MF Quest

house_help

Hello all. I wanted to start a diary so I can keep track on how we are doing on our quest and also get any tips or thoughts from all the helpful people out there.

Myself and OH bought our first house at the end of September. We took out a mortgage of £165,400 (75% LTV). Its just us two at the minute plus our house rabbit

Looking at the daily interest we are paying :eek: has motivated us to OP and get that number down!

We have been busy saving for our dep for a few years so continuing to save but put it toward the mortgage should come naturually but now owning a house rather than renting will make more demands on our cash i'm sure.

We are on a 3 year fixed rate which allows maximum of £500 PM OPs. We made our first £500 OP last month and I just paid across the £500 for this month so we have made a good start.

We plan to OP by the full £500 allowed each month for the initial 3 year term if we can whilst keeping the standard payments the same. We will then see where we are when the fixed term ends.

The overall goal is pay it all off in less than 10 years. We think this is resonable given we are already making decent progress (though not enough to make it < 10 years) on current income and there are a number of postive changes to income which should come through (e.g. i finish paying my student loan shortly we will free up a couple of hundred pounds a month), however we also plan to start a family in that period and who knows what interest rates will be in 3 years so these factors (plus other unknowns..) might push it out.

saleb

Good luck, it looks like you have made a good start.
It is at the beginning of the mortgage where it will make the biggest impact, as I realised after 2 years of paying min payments!

house_help

Thanks saleb.

The last month and half have been expensive thanks to having to buy big one off items for the house plus 2x car insurance and house insurance. We have over the years of renting picked up most furniture we need however we needed to buy a washing machine and sofas (got given a fridge ). We have also got through a lot of paint in the last couple of months but the house is slowly getting to look like ours now (one room is still full of boxes though!).

We have kept the overpayments to the max allowed still by eating up some of our saving pot but won't have any more big spends for a while.

We have put in a log burner in the living room, we had an open fire in our last rented house so I had collected and cut a lot of wood. The new house has a storage shed so we brought the wood with us. The burner will be more efficient heat wise than the open fire so should cut our heating bills. We have also requested a kettle that can go on top of it from relative for christmas so that will cut out need to boil the electric kettle so often. We have already used it for slow cooking stews, ham joints etc.. in a cast iron pot - they were really good! I am looking at getting one of those fans that blows the heat out into the room - does anyone have experience of those, any they any good?

The last owners of the house had put on an extension so we have been revalued for council tax, thankfully only one band up (we thought it might be two) but still an extra £250 a year

Regular monthly mortgage payment will go out on the 21st (I get paid mid month) so will be good to see that total come down again

Twiddy

Good luck HH!!

As saleb says, it may not seem like much is happening in the early days but it definitely pays off as the years roll on, keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to keeping up with your progress.

All the best
T

house_help

Been a while since I updated. We have kept going with the £500 OPs each month so total OP since start of £2,500. According to the mortgage calculator each OP is saving us more in interest over the term than it costs (assuming the whole term was at current rates). This is only because we are at the very start and it won't last much longer but certainly motivation to keep going

We have done some more decorating but very MSW. We picked up some good, old furniture from a local general auction very cheaply (highly reconmend going to everyone) and had family around to help fit new flooring to living room. We got a fan for the fire as a gift for christmas (along with the stove kettle) and think it does help blow the heat around the room.

Had a nasty surprise before christmas when mice chewed through a water pipe (plastic!!) running upstairs and water came down into the kitchen. Thankfully not much damage as we where in and saw the first drips but shows you need those emergency funds just incase!

Better news is I have also had a promotion and pay rise So we should be able to keep up the OPs and enjoy a good holiday this year

house_help

Balance is now under £161k and hopefully be under the £160k mark by next month. Knocked 7 months off the term already

Been an expensive month with new TV and freesat box, my car will need new tyres and diy costs continuing (laregely putting right the mouse / water pipe damage this month ). However did spend some time finding and closing old bank and online gambling accounts. To my surprise I had £80 in total in various places and another £15 or so to come from another. My pay rise has also kicked so that will help

I made a mistake in my original post re: student loan. That still has 3 years to run at current repayment rate. At least the interest rate is low at the moment so the payments are eating the capital, I know in my first few years of repayment the interest was more than my payments so it was still growing. I did a 4 year course with full loans (at the time) each year so it was above £17k at its highest. Its around 9k now I often forgot that I am also reducing this debt month on month and should really include it in my debt reducing total. Once its gone it will free up a fair chunk of cash - if things stay as they are it will probably be paid off around the time we come to re-mortgage after the initial 3 year fix so will be a help if interest rates have moved by then.

summerday

Househelp, well done on your promotion and pay rise.

Re the student loans, I have a lot of them too but don't tend to include that in my debts, mainly because if I lost my job or something, or salary falls below £15k, I don't have to pay anything.

Keep up your good work.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

You are beginning really well. I wish I'd had your foresight in my first house. We are hoping to finish at the end of this year and can't wait to be mf. One thing I have learned is that stuff is just stuff, it comes and goes and you forget you had it. I only spend now on things that are either necessary or which will enhance our lives and leave permanent lovely memories. Good luck.

house_help

Good point summerday, that is the difference with SLs. I was thinking more when I come to the end of the month / year and total up how much debt I have paid off I will include the payments I have made to the SL. e.g last year I paid off near £3k. Once the SL is fully paid off thats cash I can put (at least some of) toward the mortgage.

I have read back the last few posts and I have mentioned 'expensive' months a couple of times These were expected and budgeted for when we bought the house as we were missing some things (washing machine, furniture to fill spare bed rooms etc..) and knew we wanted to decorate some of the rooms too. We kept back savings when we bought the house to fund these and are under budget at the moment (although still things to do but we have bought most of the things needed [mostly paint] just not had time).

The TV was a treat given the promotion. The freesat box although a big one off cost will save money over time as the other option to be able to get HD TV with ability to pause, record etc.. was to get a new sky+ monthly sub which would have cost more over the longer term.

house_help

Balance has just snuck back over the £161k mark at month end. Will pay the usual £500 OP tomorrow so that will bring it back under, it will likely go under £160k during the month when the reg payment is made but go back above by month end so will be another month before we can celebrate being below £160k properly.

Feb was a big spending month the TV and box above, 2 x tyres were £160, we had to fill upthe oil tank (can't get gas here) so that was nearly £700 (though we budget for this monthly), £200 for a friends stag do [abroad] and I prepaid out line rental for the year for another £120 odd.

Next month will be better as no council tax, no other big one off bills that cover the year (e.g. like oil, line rental) and I will be at away at university for 10 days so no food costs, less petrol etc.. The house is also pretty much done for required items but there will be more for paint etc..

Does anyone know what happens if you change your standing order date for mortgage? e.g. mine comes out the 21st at the moment but it would be better interest wise to come out at the start of the month you would think (i.e. 21 days each month with a lower balance). Will they just change it and keep the payment the same if i ask or will they only take a small amount to cover 21 to 1st in the first month and then take normal payments after that - does this negate the benefit of doing it?

house_help

I have left the DD as is for now, I will pop into the bank sometime and see if they can advse. March has been the low spend month predicted so far, I also got my annual CC cashback and a 12m regualar saver has matured. This money is now ready to go into an ISA next month.

I am currently at University starting the first week of a part time masters course so not much chance to spend. I have been lukily enough to get sponshorship from work so its not costing me anything Going to be hard work balancing working and studying at the same time though.

There are no budgeted big payments (oil, car insurance etc..) until after the summer so next job is to decide on a holiday budget and then where we go.