The BIG Plan...

MummyEm

ATB £600 monthly OP would mean around 7 years knocked off the term. Still not quite a dream MF date of Nov 25 but certainly not to be sniffed at. To achieve my dream date we need to op approx £1k monthly.

Main thing holding us back at the moment is that we are paying off £10k p/y to family for interest free loan that helped us out with house renovations. 2014 and 2015 repayments have been made so now balancing just paying back the next instalment early or OPing in the meantime.

We have quite a bit still going out for the house. This month we have a lot of necessary work being done to drive (drainage issues to sort) so having work done to front garden and driveway. We would have done this eventually anyway but drainage and other necessities need doing now and it would be more expensive in long run not to do it all together now. I have £10k allocated to this in reality this is around £8.5k but wanted a reasonable contingency in case issues arise.

Also battling OH who is eyeing up expensive holidays for next year.

Lastly, my car is on it's last legs and will need replacing at some point in the probably not too distant future. I'm mostly ignoring this whilst it's ticking over but that will need thinking about eventually. Another aspect to this is that DH has option of company car from august so need to weigh up pros and cons of this too.

Another long post, sorry, but the brain dumping is therapeutic.

MummyEm

Just read through last post and thought perhaps I sound a little whiney?!

That's not my intention, just thinking stuff through.

Positives are that we have knocked off 3y7months from mortgage since buying house 5 and a half years ago. I only really started any OPing less than a year ago. In that time have spent huge amount on renovating house and now have lovely home.

Also, just had energy bill through- so confused. States three different positions. We are anywhere between £6-£300 in credit. Provider switch should go through in May and I know just where to direct that refund to...

Luckyinlife

you dont sound whiney at all
I think youv done really well and if you finish a year or 2 over 2025 isnt the end of the world it would man you still smashed the mortgage date but 9-14 years thats amazing :]

I think its easy to think ya ill check every penny at the mortgage every month but its not possible new cars servicing food enjoying life always come up lol

My mortgage free date is was 2040 im aiming for 2025 as well i would be to upset if i went over buy a few years tho

Well done your nearly in the 250 club as well :] woooo

MummyEm

Thanks luckyinlife

It's all about getting the balance right for me. I am very goal and finance orientated whereas OH would spend it all now. We don't always get the balance quite right but just have to keep on at it.

Can't wait to be in the 250 club! At it's peak out mortgage was 295k so putting it into perspective, we have paid off a big chunk!

atypicalblonde

You don't sound whiny at all.

You clearly have a lot to consider with the finances and ongoing house renovations. Meant in the absolute best way possible, it seems that perhaps you are trying to tackle too many things at once? Paying off your family loan and OPing at the same time, whilst saving for house costs, must be such a juggle.

How much is owed to family? I agree with you that despite it being interest free paying it back ASAP is the best option - I hate owing money to family. This is just a suggestion, but could you put OPing on hold for now (or just pay a token amount a month so you are still being proactive, eg £50 a month) and throw everything at paying the family loan off? Then you may feel you have more headspace to tackle the mortgage and your £1k a month OP would be much more achievable.

On company cars, DH runs his own limited company and we have a company car. I would never go back - it means all car costs are taken care of from the business so although it will reduce his tax free pot each year not having the worry of car running costs is fantastic. Could you cope without your car when it does eventually conk and be a one car house? We took the plunge about three years ago and it has worked out far easier than I imagined it would. Doing that, combined with DH having a company car, means our personal household car costs are zilch

Sorry if the above isn't helpful at all just saying as I see :)x

Luckyinlife

Totally agree about being a balance Always a tough one

Wow fair play youv done amazing bet your place aint to bad either hehe
Bringing the term down to 2036 is great as well because you ow a lot so is hard to bring it down buy a year

Out of interest how much would you have to pay off in 1 lump to get 1 year off the term ?

MummyEm

atypicalblonde wrote: »

You don't sound whiny at all.

You clearly have a lot to consider with the finances and ongoing house renovations. Meant in the absolute best way possible, it seems that perhaps you are trying to tackle too many things at once? Paying off your family loan and OPing at the same time, whilst saving for house costs, must be such a juggle.

