Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

sparklymessygirl

AnW'sMum wrote: »

Sparkly I just have to say what an excellent choice of date to pay your mortgage off, that is the date we got married and it would have been 10 years this time. You must be so excited, enjoy the day As to the deeds, now that everything is computerised at the Land Registry there is no need to keep your deeds at the bank/b soc. Depending on the age of your house they will make very interesting reading.

AnW's Mum - Thank you - I hope you are able to enjoy happy memories on the day. Do you think the BS will have deeds to give back to me? My house is a Victorian terrace and I would love to see some of its history.

Sparkly

AnW'sMum

Yes it was a fantastic day, everything was perfect and it ran like clockwork.

The BS will still be in possession of the deeds and you will get them back eventually although I suspect they will be stored at another location so you will have to wait a little while. Some banks/BS's are in the process of sending out the deeds they hold to those with mortgages still running. They had to be securely stored in fireproof storage which is an overhead they no longer need to incur. They will be very interesting to read, our house was a new build so not quite so interesting.

catshark88

Is anyone else going through a stage of finding this challenge quite hard going at the mo?

In the first year, we did the "quick wins" like cashing in premium bonds and selling unwanted stuff on ebay. Now the novelty has worn off and we are at the "sticking to it" phase, which is vital but a bit less exciting!

I know that this is the way it needs to be, but is anyone else feeling this bit of a motivational slump?? Maybe I just have a weak character!:rotfl:

setmefree2

catshark88 wrote: »

Is anyone else going through a stage of finding this challenge quite hard going at the mo?

In the first year, we did the "quick wins" like cashing in premium bonds and selling unwanted stuff on ebay. Now the novelty has worn off and we are at the "sticking to it" phase, which is vital but a bit less exciting!

I know that this is the way it needs to be, but is anyone else feeling this bit of a motivational slump?? Maybe I just have a weak character!:rotfl:

Hi

Me & Mr SMF2 have been mulling over buying a conservatory ( though TBH we won't do this until we have established where the economy is going - so it will probably be next year). I feel guilty when I think about spending large amounts of money theses days and then I remember "It's a marathon not a sprint!" All the Best

SMF2

chickadee

catshark88 wrote: »

Is anyone else going through a stage of finding this challenge quite hard going at the mo?

In the first year, we did the "quick wins" like cashing in premium bonds and selling unwanted stuff on ebay. Now the novelty has worn off and we are at the "sticking to it" phase, which is vital but a bit less exciting!

I know that this is the way it needs to be, but is anyone else feeling this bit of a motivational slump?? Maybe I just have a weak character!:rotfl:

Yes Catshark, I am, but I expected it to be like this. The novelty has worn off and now it is just a case of getting our heads down and grinding through it.

I have tried to have smaller targets along the way to motivate myself. At the moment my next target is to get under £50k, which should be by the end of July. I have seen others with targets of getting their monthly interest payment below a certain amount, or bringing their MF date forward to a certain point. It is whatever works for you really. Keep on going. Imagine the feeling you will have when your balance is £0!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

yes! I am feeling this too! I thought it was just me. I liken it to a diet, its great when you see the weight dropping off but much harder to maintain a steady weight. Also its such a long challenge and mentally hard to maintain.

In an attempt to recharge my goal I have started reading the 'Tightwad Gazette' again from cover to cover which is a good read and as its so large (close to 1,000 pages) you can't possibly remember all the tips on first reading so I'm gaining second time round.

At least the nice weather is here and I feel a change with the change in seasons, I'm looking forward to the veg coming through that I've planted which will save us money and also the heating is off, another substantial saving. I am overpaying on my gas and electric for the year as I got behind due to the price rises. I've caught up now but I'm not risking that again so I've upped my DD and if there is loads left over at the end of the financial year then I'll take it out and put it on the mortgage.

Its hard to maintain the pace and I'm constantly looking at new ways to make/save money. Luckily for me at the mo work has picked up and I'm doing loads of hours so can't physically spend money while at work and the time goes by fast so before you know it its payday again.

I have done quite a bit of stoozing too so I've been factoring the BT fees into the budget (even though they are not due yet) and this has channelled my money away from paying off the capital. It will kick in though as my balance is now under £1k (on paper) so interest payments will be very small.

I find its the small things that give me a thrill for example my friend has just had a baby so instead of rushing out to buy loads of stuff I made a lovely baby hat and matching mittens and socks out of some leftover wool I had in the cupboard, it looks so nice and I can't wait to give her it when I see her, I spent time rather than money and enjoyed myself in the process.

How long did it take for Michaelangelo to paint the Sistine chapel ceiling...or sculpture the statue of David? He was chipping away for years just like us!

It will all work out in the end if we carry on, why don't we all post a few 'survival tips'?

- take each day at a time

- remind ourselves its a marathon not a sprint

- remember that all the little things you do add up

- take time out to have a treat, it doesn't have to cost much, could just be a bubble bath with some free samples you got or even a day from housework! We were at the dentists the other day and as we got there early, my kids were moaning about having to wait and asked me why it didn't bother me, my reply was that when you get to my age, a sit down is a treat!

At least its the bank holiday, we could have been working today!

Enjoy the sun (its free lol!)

taka

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

At least its the bank holiday, we could have been working today!

I am working today... boo We get the strangest of holidays... next hols are Victoria day and the tuesday after it (19th and 20th May) Strange but very welcome!

I seem to go into cycles of feeling I'll never make this challenge to feeling excited that I can do this. Whenever I get down I look at how far I've come in the past year moneywise as I find it amazing! Whether I make it or not this challenge has focused me on what I want to achieve. Thank you Martin for this site :T

ptee

taka wrote: »

I am working today... boo

Same here, I work for a bank and I'm working 12hours on a bank holiday! boooo!!!

Things have slowed down for me too at the moment, just pondering over wether to apply for another couple of cards to stooze and save me a bit more interest over the next 12months.

tattycath

Same here. We're at work too!!! Working with OH we can set the hours, but if we don't put the hours in and make the sales, we don't earn any money.

TallGirl

Hi all
Hope have had a nice bankholiday at least those of you who were working should be off my now. I have spent mine playing golf which was lovely. Did a bit of mathcbetting this afternoon and converted a couple of free bets into £65.

I agree the motivation can be hard to keep going in particular when there are lots of things out there that would be nice to have. Like our bathroom refits which will set us back £15k but I really want to do it and we are trying to save money where we can. Like we are trying to get tiles off Ebay at £10 sqm instead of £30 sqm which should save a fair bit.

I think it is just as case of saving when you can and for me it is about chucking everything into the mortgage so I don't get tempted to spend it. Even small chunks of money will make a big difference.

Keep up the good work.