The Long, Long Road to Mortgage Freedom

catshark88

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

That just means we get the pleasure of reading your diary for longer

Aww, bless you.

catshark88

Well I hate to admit it, but DH has been proved right.....

We have a Tesco credit card and I've advocated using it for nearly everything I buy, to get the points and then do the Christmas points exchange (4x in Finest Wines, Prosecco, yum.....).

He thought we should just use the debit card so we could see where we were at all times. We agreed to compromise and I'm now checking the credit card daily and paying it off day by day (rather than in full at the end of each month).

This really hurts! It turns out that even though I think I'm being so careful, I'm much more likely to spend on the credit than the debit card.

Anyone else found something similar?

elantan

yes, i think it is a psychological thing, when its my debit card i panic incase there isnt enough in my account and i dont want a charge, however i have a £2k limit on my card so i know i can just use it if i need to and i will have enough there, i went out and bought the boots stuff the other day and spent £50 i didnt have, when i got home and was transferring the money over to pay for the purchase it was like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over me, i realised ohhh i now need to find £50 from somewhere to pay for that and right now, so the end result has been we have to cut back for the rest of the month.

if you are going to continue with your credit card keep transferring the money over every time you use it, that should help, i transfer the money over to a seperate account so that the bill will be paid straight away, so far it seems to be working and that £50 was spent on things we needed, but it was more of a lesson to learn for me, kjust glad it wasnt a more expensive lesson

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Really agree. Although I am stoozing with mine, the temptation to spend is huge, as you know you can just buy anything. When it is paid, I am getting rid of it.

Squirrel

catshark88

Well where the heck did 2013 go???

Life has been very busy with the family, hobbies and a phase of endless Zumba classes.

I've sort of been ignoring the mortgage completely (no overpayments etc.), but also servicing it every day by just trying to keep within the spending limits we decided on.

I've been collecting coins all year, so it will be fun to count those up in the new year. Yes, I do need to get out more..... ;-)

Happy Christmas my fellow MFWs!

catshark88

I'm not sure quite how to proceed with MFWannabeeness in 2014. I've been concentrating on adding to savings, which do offset against the mortgage, but obviously don't actually bring it down.

I think I will need to make more OPs, but only of the tiny, rounding down kind.

It is so frustrating only being able to spend money once! Lol.

Trying_to_be_good

I'm with you, CatShark, on the dilemma of how to only spend the money once!!

We've carried out some major building works over the last couple of years with all the stresses involved, so for 2014 we're not planning to do more but savings are depleted and overpayments ave been minimised whilst we've invested. I'm really happy with the improvements to our house, but it's somehow cleaner and tidier to see the mortgage balance reducing...

The new master plan is 8 years to mortgage-freedom, barring any further changes in plans... Which are bound to happen!

Stick with it, CatShark, and Happy New Year.

catshark88

That would be a fab achievement Trying to be good!

We did a lot of work to the house a few years ago, and whilst I love the result, I hated having to put the mortgage up to pay for it lol!

Today I had a NSD, made a mammoth OP of about £4 off the mortgage and helped DH with some DIY, so we didn't need a builder.

Trying_to_be_good

Yesterday I unblocked the drains, which seems to have happened three out of the last four years with leaves still getting under the drain cover despite my best efforts. Fortunately I'd not had a Christmas or New Year manicure!

I'm making cushion covers too, with gorgeous fabric from ebay, so being a bit MSE whilst still acquiring nice things. I think that's my best strategy.

Need to persuade the OH to tackle putting up a couple of big mirrors as I can't do that on my own, and one's been waiting for 6 months. We're both back to work on Monday, so this is a small window of opportunity!

fiisch

Interesting read and good luck with keeping it going in the future.

I'm at a very different stage - bought our first flat last year for £180k, and it has since been valued at £220k. Unfortunately, we cheated and got two mortgages - our own, and a second mortgage secured against my mother and father's house (in their name, but we pay the direct debits).

Do you just phone up your mortgage provider and pay off little chunks as and when, or have you found it more productive to set up regular overpayments? Have you had any difficulties with mortgage providers limiting you with the amount you may overpay?

Our balances current stand at:

Primary mortgage: 134k
Secondary mortgage: 21k
Goverment Loans (help to buy scheme): 43k

Unbelievably, despite the three separate large loans on our heads, it's still significantly cheaper than renting and very affordable. We're looking to move into a house later this year, so anything I can do to get the mortgage(s) down will be a big help!