8.9 years

littleg_2

A sparkly new thread for 2013! Things went a tad pear shaped in 2012, so we've regrouped, pulled our belts in and going to get on top of things this year.

In October 12 we were putting £400 in savings each month, so took the plunge and reduced our mortgage term to ten years. However, rising costs, falling income and some dodgy budgeting means we're now in a pickle:o

There is 8.9 years left on the mortgage, currently not making any overpayments as
£1150 overdraft:eek:
£2400 loan :eek::eek:
No emergency fund anymore:eek::eek::eek:

Drastic action required. The budget is now accurate, and skeletal. Spending money is withdrawn for the month and EVERYTHING is now paid by cash from this pot. No dipping into the accounts.

2 weeks in and going well. I've worked out the O/D should be gone by July. The loan will be gone by March 14 and then overpayments can resume.

Bu&@er! Very disappointed the dream is on hold, but glad I'm back in control again.

[Deleted User]

Hey littleeg and welcome back
sorry 2012 ended up pear shaped- always the best laid plans and all that eh!...

Good idea to do spending money in cash - I find this stops me wacking things on the card and forgetting how Im gonna manage to pay it off!

Lots of help around here as always for more ideas!

Lois_E

Hi littleg :wave:

You mustn't think your dream is on hold. You are still paying off your mortgage at that faster rate for the shorter term, so the mortgage bit of the dream is doing just fine, even if the rest of your life is a bit scary. The dream would be on hold if you'd had to go back to the bank and arrange a longer mortgage term again, but you haven't done that. So you are still effectively OPing your original mortgage, even though you don't have the satisfaction of paying across extra amounts yourself. Make sure you encourage yourself by watching those mortgage numbers and daily interest coming down every month when your mortgage payment goes out.

Good luck for the journey, especially the next year and a bit of clearing the OD and loan.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Good luck! I have had several stops, starts and setbacks too so I know how disappointing it is when a plan doesn't come together.

Squirrel

littleg_2

aw, thanks for the welcome back folks. I like your spin on things Lois, makes me feel much better! A frugal weekend and I'm hoping to have low spends petrol wise this week, not planning on going out much in the snow!

Toying with the idea of £100 op on mortgage alongside £100 payback on loan, once the overdraft is paid off. The loan is 0% and we have some leeway on how quickly we pay it back.

OH has had his usual strop and rant after I asked him about his finances. I used to do all the finances until end of oct11, (and always manage to build up our savings ) when he rebelled and wanted his own money. Fair do's, except he buys cr&p then moans that he's got

Whenever I broach the subject he starts complaining about our lack of life etc and gets all miserable. Reminding him about mortgage payoff / 3 holidays last year (albeit uk cheapie s) doesn't have much impact.

On the plus side he is very well trained to look for bargains in the supermarket and is much more savvy at shopping around for his insurance etc.

10 days til mortgage, I'm aiming to have some Pennines left over for my savings account:)

Lois_E

With some men it's a control thing. It's not so much that they want to buy the stuff, it's that they want to decide for themselves and not have some woman saying "no" to them. My X was like that. Me telling him we couldn't afford something was an almost irresistible incentive for him to go and buy it anyway, just to make himself feel I wasn't stopping him. I'm sure yours isn't as bad as that, of course, but a lot of them are more sensitive to wanting their independence than some of us women realise.

Please nobody take offence if you and/or your partner are not at all like that. Please note I said SOME men.

As you can tell from my sig, I recommend tracking as many numbers as possible, to give some feeling of progress, even if it's slow. I just love going to the "edit sig" page and bringing those numbers down.

Trying_to_be_good

Hi littleg

Having reduced the term of your mortgage, you're making huge 'non-overpayment overpayments' on your mortgage! I went through something similar a couple of years back (I was on the original Mortgage-Free in Three challenge, got married and collected four non-resident step-kids meaning my little mortgage-free flat turned into a hugely mortgaged but reduced mortgage-term forever family home). So I didn't take out the new huge mortgage on 25 years, just 18, and overpay into my offset to reduce that - but that's also my savings for emergencies/holidays/home improvements. And it's all programmed into a spreadsheet, so there's rarely any 'extra' to see the term reduce further than my spreadsheet already predicts - so I have to congratulate myself on the already reduced term.

And now we're thinking of doing some major work on the house, which will push back mortgage-freeness by 10 years or so, but have a much nicer and better prepared for the long-term house. Part of me thinks that's like taking out another mortgage, my heart knows it's worth it but my head's a bit annoyed!

Bit rambling, hopefully some of it made sense...

sweetdaisy

Good to see you back littleg. It sounds as if you are heading back in the right direction.

gallygirl

Good to see you back. You're in control and have a plan - that is great :T.

littleg_2

:I love your concept of 'non-overpayment overpayments' TTBG!! I feel positively virtuous now!:A:A

Both PC and laptop fell crook before Christmas. I'm fine without mobile, Facebook, e-mails etc ( in fact a closet Luddite) but I was beginning to get the shakes without any access to my spreadsheets;) I'm with you Lois, I have to a quick peek each day at my various forecasts to keep me on the straight and narrow and to keep the dream alive:D

Another no spend day. Transport have cancelled dd's school transport again, Grrr...seems to Only need a hint of snow. OH has also decided to stay home, so my peace and quiet and calm after the weekend storm has not happened. Can't get anything done and feeling a tad cranky.

littleg_2

we did that TTBG, we had £10k saved up to put against the mortgage when the fixed term finished. however, we decided to extend, remodel, new kitchen, flooring etc, so savings wiped out. It was worth it, as the house is much easier to live in, but a bit sad not to have a nice juicy financial cushion any more.