Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

Trying_to_be_good

Hello fellow questees - Happy New Year!

I've just called the Woolwich as the rate change notice they sent for my tracker mortgage overstated the amount I owe by some £16,000 - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Anyway, they've agreed they got it wrong as it's not included my payments, though they are charging me the right amount of interest and will send me a new rate change notice. Why is nothing ever straight forward?! I'm glad I keep tracking the mortgage in Microsoft Money and Excel so I know what's going on.

So, my update including this month's payment is £110,500 outstanding on the mortgage, less the ISA savings which have gone up by nearly £600 as I've moved them into a fixed rate ISA for two years. This could be worth others doing as the Bank of England might continue to cut rates, so variable rate ISAs will drop - I've gone for Nationwide at 6.15%, a reasonable rate and my current account is with them so it's quite hassle-free.

Off to PM Tall Girl and update my sig now. Well done, everyone!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Hi everyone and welcome to all newcomers!

I have had my thinking cap on and come up with a new way to 'make 1p do the work of 2' as my mum used to say. I've been reading some of the threads of DFW board and they have a sealed pot challenge going on http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=605703&highlight=sealed+pot which I thought about doing but I don't want money hanging around in jars when I could be earning interest on it so I have decided to keep a pot and empty it at the end of the month and pay the amount into my mortgage.

I started at the beginning of the month with all my old schrapnel out of my purse and I'm going to try and put something in every day if I can. The box is sealed and sellotaped up so I'm not tempted to count it. I know this idea is a hybrid off the sealed pot/mortgage pig but its adapted to suit me and I'm quite hopeful that at the end of the year, the amount plus interest saved will be definitely welcome. I thought I'd share this idea with you guys.

When I went to asda yesterday I had some money off coupons (£3.50) and I queried the bill at CS and got back around £2.50. Also I got some shoes for DD and negotiated £2 off for a 'minor/can't even see it' mark on the leather, they were already marked down in the sale anyway! All the money I would have spent went in the box.

I'm on the lookout for any more good ideas if anyone has any, I am doing loads already, mystery shopping, coupon clipping and sending off for coupons, cooking from scratch, meal planning/ using up what I've got in, packed lunches instead of school dinners for the spuds, set pocket money amounts instead of justing buying things for the kids, budgetting for everything, not buying anything or going shopping if I can help it, surveys, pigsback, quidco, hotdealsuk, logging onto MSE daily! phew, can't think of anything else but I do everything apart from matched betting as I can't get my head round gambling and I'm too tight to spend a pound on a lottery ticket!

Anyhoo, good luck fellow challengees and I'll keep my eye open for any more tips. BTW is anyone saving up for next Christmas?;)

Trying_to_be_good

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

BTW is anyone saving up for next Christmas?;)

Hee hee - I started my shopping in the boots.com sale just before Christmas just gone...:rotfl:

djbd1973

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

I'm on the lookout for any more good ideas if anyone has any, I am doing loads already, mystery shopping, coupon clipping and sending off for coupons, cooking from scratch, meal planning/ using up what I've got in, packed lunches instead of school dinners for the spuds, set pocket money amounts instead of justing buying things for the kids, budgetting for everything, not buying anything or going shopping if I can help it, surveys, pigsback, quidco, hotdealsuk, logging onto MSE daily! phew, can't think of anything else but I do everything apart from matched betting as I can't get my head round gambling and I'm too tight to spend a pound on a lottery ticket!

Sounds like you've got everything covered. The only thing I can think of from my point of view is that everything I buy goes on the credit card which has a direct debit to pay the balance each month to avoid any interest payments. With this in mind my money stays in my account earning interest longer and I also earn cashback on purchases.

Dithering_Dad

Hi Lexxi, sorry about the delay - I did see your message but for some reason I can't post when at work, though I can log on and read them. This is the first chance I've had to really sit down at home and read my PM's and do my admin.

Setmefree2 - can you PM me with your challenge details?

taka - I've changed your start amount.

financialbliss

Hi all, quick update from me.

As of today, my mortgage stands at 68,780 having upped monthly payments to 900. Hoping to commit to 1,250 a month to the mortgage from February, so looking for some big reductions in 2008.

My last car loan payment is this month, so I'm effectively starting my MFiT challenge from February.

Tall Girl - I'll PM you shortly...

FB.

1274

Thought I'd let you guys know I'm still on track for my minichallenge of a 5 figure mortgage by 1/4/08 (see sig for Jan update)

As a result of finding MSE I have: switched to watered down full fat milk (can't taste the difference to semiskimmed TBH), checked my utilities (£16 saving is the best I can get so can't be bothered ATM), joined the 4K challenge and set myself a strict budget for groceries, used my new slowcooker twice (once nice, once not so nice but I'm still eating it), cashed in all my premium bonds and cleared out all of my saved cash except ISA into mortgage overpayments (do this on day after payday so anything unspent for the month is now going to reduce my mortgage), signed up for Quidco (but don't want to buy anything ATM so no cashback as yet), homemade lunches instead of going to Pret a Mortgage and last but not least not been to the cash machine yet this month (using my saved pound coins for "treats") - when I was on my huge salary I used to take out £20-30 twice a week without even thinking

Can anyone suggest anything else?

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Trying_to_be_good wrote: »

Hee hee - I started my shopping in the boots.com sale just before Christmas just gone...:rotfl:

=================================================

hehehehe....:)

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

djbd1973 wrote: »

Sounds like you've got everything covered. The only thing I can think of from my point of view is that everything I buy goes on the credit card which has a direct debit to pay the balance each month to avoid any interest payments. With this in mind my money stays in my account earning interest longer and I also earn cashback on purchases.

I do this too, sorry forgot to mention! I still have a stoozepot of around £13k keeping interest low but that has to be paid back this year and it seems to be thin pickings on the stooze front. Did a spot of carpetbagging in the '90s but again, thin picking IMO. Still on the lookout for tips!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

1274 wrote: »

Thought I'd let you guys know I'm still on track for my minichallenge of a 5 figure mortgage by 1/4/08 (see sig for Jan update)

As a result of finding MSE I have: switched to watered down full fat milk (can't taste the difference to semiskimmed TBH), checked my utilities (£16 saving is the best I can get so can't be bothered ATM), joined the 4K challenge and set myself a strict budget for groceries, used my new slowcooker twice (once nice, once not so nice but I'm still eating it), cashed in all my premium bonds and cleared out all of my saved cash except ISA into mortgage overpayments (do this on day after payday so anything unspent for the month is now going to reduce my mortgage), signed up for Quidco (but don't want to buy anything ATM so no cashback as yet), homemade lunches instead of going to Pret a Mortgage and last but not least not been to the cash machine yet this month (using my saved pound coins for "treats") - when I was on my huge salary I used to take out £20-30 twice a week without even thinking

Can anyone suggest anything else?

Have you tried powdered milk? I worked out that if you get sainsbury's basic brand and make up a pint it works out cheaper than ordinary milk and ok especially in cooking.

I reckon the main one now for me is not to spend anythng if poss, keep an eye on freecycle for things I need (and give away too ).

It is easy to spend money without thinking so not getting any out of the cashpoint is a good idea too, I hate breaking into notes so if i get one in my purse it usually stays prisoner for a while!