Time to get started...

Mr_Teacher

I'd forgotten that I started this thread... but I've been continuing to make regular overpayments so I thought that it might be useful (if only for my benefit) to review the progress that has been made:

Original mortgage balance (Oct '06) - £142,500
Mortgage balance at the time of the previous post (Oct '13) - £102,600
Current balance (Feb '15) - £80,900

I had set myself a target of reducing the balance to less than £80,000 by the end of last year, but I missed it slightly. However, I'm still addicted to making a small overpayment each week and reviewing my mortgage spreadsheet - is that incredibly sad?!

I've been wondering if we can pay off the mortgage by beginning of 2020, so that's my target at the moment. It's incredibly optimistic (and probably very unrealistic) but it's something to work towards!

Other news:
* I've managed to keep my credit card at a £0 balance... I still use it occasionally but always pay in full at the end of the month. I haven't dipped into my overdrafts for years now.
* I'm no longer a teacher... my work online is now earning enough for a full-time income, so I gave up teaching last July. I miss the classroom, but working from home gives me lots of flexibility and time with my wife and three year old son.
* We have a baby girl due in July!

I'll try and post more regularly. The posts on here are always a great source of inspiration and encouragement, so thanks to everyone who shares their stories.

Luckyinlife

That is great progress well done being addicted is a good thing its how stuff gets done in life :]

sounds like life is good :]

Mr_Teacher

Another two years later...

I really haven't been good at keeping this up to date! Exploring the posts and ideas on the forum here is always really motivating though.

There have been a number of changes since I last posted:

Original mortgage balance (Oct '06) - £142,500
Mortgage balance at the time of the previous post (Feb '15) - £80,900

* Our current mortgage balance is just under £62,000. If all goes well, this should be paid off in 7 years (2024 instead of 2031). Our little boy is now five years old, so it would be amazing to pay it off by the time he is 10 (if we can).
* Our monthly overpayments of approx £300 are still being taken automatically. I'm so grateful that we have been doing this since the early days of the mortgage. It has made such a difference to the remaining balance and we haven't 'missed' that money as it has always been part of the monthly outgoings.
* I'm also making small overpayments (£10-20) every few weeks when I can.
* We added a conservatory to our house. That made a big dent in our savings and has reduced my mortgage overpayments considerably but it has had such a positive impact on our lifestyle. Our house felt pretty big when we first moved in as a couple but it's feeling a little small now that there are four of us. I work from home full-time, so it's nice to have another space to work in and the children love it out there too.
* We borrowed some of the money for the conservatory so I have a loan to repay. I'm been overpaying that and there is currently a balance of £4000 left but I'm making overpayments to that too. I want to clear this as soon as possible, so I can move some of overpayments to the mortgage.
* We have a beautiful little girl who is now two years old.
* Our young son has just finished his first year at school - that flew by incredibly quickly but he has done really well. I'm amazed at the progress he has made in such a short space of time.

My main weaknesses at the moment are Sainsbury's and Amazon - I can't seem to stop spending money there!

Working from home means that I don't get out of the house as much as I would like to and it's sometimes nice to just pop out round the corner to Sainsbury's to get some unhealthy treats in the middle of the day. However, that usually ends up in a £30+ shop which is no good for my finances or my waistline.

My work, running an online business, means that it's also incredibly easy to pop onto Amazon and order a few bits for next-day prime delivery.

The money I'm spending in these shops seems like such a waste and would be much better used to overpay our loan / mortgage right now...

Maybe posting this in a public forum will help to cure my addiction!

Mr_Teacher

Small steps...

I've just cancelled my Audible subscription and reduced my iCloud storage to a lower level. That's an extra £12.49 a month that I can commit to overpaying

Mr_Teacher

A few quick wins...

1) I've signed up for a Monzo card so that I can control my spending a little more. Rather than paying for 'treats' directly from my bank account, I'm going to add money to this prepaid card and use that for the little extras that pop up sometimes. When the Monzo card is empty, that's it for the month.

2) Lloyds have finally added the details of our C&G mortgage to online banking! I'm pretty good at keeping up to date with my mortgage spreadsheet but it's nice to be able to access the latest information directly from the bank. It's also really motivating to see the latest balance (and interest payments) and wondering how much of an overpayment I can make this week to bring them both down further.