A cunning plan (but a humungous mortgage!)

Jevvers

Okay, having read SteveMcol's 3k left post, I feel emboldened to say that we are stoozing our mortgage. As it is a flexible mortgage we can withdraw funds at any time. And as it is tracking the BoE base rate +0.49%, we are on a very low interest rate at the moment.

So we withdrew £23.5k from the repayment mortgage to put into savings accounts.

This has had a double effect: we are earning interest which beats the mortgage rate but also it has pushed up our monthly payments so in effect we are overpaying the mortgage.

Felt a bit weird doing it but we're happy with it now and it does mean we will NEVER dip into these savings as they aren't our's they are the bank's!

cotswoldaccountant

Hi Jevvers

Good luck on your mortgage free mission! I've enjoyed reading your diary and have subscribed. Always nice to find people with a similar sized mortgage to us. £410k is a nice figure to start from because it won't be long before you're in the 300s! We have just got to that point and it is a good feeling. Although I'm sure it will feel even better when we're in the 200s and 100s!

CA

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

cotswoldaccountant wrote: »

Hi Jevvers

Good luck on your mortgage free mission! I've enjoyed reading your diary and have subscribed. Always nice to find people with a similar sized mortgage to us. £410k is a nice figure to start from because it won't be long before you're in the 300s! We have just got to that point and it is a good feeling. Although I'm sure it will feel even better when we're in the 200s and 100s!

CA

That will be me soon. Started at not far off £400k and in four months we will be in the £1xxxk - ok it will have 5 figures to the right of the one, and they will all be 9s but I will still be celebrating the £1.... :T

Best wishes Tilly x

Jevvers

That must be an amazing feeling Tilly. And thanks CA - likewise. I wouldn't have dared post in somewhere so apparently unachievable (for us) as MFW without having read both your diaries :T

Had a good morning already: Brabantia sent us a new bin lid under guarantee after ours broke, no questions asked. We almost bought one for £25 before I read on here (OF COURSE!) that they will do this. What great customer service! So I have transferred the £25 to the OP pot.

Also made a quick call to cancel my contact lenses as I don't really wear them anymore and they are costing £16pm. They have suspended my account for six months instead so I still get the free eye tests and check-ups. Still will probably cancel but at least it's six months without paying before I do.

Jevvers

They were giving away Aussie shampoo / conditioner in Boots today. Not sure why but I wasn't arguing!.

Also I just read on craftingmad's MFW diary about the 100 clubcard points for telling Tesco when your insurance renewal dates are - so I signed up for that too.

Jevvers

Set up my Santander 123 cashback credit card to pay for my travelcard today. It will only save a few quid a month but it may as well be in my pocket rather than the train company's!

Jevvers

Done a couple of decent surveys and now half way to pay out on Global Testmarket and Valued Opinions.

ajmoney

Hi Jevvers,

I have just read your thread and am subscribing. Our mortgage is smaller than yours at £172,612.15 but we are quite slow at paying it down as we have a lifestyle we quite enjoy. I figure I can learn a lot from those of you with a larger mortgage and hopefully we can implement some of the techniques. We are concentrating on boosting our savings pots as the mo with a small £100 OP a month and when we get our easy access savings back up we will be switching back to OPing so any techniques I can learn to get there quicker on the savings front will be a bonus.

Good luck on your MF journey x

Jevvers

Thanks AJ, good luck with your journey too. All these small steps do make a difference I think.

Jevvers

Doh, getting impatient as there isn't much I've been able to do MFW-wise these past couple of days... Well I tell a lie, I made us a packed tea to take in the car on our long drive to relatives instead of buying motorway sandwiches. And today I chose something for lunch that was £2 cheaper than the option I fancied more.

I have also been researching our options for a stocks and shares ISA. We have been paying into one (FTSE tracker) as a vehicle to repay the IO part of the mortgage but I think it is time to reassess it.