How much is owed to family? I agree with you that despite it being interest free paying it back ASAP is the best option - I hate owing money to family. This is just a suggestion, but could you put OPing on hold for now (or just pay a token amount a month so you are still being proactive, eg £50 a month) and throw everything at paying the family loan off? Then you may feel you have more headspace to tackle the mortgage and your £1k a month OP would be much more achievable.

On company cars, DH runs his own limited company and we have a company car. I would never go back - it means all car costs are taken care of from the business so although it will reduce his tax free pot each year not having the worry of car running costs is fantastic. Could you cope without your car when it does eventually conk and be a one car house? We took the plunge about three years ago and it has worked out far easier than I imagined it would. Doing that, combined with DH having a company car, means our personal household car costs are zilch

Sorry if the above isn't helpful at all just saying as I see :)x

Family are still owed £20k (half paid). We've paid back in 10k chunks and had agreed 10k p/y. We have paid back the 10k for 2015 already (steaming ahead) as I saved quite steadily through 2014.

I completely agreed that the sooner they are paid back, the better as I hate to feel that I owe anyone, anything

With so many things up in the air - cars/holidays etc. I've decided that for the time being I will split 50/50 family loan/OPs any extra income or savings against budget. Though they aren't as big as I'd like, I feel better knowing that there are some OP's to the mortgage. Once we are more certain about cars we can then decide whether we need to touch the money saved towards the next family loan repayment, or not. We still have a healthy emergency fund saved separately.

ATB thanks for the insight re company cars. I really like the idea of not having to worry about any of those car costs. DH spends a lot on cars (he is not MSE in the slightest, but gotta love him) and replaces his car way too often. So doing the sums, a company car could easily be cheaper for us. However, this is only the case is DH finds one that he deems suitable, within the budget. I may well be asking some more Q's about this over the coming month ATB if you don't mind as need to get my head around it all.

Unfortunately, be a one car family is completely out of the question for us. DH travels a lot for work (often away) and we live in a semi rural location (no options of public transport at all). No car would mean no work for me and being stuck at home every day with the kids which for us is just a step too far on the MFW journey.

MummyEm

Luckyinlife wrote: »

Totally agree about being a balance Always a tough one

Wow fair play youv done amazing bet your place aint to bad either hehe
Bringing the term down to 2036 is great as well because you ow a lot so is hard to bring it down buy a year

Out of interest how much would you have to pay off in 1 lump to get 1 year off the term ?

We are extremely lucky to have a really quite lovely home

I didn't actually know that figure Lucky, but have just checked it out - £10k lump sum OP would knock off 1 year.

That's pretty motivating to know so thanks for asking :T

atypicalblonde

No problem at all please ask away. You may be presently surprised when it comes to choosing a car if your DH does go down that route - we have a very lovely car that, were it not a company car, we could never afford. But as it's brand new & a great model, it is very very efficient therefore a great option tax-wise as the emissions are so low. And it's not a hybrid either - they're not our thing

We have had a lovely holiday this year already, two weeks in the Caribbean, as it can't all be a slog focussing just on being as MSE as possible, we all deserve some fun, so maybe a lovely trip away next year isn't such a bad thing. It's hard to strike a balance at times though, especially when hubbys and kids are involved :beer::)

MummyEm

Managed a NSD today in the end. Roast for lunch - used up lots of sad looking veggies from the depths of the fridge (how do they all get there I wonder...). Took kids swimming (prepaid) but took snacks. Kids have sooo much chocolate left from Easter that seems daft to be buying it out anywhere at the moment. They had to 'make do' with that, a couple of savoury biscuits and a drink of water - they are extremely deprived my two Would normally spend around £1.40 extra once there so I'll transfer that to the savings instead.

Am debating doing the grocery shop online tonight but think we'll just make do then I can keep it as a NSD!

Made some fruit puree for lunchboxes as a bit low on stuff. Now off for an exciting evening of ironing and tidying up.