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Mortgage free by 50

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  • Hello Sepa74 and inigma, thanks for popping by!

    Sepa74, although the temptation to pay the overpayments off the mortgage is sooooo great, I have decided to be sensible and am putting them into a savings account until I have sufficient emergency fund built up to enable me to sleep at night. Once we have reached a decent figure, then I will pay the rest directly off the mortgage. The emergency fund can sit there for years, and perhaps be a lump sum at the end if we haven't needed to use it. So I suppose at the moment it is an offset/emergency fund I am putting money by for. I am an optimist at heart, so here's hoping the emergency fund stays intact! This means my figures won't be 100% accurate but at least I get a ball-park idea of where we're at.
    Slow progress is better than no progress.
  • Sepa74
    Sepa74 Posts: 962 Forumite
    Hello, I think you're doing the right thing. It's generally recommended to have 3 - 6 months worth of expenditure in your emergency fund, and then OP anything on top of that. Of course, if you need to spend the emergency fund for whatever reason, you can build it up again.

    My emergency fund is about 4 months expenditure, but I am growing mine at the moment as it also doubles as my contents insurance (I live in a flat so the freeholder gets the building insurance) and pet insurance - I'm beginning to realise just how expensive my cats are!!

    It's very sad when you spend the fund... it's usually because something traumatic has happened! But the peace of mind it brings is great!
    Borrowed £150,000 in an offset tracker mortgage in May 2007 - MFD May 2041 (67)

    Jan 2012 - £125,620.02 / 2,913.87 / Nov 2032 (58) :beer:
    Apr 2012 - £122,901.88 / 3,170.91 / Jul 2032 (58)
    Jul 2012 - £122, 589.02 / 3,507.99 / Sept 2032 (58)
    Oct 2012 - £120,476.31 / 3,889.42 / July 2032 (58)
  • Hi folks,

    Not a lot happening at the moment as I am in the middle of a crazy week, busy every evening and moving in at the weekend, so I don't know when I'll find time to pack/write christmas cards/sleep etc!
    I have now sold a grand total of 5 of my books, for which I should receive an Amazon payment of about £30 on the 16th Dec. I'm very tempted to add that on to my total now but I'll wait until I've received the cash and transferred it into my overpayments account.
    Other MSE activities this week include using quidco to get some curtains from Terry's fabrics, as it's 9% cashback and there was already a sale on so it looks like we will have curtains for the 3 bedrooms and dining room for £100. I can't wait for everything to get sorted in the house and for us to be settled in properly.
    Slow progress is better than no progress.
  • Well I'm finally re-surfacing after a horrendous couple of weeks! The move was as stressful as anticipated! We are now in, albeit with lots of stuff in the garage. The house is habitable and we are not living amongst boxes, which is good. We are having the loft boarded with a new hatch in the new year, so we can shove a lot of stuff up there and forget about it!
    I've had a productive morning, been sorting out my mountain of clothes. I am planning on taking them to cash4clothes, which will give me 50p per kg. They are shut today but should have a few bags to take in the week, and then I can put the proceeds towards the target!
    I have joined MFW2012, and have decided to post my figures at the beginning of the month, so that means everything I've done in December can go onto my January update! I can't wait to make the first update, it will be great seeing those figures creeping up! I've registered a target of £3000 for the year, which is just shy of the £255 a month that I mentioned on here.
    My signature has not changed from the £18.10 I got from quidco earlier in the month, but I have requested my payout from amazon (£50ish), also from Top Cashback (£7ish), also already had about £3 in paypal and need to count the change we have collected over the month. So I'm hoping I will reach the £105 from all of that activity.
    I have got lots of tracked activity in quidco but as yet have not been paid, so it should be a bumper month when all of that appears.
    The curtains from Terry's fabrics are great, we are really happy with them! I had to raise a payment claim from quidco as it didn't track. I think this was because my first transaction was rejected as I pressed back on the payment processing page when I realised I had put the wrong address for the payment card.
    Another quidco was a transaction with Travelex- our spending money for our up-coming holiday. It's only 0.5% but I was spending £500, so it wasn't too bad!
    I have also applied for the Halifax Clarity card as it doesn't add the 2.5% commission onto all purchases like most other cards. I fear I've left it a bit late and it might not arrive in time for the holiday, especially with the Christmas post!
    Slow progress is better than no progress.
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,240 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Hello :wave:, just catching up on some new threads :D.

    What holiday are you talking about - the Xmas break or an overseas one? The Halifax Clarity is great for overseas, I paid it off as soon as I returned in Sept and think I paid around £2.50 interest from withdrawing £800 :money:. It takes some nerve to withdraw cash from a credit card though, as for years we've been told on here not to :eek:.

    Good luck with your journey, your mortgage will start with a 1 soon which will be great :)
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • Lucky you Gallygirl! Like you, I've never used a credit card abroad, but did my mistake this year for a cash withdraw. Yikes! I won't do that again. I think I got charged several times, and then interest added to the "interest free card" which I guess will be the last thing to pay off.

    It's an exciting time Mortgagefreeby50 - the thing I enjoy most is when I get a letter from my bank telling me that my mortgage has gone down by a few pence/pounds per month due to overpaying. That's motivation for me!

    All the very best in your quest; keep posting on here, and I wish you well in clearing your mortgage.
    Feb 2012 - onwards MF achieved
    September 2016 - Back into clearing a mortgage - Was due to be paid off in 32 years in March 2047 -
    April 2018 down to 28.00 months vs 30.04 months at normal payment.
    Predicted mortgage clearing 03/2047 - now looking at 02/2045

    Aims: 1) To pay off mortgage within 20 years - 2037
  • Hi gallygirl and om! You two are like celebrities so thanks for looking! The xmas and overseas holiday are one and the same- we are off to vegas for new year!
    Halifax phoned me today as the change of address had confused my credit check but we sorted it all out and the application is processing- fingers crossed for it arriving by Saturday morning!
    Slow progress is better than no progress.
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,240 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Wow, what a great start to the year, have a great time :j
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • coldcazzie
    coldcazzie Posts: 1,407 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Wow Vegas for new year! Some friends of ours went to Vegas about a month ago and they really enjoyed it - is it the first time you've been?

    It is very tempting to put everything spare you have into oping (I'm having the same urge!) but the emergency fund is really important, if you have boiler problems or a leak or have a traffic accident you need to be able to absorb those costs.

    I'm enjoying reading :)
    Rule 7: If you're not changing it, you're choosing it.
    MFW 2020: 1 Jan £92903.90 ~ OP £536.80/£500
    MFW 2021: 1 Jan £89281.21 ~ OP £404.62/£500
    MFW 2022: 1 Jan £85579.20 ~ OPs on hold.
  • Red_Cat
    Red_Cat Posts: 1,040 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    A few quick much used money saving tips I use a lot of the time and for me are reliable means of saving a few quid every month:

    1. Save money on going out by getting free cinema tickets (use the forum thread on MSE)
    2. Use coupons and try me free offers to reduce cost of shopping - but only things you buy anyway
    3. Plan car journeys, to save multiple trips and fuel, time, wear etc
    4. Make do and mend if you can
    5. Freeze or reuse leftovers to make food go further

    These are well known and many others use them, so this is just a reminder really.

    Good luck!
    Hoping this year is better than the last. :)
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