see what items I can take back for refunds. I did start last night for me and have already got £31 to go back.

originalmiscellany

Well done - you've already hammered the mortgage in half which is no mean feat; and you're over half way there on your 2 BTL's. And you're super crafty!
One thing you didn't have as a target was a value on the craft work sold online etc. Is it possible to predict how much you will sell? Could you link buying new stuff to selling old, say make £100, put 2/3 in the overpayment pot and 1/3 in new stock?

Enjoy your holiday when you get there - and hope your ebay sales are profitable too.

Finally again forgive me if you did mention it, when do you hope to have the 60k for 2 BTL to be in place?

All the best

getmore4less

Mortgage on our house - £59k at 1.6% variable


Why have you been overpaying this?

savings give a better rate

craftingmad

Well done - you've already hammered the mortgage in half which is no mean feat; and you're over half way there on your 2 BTL's. And you're super crafty!

Thanks originalmiscellany.

One thing you didn't have as a target was a value on the craft work sold online etc

Don't really have a target amount in mind - would just like to earn as much as I hope that when I have been established for a few months I would love to earn around £5 per week from the online craft sheets and £10 per week from the online craft stores combined.

Is it possible to predict how much you will sell? Could you link buying new stuff to selling old, say make £100, put 2/3 in the overpayment pot and 1/3 in new stock?

Love this idea - thanks. Mind you if you saw my craft room which is full to bursting I don't really think I really need to buy any more stock for a long time - but know I will so this is a great option.

Finally again forgive me if you did mention it, when do you hope to have the 60k for 2 BTL to be in place?

Forgiven! - We are due to complete on our first BTL on 26th Aug when we return from holiday (thats a £30k deposit gone). With regard to the second one if the market continues as it is and things go well on the first one then hopefully within a couple of years.



Thanks for all your kind words and encouragement xx

Mortgage on our house - £59k at 1.6% variable


Why have you been overpaying this?

savings give a better rate

We know that savings would give us a better rate but we wanted to clear our mortgage as quickly as possible in order that we may start up our BTL houses. It just felt better having a smaller mortgage to start the proposed long term investment off with.

Oh and I've sorted through some more holiday clothes and got another £15 to take back to Tesco. Plus I'm hoping that they will also refund/ exchange/credit another £15 worth of clothes bought for my little girl which still have all the tags attached but cannot find the receipt for.

Wish me luck - I'm off now!!!

GavB79

Have you considered re-mortgaging your own property to release the equity for the deposit on the BTLs? What is your home worth?
I know that psychologically this is difficult as it almost seems like you are undoing the hard work it took in getting this down over the years, but if you believe the market is favourable this is a sensible option.

craftingmad

Hi all,

Well I took the clothes back to Tesco and got my £48.25 money back (after typing I found another £2 shirt to reyurn which did'nt fit properly). I also managed to exchange the £16 of items which I could not find the receipt for so picked up the last couple of bits needed for the holiday. So all in all in total I saved £64.25 yesterday - result!

Other small things I done:-

1. 2 10point piggy point clickthroughs (total now 5402)
2. entered two piggypoint competitions
3. Made my own garlic bread using french stick bought yesterday and going stale and used mince out of freezer for spag bol dinner
4. Returned clothes to Tesco as mentioned above
5. Went through the present cupboard and now have a comprehensive 5 page list of everything in there (including lots of items I had already forgotton about!)
6. Sorted a few things out ready for a carboot sale
7. Sent invoices for the two ebay sales I made yesterday so hopefully they pay me soon.

Lets hope today is a nother good day for moneysaving xx

craftingmad

Have you considered re-mortgaging your own property to release the equity for the deposit on the BTLs? What is your home worth?
I know that psychologically this is difficult as it almost seems like you are undoing the hard work it took in getting this down over the years, but if you believe the market is favourable this is a sensible option.

We have considered this but decided to use some of our savings first and OH work O/T to gain first deposit. Think we shall see how it goes with the first house for a few months before deciding whether remortgaging is the way to go. Thanks for your advice though x