Debt free but the house- 40K paid off now aiming to be Mortgage Free

superwoman247

Hello all
Thank you for this fantastic forum.

My husband and I have managed to pay off £40 000 in Credit card debt and loans. We are now so fired up that we would like to pay off our mortgage by the time he is 50 (10 years from now)- We have £240 000 left on our mortgage. I know this is ambitious as I have decided to start up my own business so I can spend more time with my 2 kids (age 6 and 3) and enjoy the benefits of being debt free:)

It will be great to share my experiences, highs and lows with you. Thank you, Fi xx

Sassers

Wow - fantastic, well done you! No wonder you're excited, I'd be as well.
Just saw your post and wanted to say good luck, fingers crossed and keep us updated.
You may want to pop over onto the Debt free roll of honour thread and add a post to give hope to all us others slogging away.
Big hugs
Sassers x

superwoman247

Oh thank you, I will do that!!!

Lois_E

Congratulations on being debt-free, and welcome to MFW. I hope you enjoy it here. It has (IMO) all the camaraderie of DFW with none of the desperation. We are all here because we choose to be rather than because we have to, and we can be a bit more relaxed about letting ourselves have little treats and things. It's a great place to "graduate" to from DFW.

Do tell us a bit more about yourself. What strategies did you use to get DF? And what kind of business are you hoping to start?

superwoman247

Hi Lois
My name is Fi, live with hubby and my 2 boys age 6 and 3. Sorry to go on and on but i so love telling my story to anyone willing to listen!!! The day we paid our last debt we screamed the house down. Even my kids know what debt is!!!

We will be going away on holiday for the first time in 5 years!!! We just could never afford it as we pretty much worked to pay our debts, and kept borrowing. Pretty much like a rat in a wheel. Our lightbulb moment came when we had a family emergency that needed £8000 and we did not have a penny to our name. We sat down and had a nice long look at ourselves in the mirror. It was not a pretty site. I finally said to hubby lets add up all our debts and make a plan to pay them off but he did not want to know the reality of our mess. I decided not to nag and strategised silently, read lots of articles/ books etc

I got myself some extra shifts at work (I am a Radiographer so it is fairly easy to pick up extra shifts) Soon i managed to set aside a £1000 for emergencies and got rid of all my cards. I got mum to help with the kids and I worked like there is no tomorrow my husband did plenty extras as well (he had always done just to keep up with our lifestyle at the time). I also sold lots of stuff on ebay to raise money. I then paid of the smallest debts we had quietly then went to hi with the new figures. He was impressed, and soon he was acting like he had started it all lol. We also sold our 3 year old car we had bought brand new and cleared the car loan. I am happy to say I have just upgraded from a 16 year old car I have been driving since I sold my car to a 10 year old one.

Our strategy was to pay the smallest to the largest as it gave us a sense of achievement and the money we would have been paying as installments would just snowball to attack the next debt. We felt there was not point in working out the interest rates etc because if our maths was that good we would not have borrowed up to our eyeballs. For us it was a psychological warfare.

For the first time we have afforded to go on holiday- CASH!!!:T

Business- I have started a cake business my please stop by and like me- I need all the support and motivation I can get, here is a link- www.facebook.com/pages/Wokingham-Cakes/207642202599787

wantabetterlife

Hi Fi, firstly a huge congratulations on clearing 40k of debt....that is a massive achievement :j , im not suprised you were screaming around the house.
Secondly i have just had a look at your facebook page and your cakes are really amazing...my wee girl would love the peppa pig one, unfortunately i dont live anywhere near you .
Do you have any targets about how much you want to pay etc?
Goodluck and cant wait to read your progress

superwoman247

Hi thanks for the compliment. Its a shame I am too far but never mind:). We owe just over £238k at the minute and accoring to MSE overpayment calculator to be done in 10 years we need to be paying £2200 a month. I understand it does not take inflation into consideration interest rate changes etc but I should hope we would not be too far off our target. We are now so used to being frugal and loving it that it should be fairly comfortable. How about you? I will try and find your diary to so I can follow your progress for ome inspiration:)

wantabetterlife

Ideally we would love to be mortgage free by the time a i am 40...almost 10 years time as i have just turned 31. At the minute we have about 14-15 years left to go..we have two different mortgages on different terms. At the minute our payments are £1069 per month and to be honest by the time we pay childcare there isnt an awful lot left over. I do have to say that our money management has improved soooo much in the last few years and like you my trolley is full of value items and whoopsies...its sad but it actually gives me a buzz when i get a bargain
I have never worked out exactly what we would have to overpay to be free in 10 years but i think its about £500 extra per month. If we can manage £100-£200 per month until we are finished with childcare then i will be happy and then after that we can go full speed ahead!

superwoman247

Tomorrow is my last day of work in a job I have been working as a self employed contractor the fast 4 weeks then I am off on holiday. Thank goodness for paying off our debts I am not worried as much about not having an income for 3 weeks as I am now self employed. I am so looking forward to putting my feet up for the first time in years

I need to start looking into economic ways of throwing my husband's 40th in December. I really want to do it on a budget, but still want us, our family and friends to enjoy it like there is no tomorrow.

Marksy

Well done for paying the debt off.. £40k is a lot of money!

wantabetterlife

ooohhhh a holiday... how lovely, after everything i think you all really deserve it and i hope you have a great time. Have you left the radiography completely to concentrate on your business or do you do a bit of both?