Niggling ideas from Dan

glasgowdan

I moved into the house I share with my fiance in May 2009, with a £125k mortgage. We have just been thinking that with a quiet pace of life/spending, and my business going well it would be possible to try and get this thing cleared by Christmas 2014, if we don't get tempted by a bigger house before then that is!

I have been looking at some of the other people's comments on this forum - it seems people are either on huge wages, got inheritance to help them pay it off, or have mortgages in the range of £25-50/60k etc. I wonder how on earth they do that in this current market!

Anyway...our route is simply through hard work and choosing a careful mortgage. We are both 30/31 just now and got an offset mortgage. At the point where the savings equal the balance we are going to sign it over and end the mortgage. Nice thought!

How will we speed things up? Other than being highly inventive and persistent with my business (landscape maintenance) we just aim to keep saving bit by bit.

Thing is - once it's paid off, won't there be a temptation to get something bigger, detached with an acre of land and more than just a lounge?

abouttimetoo

Welcome to the board Glasgowdan

Congratulations with the business going well and i'm sure if you put your mind to it you will meet your target of 2014. Have you set some smaller milestone targets between now and then? I've not got an offset myself though many people on here speak well of them.

Be warned, this things can get quite addicitive and yes you just might find yourself wanting to get something bigger and with more than a lounge, actually, your fellow countryman (i'm making some assumptions here from your user name) WynnVegas has done just that. You will see his thread on here whereby he paid off his mortgage last year and is now saving for land to do a self build and walk in dressing rooms and pools are often mentioned

As well as the plans you have in terms of being inventive and careful have you thought about things such as cashback sites, exploiting credit card usage etc?

PS, don't be disheartened by some of the things you mention you have seen e.g. people on large wages (rarely if ever mentioned on here) inheritances etc. It's all relative after all and there are people on here across all spectrums with mortgages of less than 20k, more than 300k, on the sick, on maternity leave, single parents and everything in between


Best of luck with your plans
Regards
ATT

RosieTiger

That might be a temptation to go for something bigger, some on here have done so, others haven't.

Either way, it's about getting the freedom to choose. There are all sorts of us on here, the main thing we have in common is wanting to get rid of the mortgage whatever the reason.

Good luck!

glasgowdan

Thanks for the welcome. I don't plan on getting too obsessed as life is too busy for obsessions!

In terms of making extra bits of money I would be far better off doing extra hours work rather than sitting doing cashback sites so that's an option if I have the energy.

House-buying is so difficult for people of my generation who didn't have the luxury of being able to buy a semi for £50k back 10-20 years ago. We are trying to buy now and with most decent small family homes starting at £140k plus or so people are struggling. The housing market is being run by older generations and younger folk are cramming the rental market. I don't think it will change - just become something we get used to.

originalmiscellany

We are similar to you - 2 salaries where we save as much as possible and keep on clearing our debts every month. I'm fortunate in that I have a money wise wife who really doesn't spend a lot of money, and who is signed up to the concept of being MFW. That makes all the difference!

We like you were fortunate to get on the ladder as soon as we could (almost 10 years ago) - and you're right, anyone who has to buy now would have a real struggle to get on and up on the property ladder.

Finally, we've settled on our house, it's not a life time house, but we're planning to clear our mortgage asap and then save for future houses, esp. as we've got a little one expected soon

glasgowdan

Similar story again with your comment about the house not being the lifetime house! We have seen one that we love but can't buy it right now so have to wait until such times... what a complaint to have!

We must be lucky having ladies that don't get that retail kick when flashing plastic.

originalmiscellany wrote: »

We are similar to you - 2 salaries where we save as much as possible and keep on clearing our debts every month. I'm fortunate in that I have a money wise wife who really doesn't spend a lot of money, and who is signed up to the concept of being MFW. That makes all the difference!

We like you were fortunate to get on the ladder as soon as we could (almost 10 years ago) - and you're right, anyone who has to buy now would have a real struggle to get on and up on the property ladder.

Finally, we've settled on our house, it's not a life time house, but we're planning to clear our mortgage asap and then save for future houses, esp. as we've got a little one expected soon

sarahevie

We have a small income compared to most here, but still think we could be MF by 35 despite buying peak in 2007.

We are VERY frugal though and may stop this as I feel at times that we are missing out on enjoyment

beachie

Good Luck. I have an £89'500 mortgage, live alone on £22k a year so certainly not earning massive amounts or having a small mortgage.

It does get addictive. I tend to come and go from here with a few weeks where I think nothing but the mortgage and then another few weeks were I forget about it for a bit and remember to live.

Lois_E

I agree with all the people saying this board has a complete mix of people with all sorts of sizes of mortgage and all kinds of life situations. The other thing I'd add is that I love the way that people here are always pleased for each other's successes, however big or small. The person OPing £3000 and the person OPing £3.24 will both congratulate each other and encourage each other.

If you can pay off £125k in less than 6 years, as you plan to do, then you'll be one of the faster ones, so good luck. I hope it works out for you.

wynnvegas

Hi Dan,

I havent seen many people assisted by big inheritances. Like you, we planned to do it by being careful and remortgaging smartly to the best products. The temptation definitely exists to then take a step to something bigger. We're now sticking a bit of money away every month toward buying a decent plot of land. Our plan now is to Be mortgage free in the big house by 40.

Cheers,

Billy

katsu

Hi Dan,

We bought in 06, 30yr 130k mortgage. We've got it down to 126k, 22yrs 11 months to go. We have cleared debts, save gradually and are currently aiming for 18yrs rather than 22. As the others said, we are all proud of every OP each person makes - I'm happy for Billy at his efforts, and I know he would be as pleased for me with mine - regardless of the difference in scale.

Most of the people with small mortgages either have had them longer (think how small mine will look in 15yrs) or have been making sacrifices to get their mortgage down.

Look at someone like pammy - I think pammyj74 is her name? - who is raising her children and reducing her mortgage more than we are, despite her lower income (similarly Cha97mw). Everyone here is a source of support and inspiration to everyone else.

I couldn't ask for a better community to inspire and support me. We nearly all do stuff like save for a holiday, or do some treat pressies every now and again and we also get great ideas on finding ways to make savings for OPs and to clear our mortgages together.

Personally I have no desire for a bigger and better house/plot of land; we will put in a drive, maybe garage, big shed etc and improve what we have - but good luck to the housebuilders with their dreams.