ajmoney's bid to be mortgage free

ajmoney

I can feel the excitment bug of OPing taking over again and I haven't even made an OP yet. I have a date in mind when I would like to be mortgage free by and although I don't want to say it aloud I am hoping that putting it down here may help me.

I want to be MF by the payment on 01/09/2022. So that would be 7 years 6 months early! I need to work how we can do this realistically, or if it is even possible as we have a lifestyle that we love but I think there may be some ways of bringing cost down without it affecting us too much initially.

twinklie

Hi stranger!!! Glad you are ok honeypie. We only make small OP's but it's sooooooo rewarding when you look back (I've been doing it about 2 years) and compare where you would have been with where you are now. I'm not joking...it makes me feel really proud!

I am building my ISA pot at the same time because I'd love to get to 5/6K in savings...I'm a fair way off because everytime I build it up to 3/4K I end up having to steal money from it for things that need fixing etc. But that's the whole reason I want to build up my savings pot. Looks like we are aiming for a very similar MF date (I'll though I expect to move before then) but for now.....I'll race you!!

ajmoney

I have pieces of paper everywhere with numbers on them but have an action plan of sorts. If we were to start OPing today we would need to OP £580 a month to get rid of the mortgage by my preferred date.

In all honesty I have enough in savings but not that I can reach if I need it so I have changed some of my savings and will now have £250 go out a month rather than £350 but some of it is now going into cash.

Mortgage 1 £40,823.31 2.68% until Feb 2013 when it drops slightly repayment date Feb 2030 £500 OP limit until Feb 2013

Mortgage 2 £143,388.96 4% repayment date Feb 2030 no OP limit and can't remember introductory date end off hand.

I can OP £130 a month on the smaller mortgage and £450 on the larger to OP in 7.5 years. However it seems to make sense to OP the larger mortgage first, especially as there are no limits.

I have a car loan which will be paid off in 3 years that has around £8K outstanding, I could clear this but would rather keep my savings and the monthly amount doesn't worry e too much. I would rather stick with that and throw the rest of the money at the mortgage which is what I was advised earlier in the year anyway.

I really need DH to sit down and look at his finances too, he has more money coming in a month and although he has a nice stash of savings doesn't pay anything into them at the moment. I am hoping if I sit down with him this weekend we might be able to OP £50 a month each to the mortgage.

I am just putting my thoughts down at the mo so feel free to ignore. We will have our work cut out to OP in the time frame but DH knows roughly when I would like us to be mortgage free anyway.

ajmoney

twinklie wrote: »

Hi stranger!!! Glad you are ok honeypie. We only make small OP's but it's sooooooo rewarding when you look back (I've been doing it about 2 years) and compare where you would have been with where you are now. I'm not joking...it makes me feel really proud!

I am building my ISA pot at the same time because I'd love to get to 5/6K in savings...I'm a fair way off because everytime I build it up to 3/4K I end up having to steal money from it for things that need fixing etc. But that's the whole reason I want to build up my savings pot. Looks like we are aiming for a very similar MF date (I'll though I expect to move before then) but for now.....I'll race you!!

Ok, you're on...you have an easier job of it than me though, your mortgage is a lot smaller.

I have been doing the same with my ISA which is why I want to build it up again. I can't guarantee we will still be living here by 2022 but at least we can go some way to cutting this hopefully.

We are hoping to get a conservatory built soon but have money from some inheritance which is paying for that so we won't be out of pocket from it.

ajmoney

Just mentioned to DH this morning my idea for OPing and he said ok!!!!!!! We are only going to work on OPing the larger mortgage for now as we have plenty in savings to clear the smaller one. Not sure if we will go for the kill straight away with the full amount but we are considering it and scaling back in the months when other things are coming up.

I am a freak and like playing about with numbers...we could be mortgage free in 3917 days...so not that long! :eek:

ajmoney

Update: we have ordered our conservatory and it should be finished by Easter

We also decided today that whatever our jobs throw at us where we are now is where we would like to stay and settle so if we have to relocate we will just lock the house up. Obviously this may change but I love the house and DH is beginning to love it so it will make it even more fun to OP early.

I have just had another sneaky idea...01/09/2022 would be a great MF date and is perfectly manageable...what would be better would be 09/07/2021...our 10th wedding anniversary! Starting tomorrow I am going to try and meal plan better so it is easier to shop and we become less wasteful, I might start moving the money saved to another account and see what extra is left to OP at the end of each month.

ajmoney

Day 1 on the way to trying to save us money without DH realising! I have done a spreadsheet of all the food we have in the house and have written a proper meal plan using things that need to be eaten from the fridge and freezer. I am about to write a shopping list, we already have a lot of the things so I shouldn't need to buy too much...in theory.

I have also submitted our meter reading which unfortunately now means we owe the company money...but it is winter. Embarrassingly I have only just programmed the heating properly after 4 months of us living here so that should save us some money and hopefully we will owe them less soon. I am also hoping to do a proper comparison soon to check we are getting the best deal.

ajmoney

Just being nosey...anyone who is reading this, do you know how much gas you use? Our seems very high and I am going to try and cut it but was just wondering what everyone else uses.

originalmiscellany

How much do you spend? Have you stated?!
I think we spend 70 a month all year round (due to it being an old house with empty houses on either side of us.

coldcazzie

We currently pay £85 pcm...