Ultrarunner's aim to be mortgage-free

ultrarunner

Thanks worrywart that's really good to know, I would want a small lowcost car cheap to run for sure!

ultrarunner

Overpayment of £1250 made this month so far, it helps being paid for two jobs including holiday owed and outstanding overtime. Still chipping away at the mortgage element tied to base rate to try and reduce that balance. When base rises so will my monthly payment so it makes sense to attack the capital sum as much as I can. Balance of this now at about 59k, from 68.5k in May 2012, however my circumstances have limited the ability to overpay due to one thing and another.

I have received freepay from both jobs so expect a tax adjustment of £160 or so next month (i.e. paying more tax). However as I won't be enrolled into the pension scheme at my new job until November I shouldn't notice the difference.

Having a slight adjustment to my finances as I now get paid on the 20th, a bit earlier than I would like to be honest but there you are.

Got a few expensive weekends coming up (stag do, party, plus going on dates etc) so need to be careful with my spends.

Have also entered a load of running races for the next 6 months, so this expense and (mostly) Christmas presents are all sorted now.

Hopefully I should be able to make approx another 2k overpayments by the end of the year.

ultrarunner

Letter from Nationwide today informing me my monthly payments drop by a further £10 to £247.36 (on the element of the mortgage tied to base rate + 2%).

Note I am choosing to reduce monthly payments rather than term. The aim is that when the interest rate goes up I will suffer a little less for it.

ultrarunner

£675 overpayment made today.Balance down to 115k, out of approx 200k value.

Good news that interest rates are likely to remain unchanged for approx another year.

Aim is for a cheap month. It's my birthday so maybe I'll get some cash from my folks.

Washing machine is starting to squeak a bit, had it 7 years and it was 2nd hand from my Granddad so definitely VFM but still a potential expense coming up!

wantabetterlife

Well done UR...some great overpayments

ultrarunner

Thanks wantabetterlife!

Bad news, my car is now no longer economically repairable. So off for test drives on Monday... looking at the VW Up, either new or nearly new

ultrarunner

Quite a bit to update on.

Ended up getting a brand new VW up on a PCP in the end. Love the car, slightly unhappy about having to get it on PCP as I thought I could get a better deal on a 2nd hand car via personal loan. However time was the critical factor, and I did manage to get some freebies chucked in.

For Christmas I bought myself a washing machine with some money I got. Luckily between buying it and it being delivered John Lewis dropped the price by £150 which they refunded to me. Nice late Christmas present. All my other presents were luckily quite practical and have all been used so no wastage there.

Getting quite annoyed with my lodger. Boyfriend round too often, she's taking a few liberties, lots of clutter and generally getting on my wick. A week without her over Christmas was quite enjoyable. It's the bf being round so much that's the most annoying thing, starts to feel like it's not my house. Plan is to get a M-F lodger in the summer as they'll provide ~70% of the income with a lot less hassle plus I get the room at weekends. Her rent has gone up this month mainly due to hike in my electricity and gas bills which has been double what it was last year.

Finally I've just fixed my mortgage. I had one portion at 2.5% (base rate+2%). I've managed to fix it at 2.14%, on a 2 year term with no fees. Not quite the cheapest fee-free rate but I can't move from Nationwide so as good a deal as I can source really. Essentially I save about £10-12 per month, benefit from a guaranteed lower rate, and don't tie myself to the house any longer than I am with the other fixed rate which expires May 2017.