Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

Batgirl

Hi All

Can I/we join please. Since it began I have been reading the mortgage pig thread and it has helped keep me a bit inspired. We have a £200k mortgage which often seems overwhelming. We have £150k interest only and £50 repayment. My OH has just taken a job paying £200 less a month but within the next year his wage will go higher than it was in his previous job, also he gets great benefits including shares which we too thought were a "No Brainer" but I think we will have a longer think now thanks to advice above. ( Although in the history of the company -over 20 years - the shares have done nothing but go up and up so will prob still do it as it is a huge multi national comp.)

Also our youngest starts school in Sept so my 2 days a week work term time should go up to 4 days a week termtime so there is more extra money. We are hoping to be on 100% repayment by April 2008. And our aim for the 3 year challenge is £5k which should be very doable. We have quite a few expenses over the next 3 years, new kitchen, oven, bathroom, etc but still £5k should be easy.

I really love this thread and hadn't read it because I thought you had to clear your whole mortgage in 3 yrs I didn't realise you could just set a target so I am really pleased this thread is here and I am hoping we can complete our target and even beat it by a bit by the end of the 3 years.

Batgirl

wisewoman

Welcome to the Quest, Batgirl!

betsanboots

yes, i'm with nationwide as well - they're really flexible apart from the overpayment which is capped at 500 if you're tied in to a fixed rate or tracker scheme with them.

i keep a float of 2 months over payments in my current account, then after my isa is full, i put the rest in premium bonds and decant as i go. (martins savings founain)

interestingly, i took out a further advance with them a few years ago, and i can overpay on that as well for no penalty.

when i come to the end of my next fixed period, i'd consider drawing down what i've overpayed on the further advance, and put it as a lump sum off the main loan, so i can have the double overpayment facility again.

FrugalNotTight_2

betsanboots wrote: »

when i come to the end of my next fixed period, i'd consider drawing down what i've overpayed on the further advance, and put it as a lump sum off the main loan, so i can have the double overpayment facility again.

That is exactly what I would attempt to do. This gives breathing space for other financial commitments. i.e. If one is to be made redundant, the overpayment comes in so so handy.

Kaz2904

Batgirl, how do you win so much stuff? I know ehallet does too and just wondered if you entered evrything in sight or are you just lucky?
Do you incurr costs to enter your competitions?

I've updated my sig with Junes end of month balances in but it is not set in stone as I should have money coming from quidco and tax credits but don't know when so haven't counted them yet.

I have just had a phonecall from sky offering me their phone, tv and broadband package for £7.50 for 2 months then £15 for 10 months. There is free virus protection for 12 months, free wireless router, free sky box etc.
I'm wondering if anyone uses their service already? Can you recommend it or not?
The reason I'm considering it is because DH has been on at me for 10 years to get sky and has said that he wants it before he does the front room. It should be a £75 saving on our current broadband over the year but would mean I needed to get a laptop.
This isn't such a bad prospect because I do want a laptop with wireless broadband anyway.
My main questions are what kind of laptop do you laptop users use and how much should I look at spending?

DD- I spat my coffee evrywhere when I read your comment about the dogs!

I have worked out that since I started my sig on 16th April I have repaid £1686.61, spent >£1000 towards holiday (new roofbars and portable dvd for car), spent just under £500 on fixing the car, bought DH a new bike and refilled my wine lake!
So as that spans 2 full financial months I think we're doing ok. I've walked the kids to school twice and will do it more often now I've realised we can get up the hill in 15 minutes. DH has been cycling to work nearly every day which is why we had to buy a new bike. The one he had has been ridden for about 6 weeks and has nearly killed him 3 times with parts malfunctioning. The rub of it is that we bought it in october 2005 so can't return it now despite the low use of it. Bum bum bum! Anyway, he has a safe bike now so that's ok. We are looking to cut our petrol costs to try and recoup some of the savings by him cycling and me walking. Unfortunately we still have to have two cars 2 days a week for when I'm in bed and he has to fetch DH from preschool. It's cheaper to run 2 cars than it is for him to get a taxi and I need that 5.5 hours in bed!

I nearly fainted when I saw our total quest amount and our total quest achievement! It's grand aint it!

sweepster

Hiya everyone,
What a fantastic thread i have spent all afternoon reading most of it. Just called the Abbey to register myself for online mortgage statements so look forward to doing that. You really have got me thinking now about saving money and getting my mortgage paid off earlier. Would it be too much trouble to ask if i could join as well. My mortgage at mo is 102k and 16years left currently paying £50 a month extra but that will change in june.
Thanks everyone and good luck
sweepyxx

md_14uk

Count me in...

md14_uk
Mortgage as at now is 151,221.85 and I want to get it under £140k by 2010.

Good luck to everyone in the challenge.

sweepster

sweepster wrote: »

Hiya everyone,
What a fantastic thread i have spent all afternoon reading most of it. Just called the Abbey to register myself for online mortgage statements so look forward to doing that. You really have got me thinking now about saving money and getting my mortgage paid off earlier. Would it be too much trouble to ask if i could join as well. My mortgage at mo is 102k and 16years left currently paying £50 a month extra but that will change in june.
Thanks everyone and good luck
sweepyxx

meant to say 15k by 2010
thanks sweepyxx

Trying_to_be_good

I can't update my outstanding balance easily until I remortgage on 1 July - I'm in dispute with my current lender as they consistently mis-apply both my regular payments and overpayments. I'm finally leaving them, fed up with the poor level of service (though the individual people are all lovely). I daren't send them any extra money at the moment, as they'll lose it somewhere and I'll have to chase them to find it and give it back.

1 July is the start of the clean slate, though, so I should be able to update more regularly then!

Batgirl

Hi

Yes I do enter everything in site, I tend to spend .5 to 1 hours a day entereing comps, there are hundreds and hundreds on mse competition thread, I only enter free online comps so it only costs me time, but as this has now become my hobby I don't mind spending time doing it, and it makes the post a bit more interesting rather than just bills. If you have a look on the comp thread and see the online comp challenge you will see us msers do well with comps so give it a go.

Btagirl

Ps please excuse the very poor grammer I am in a rush

x