And so it begins....

PixieFace

I've just made my first ever mortgage overpayment and the excitement is uncontainable.

I've been a fan of this site for ages and have been lurking on the MFW forum for a couple of years, inspired by so many of your diaries and now feel ready to start my own. However, having only made a few posts previously, I am quite new to this forum lark, so please be patient/gentle with me.

The back story is complex. In a nutshell OH and I bought our house 6.5 years ago with a third person. After some turmoil and strife, we finally bought out our housemate in September 2011 and now have the house all to ourselves, alongside our 90% mortgage and massive amounts of debt owed to each of our parents. This was the only way we could afford to buy him out without selling the house, which was not an option (negative equity, no deposit etc..), and we very much appreciate that we were fortunate enough to have parents in a strong financial position who could help us.

So, now begins the long hard slog of paying back all the money we owe, but I have been determined for a while now that I will not spend the next thirty years paying off a mortgage and today I made an overpayment of £50.

I guess the reason for starting a diary is knowing how long this is going to take and that I can't afford to make more than token guesture payments at present. I'm hoping this diary will help me stay motivated and provide inspiration when I start having thoughts about the futility of it all.

I suppose that's all for now, otherwise I may find myself ranting on for hours when there is a whole heap of decorating with my name on it.

I'm very much looking forward to meeting you all.:)

PixieFace

Froggy-G

Good luck on your journey Pixie!

spidystrider

Well done PixieFace on making that first overpayment :T You'll be as addicted to overpaying as the rest of us, in no time at all.

beth111

Well done for making your first overpayment. GOOD LUCK!!:)

Hurdler

Welcome and good luck!

PixieFace

Thank you all for your welcomes and well wishes.

I shall a post with some actual details in the morning, but wanted to pop in and say 'Hi'. I will probably do most of my posting at the weekends as I don't tend to get on here much during the week and at some point I will have to work out how to do a signature, all advice welcome!

PixieFace

The Mortgage
Total mortgage value is £90,900, which is the sum of three parts.

SUB A/C 1 71,101 30 years 2 years fixed @ 3.09%
SUB A/C 2 4,699 (inc. 399 fee) 30 years 2 years fixed @ 3.09%
SUB A/C 3 15,101 (inc. 299 fee) 18 years 2 years fixed @ 6.19%

All are with NW. Sub A/C 1 was the original mortgage which was transferred in ownership to OH and I June/July and, because we had <75% LTV and an Ad Gold account, we managed to get the 3.09% rate. Sub A/C 2 was to take us up to the limit of 75% to get as much on the low rate as we possibly could.

The house was valued at 100K and in order to buy it outright, we had to return an investment to the housemates' parents (£36k:eek:) as well as secure the remainder of the mortgage. Hence Sub A/C 3, taking us up to 90% (just over including the fees)

The Parents
Prior to him announcing he wanted out, OH and I had already determined it would take approximately 3.5 years to be financially secure enough to buy the housemate out. Then I was made redundant (Dec 09). I managed to get a new job within 6 weeks, but this meant a massive pay cut, which set us back on the buy out to about 10 years! It was round about this point the he decided he wanted to buy his own house.

OH and I both had personal loans at the time, and the first blessing from the parents came when each of our lovely mums agreed to lend us enough money to clear our loans completely, so that we could save what we had been spending on them and the associated ridiculous amounts of interest.

One year later, after saving furiously and securing as much as possible on the mortgage, my mum then lent us the remaining amount required to return the investment. So the amount owing is:

OH mum £11k
My mum £24k.

Us
We are four. OH (34) and I (31) and two kitties - grumpy cat and cheeky cat (names have been changed to protect identity;))

The Dream
So, the ultimate goal in all of this is a smallholding and a couple of holiday lets. The barrier to this is money, pure and simple. We need need enough money to purchase the right property to allow us to live the dream. After that, the money can all go away as far as I'm concerned, so long as I can pay the bills, eat and feed the cats. I'm not after some hedonistic lifestyle, quite the opposite in fact. I would love to be able to produce the majority of my own food, and spend my days pottering in the garden and such like and I have some great ideas of how to make the dream into a holistic lifestyle. But it can only happen with the injection of some cold, hard cash - starting with overpaying on the mortgage.

It's going to be a bumpy ride, but there's room for everyone, so jump on board!

lvm

Welcome and Good Luck PixiFace!

Have you set out a monthly/annual budget yet? I couldn't live without mine now.

I know you're probably delighted to have the house to yourself now but have you consider taking in a lodger (or 2 if your house has the room), even on a temporary short term basis. I was dead against it for years but now I wouldn't go without one (for the time being).

What's your first goal? Getting rid of the £15k at 6.19% I assume. Have you given yourself a deadline for this?

I'm sure it will all go well for you now you've got your diary up and running and your heart set on being MF!

uzubairu

Welcome and good luck!

PixieFace

Hello to you both.

lvm, I budget like an accountant (thanks mum!). I use the old style envelope system for my accounts and set a monthly budget. I used to use paper and pen but have recently upgraded to a spreadsheet as the whole thing was running away with me. I have separate pages for my a/c, OH a/c, joint a/c and savings. I have another sheet detailing my mortgage payments and how the o/ps reflect on the term, thanks to Financial Bliss. This is all fronted with a budget planner. Have not calculated annually as yet as we are only one month in to the new system now it's just the two of us and I need to get my head round that first, but will probably do one for 2012 (for which the spreadsheets are already set up and I ammend them as I find problems in the current year sheet).

As we are on fixed terms, we can only overpay by 10% on each, which we will not reach anyway but, as you suggest, focus is on the 6.19% at the moment. No goals as yet, initially I will be overpaying anything that is left at the end of the month. Eg, I budget for groceries based on 5 weeks, so shorter months should leave a weeks worth to overpay. I'm in two minds about doing an SOA at the moment. I'm quite obsessed with my accounts, so always know what I've got where and only have a few things I may be able to reduce at the moment, having already overhauled everything.

One problem is the money owed to my mum, which we have agreed to pay back before she retires, as the money was to supplement her pension. This gives us 6-7 years and we are paying back £300 a month at the moment. (Which will make a lovely overpayment one day!)

OH is currently smirking at me from the sofa. He's supportive in the main, but thinks I'm a bit of a nerd, which is rich coming from a gamer!

Anyhoo, I shall have to rack my brains for some goals and then I can have more than just my own conscience nagging at me to get things done!

For today, however, the goals are thus:

1. Waitrose with John Lewis voucher from surveys to buy a chicken and veg and milk
2. Homebase for bits for the now vacant bedroom that we are decorating (missing a door latch, need a new pendant light and plaster for the walls I've made holes in for a new light switch and socket)
3. Hang door
4. Run light and socket cable
5. Fill all the holes, everywhere
6. Clean the bathroom.

That should keep me busy for a while.

CathT

Hi Pixieface, welcome to the forum. You will get so much support and advice on here.Good luck with your journey.