The Long, Long Road to Mortgage Freedom

catshark88

Hello.

Some years ago, I was inspired by Dithering Dad, and finding this site, to start to tackle our mortgage. We paid a lot off, but knew that we had major renovation work to do and that at some point, the mortgage would have to go back up again. :mad:

We did our rebuild, but then life and laziness got in the way and we fell off the overpaying waggon.

But, new year, new start and all that! We have a big mortgage, will have to look it up, but approx £309k. DH has a well paid job, but he's the only breadwinner and will be until our youngest starts full time school.

I'm limited in what I can do to help as we did the obvious things last time, selling stuff,moving investments etc. so, this time I'm focussed on trying to reduce spending. We want to enjoy life though and do fun stuff with the kids, so I've got to be sensible and pace myself.

I've been reading a lot of posts here and on the Old Style boards and have started making some changes. I'm batch cooking like mad, turning off lights and heating in a way in which my Mother would be proud and am learning all sorts of new things to do with white vinegar! :rotfl:

I've also restarted making daily, tiny (sadly) overpayments, just rounding down any digits that I can.

So here we go once more. Our mortgage seems such a large number and I feel unable to do that much, given that I'm not working. However, I will do what I can and hope that our efforts will gather momentum as we go along!

Thank you for reading.:beer:

Lois_E

Hi catshark and welcome. :wave:
I'm a long-hauler too. There are lots of us on here. We just have to keep telling ourselves that any progress is better than nothing. Just remember - little OPs on a big mortgage with a long term save you more interest than the same little OPs would on a smaller, shorter term mortgage!
(My diary is here, BTW, if you want to read another long-hauler's meanderings.)

pixnmix_2

Hello Catshark

There's loads of ways to make money and by getting yourself on the forums it a good starting point I find having a diary and reading other's ones keeps me focused too, and everyone is really helpful. If you can have fun and make pals along your MF journey it's all good.

Not having paid employment isn't a problem cos you can do surveys online that pay you in vouchers or cash. Also cash back sites and mystery shopper activities are supposed to clock up the ££. Money off vouchers on various websites are great too. When I use a voucher I've started to put the value of that into a jar. End of each month I plan to empty it and overpay the mortgage.

I should add that I start my OP's in February, having just remortgaged and managed to knock 2 years off the term with the new deal

Subscribing to your diary if that's ok

catshark88

Hi Lois and Picnmix!

Thank you for your kind comments and good advice.

I didn't do a diary last time as I was concentrating so hard on funding OPs. This time I need to be a bit cleverer about finding the money to make the darn OPs, so I thought I'd try to use a diary to focus myself.

It can seem a long haul though at times.

I've always found the people on here amazing. So much support and knowledge.

Matt_The_Chippy

Hi Catshark,

Not sure if I'm able to give any useful advice as just starting out in this adventure as well but the folk round these parts are awesome! I've felt a bit like I was wandering off the path at christmas time, I mentioned the fact here and the support and help given was overwhelming!

i guess with a large mortgage, the aim would be to look at smaller goals and chase those. I suppose you could look at £300k as your next landmark point, then £290k and follow suit?

Best of luck with things and I'll keep reading to see how you progress. All the best, Matt.

catshark88

Hi Matt,

Thank you!

I think we will push to get under the £300k and after that, look at it in £5k blocks. As OPs are likelyo be slowish, it will be too disheartening if we make the intervening steps too big. :-)

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hiya, good luck on your journey. I know a large mortgage is disheartening and as Lois says its a long haul, but every penny off makes a small difference.

Best wishes, Tilly

catshark88

Thank you Tilly.

I must say that your diary gave me a lot of inspiration. It is nice to hear from other people who have started with similar behemoths!

catshark88

Something that I picked up from one of the other boards, was noting what I'd done towards my target, on a daily basis.

So this is what I have done since my LBM earlier this week.

• Collected all the random coins kicking around the house and bagged them, ready to take to bank. £30.
  
• Collected all the foreign currency, again kicking around the house after DH's work trips. Been exchanged and into "overpay mortgage account". £150 or so.
  
• On a daily basis, rounded down my mortgage amount, usually less than £5 a day, but nice to see the figure changing.
  
• Started batch cooking and freezing.
  
• Stopped frittering unthinkingly (esp in C0sta!).
  
• Turned hot water temp down a few degrees. Silly to heat water and then have to add a lot of cold.
  
• Turned CH right down. It's a big house, in a rural area and my last oil tank fill was over £900. Am now using the kid's play room as an evening sitting room. It is much smaller than our usual sitting room and has a woodburner stove. I'm not sure that the woodburner is that much cheaper to run per se, but I can heat a much smaller area. We are cosy, the heat rises to the bedrooms and the rest of the house can stay chilly.

May do another batch cook this eve, but that will be it for the week. Will prob go on a jaunt at the weekend, so will have admissions tickets to buy. Will take a packed lunch though.

Take care everyone!

catshark88

Not much to report today. Paid £10.01 off mortgage as part of pounding down, but that's about it.

Was going to cook up a chicken dish or the freezer, but DH used the defrosted chicken for lunch....

Did a bit of ditch digging to clear some ofthe water lying about after last night's rain. I wasn't very good at it, but hopefully it will shift a bit.

gallygirl

catshark88 wrote: »

Something that I picked up from one of the other boards, was noting what I'd done towards my target, on a daily basis.

So this is what I have done since my LBM earlier this week.

• Collected all the random coins kicking around the house and bagged them, ready to take to bank. £30.
• Collected all the foreign currency, again kicking around the house after DH's work trips. Been exchanged and into "overpay mortgage account". £150 or so.
• On a daily basis, rounded down my mortgage amount, usually less than £5 a day, but nice to see the figure changing.
• Started batch cooking and freezing.
• Stopped frittering unthinkingly (esp in C0sta!).
• Turned hot water temp down a few degrees. Silly to heat water and then have to add a lot of cold.
• Turned CH right down. It's a big house, in a rural area and my last oil tank fill was over £900. Am now using the kid's play room as an evening sitting room. It is much smaller than our usual sitting room and has a woodburner stove. I'm not sure that the woodburner is that much cheaper to run per se, but I can heat a much smaller area. We are cosy, the heat rises to the bedrooms and the rest of the house can stay chilly.

May do another batch cook this eve, but that will be it for the week. Will prob go on a jaunt at the weekend, so will have admissions tickets to buy. Will take a packed lunch though.

Take care everyone!

Great progress in a few days, well done :T.