Help! I don't know where to start.

Pursey

After reading some of your posts, I am astounded at how you are managing to become mf so quickly and paying off such large amounts. Would anyone mind pointing me in the right direction for advice and information on how I can do this. I have been overpaying for a year and haven't touched the levels some of you seem to be reaching.
My mortgage is currently out of its term and I am on a standard variable rate of 4.75. I can overpay as much as I like, but have been paying 800 off the 478 a month minimum. We currently owe 90000, on a house worth 105000.

Any advice would be gratefully received, as I don't know where to start.

originalmiscellany

A quick reply with simple figures - You've overpaying by over £320 a month - a total of £3800 a year.
Look at your live; is there anything you can cut back on? E.g. I haggled my home insurance down by £80 a year yesterday, I'll change my DD to incorporate an extra £7.80 a month to include that; If you get rid of say Sky, you could save £30 a month - put that in the pot - that's £360 a year extra.
For Christmas, set low budgets on what to buy, say only £10 on close relatives as I'm sure they don't really "need" what you're buying them!

It's changing little things rather than a major one off that makes the difference. The other thing that's absolutely key is to get your family/other half etc on board so you can both be saving away with a joint target of where to go.

Finally, keep a savings diary and post here. It's a good habit to get into, to post say twice a week with what you've done to economise, (e.g. cooking and freezing) and slowly you see the oil tanker turn - metaphorically.

CathT

I put your figures into an OP calculator (are you on a 30 year term?) Based on that your overpayments would shave 198 months (16+ years) off the term. You are making good OP's already. Could you get a more competitive SVR on your mortgage?

originalmiscellany

Good stats CathT! What spreadsheet do you use to work that out? 16 years off the mortgage is amazing. I have to remember how loads of people out there simply let their mortgages run its natural course, never over paying and just settle for lining the banks pockets for 30 years.

getmore4less

a simple calculator can do most of the number crunching

http://www.whatsthecost.com/mortgage.aspx

the key to overpaying is spending less so good budgetiing, start with a SOA and go through everything.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Sepa74

Hi Pursey, you've already made a great start, as Cath T showed you, and OM has the right ideas for keeping on.

But don't forget the progress you see is very dependent on your income, the number of dependants and how big your mortgage is... some people overpay by pennies each month, but for others it's thousands of pounds.

The important thing is to keep chipping away. It's a long old slog, so that's why we come here to get support. Good luck!

Pursey

Thank you all! I think I need to write a diary and crunch some numbers. I have never been someone that has full awareness of their spending and my oh certainly isn't, so I think it would be a good idea to start from scratch.
There are certainly things I can cut back on, so the changes will start now.

katsu

Hi Pursey,

Have a look at old bank statements and you can probably get started on working out where else you can make savings.

I am very impressed at your OPs - well done. It is a marathon not a sprint but you are doing incredibly well to make such big monthly OPs. Remember some of our friends here have started with smaller mortgages/had them longer (and others are just amazing OP kings/queens).

Some tips I can offer:
* look at doing surveys for vouchers towards treats and christmas.
* use top cashback (or quidco/other cashback site) for shopping online. I always check there before buying anything and even get money there for my ebay shopping - all those 5p and 10p bits of cashback can give you an extra £5 or £10 which is all free money to OP.
* set up an account where all the little savings go - like using a £5 voucher, claimingf your money from a cashback site or selling a book on Amazon. If you lend someone money save their repayments to OP with Those two tips have given me over £500 of OP money this year, painlessly.

Also, remember to enjoy yourself. My Dh and I have just been on holiday and honestly it has cost us around £3k :eek: However, it had been years since we last went away so although I did find myself thinking how good it would have been to OP the £3K, you have to remember to live and enjoy life too, or you can't stick to the OP journey.

CathT

Loads of great advice to get you started. One of my favourite calculators/spreadsheets is https://www.thismuchiknow.co.uk