The impossible dream

glass_half_full

Great job on the mortgage! :beer:

Tahlullah

Thank you glass_half_full. I am endeavouring to live up to your name and see the positive in my successes rather than the negative of how long I have to travel down this road.

As they say, every little helps.

Tahlullah

So, I was checking my £2 coins and now have £100 to pay into the mortgage. But I read an article in one of the papers online, which said that some of the £2 coins are collectable. Then I had a read of the 'Save £2 coins' thread and found that others have been doing this for a while. So now, I have to go through them all to see if I have managed to collect any of the special ones. I once sold a £0.20p coin for £50, so I would like to live in hope.
Surprisingly, I would prefer to get as much money as possible for a coin than its face value. I am not really interested in collecting them, so if I can use the money to pay down the mortgage, I would rather do that.
Otherwise, nothing special to report. Had a fairly good weekend, but a lot of money spent on fuel driving home and back. At some point, when I retire, I am going to be so shocked how much money I will save just from not needing to buy fuel every other day - ok I exaggerate, twice a week!

I need to be more focused on my selling my worldly goods. I am so bad at it. I need to think about spending less and budgeting better. I need to think about having more no spend days. I need to be more focused on the occasional Tilly Tidy where it fits my agenda. I need to be mortgage free by my 58th birthday if possible. We all need an aim, a challenge.
I need to find a job that I want to do (hard, because I just don't want to work!) that will pay me oodles of money that will allow me to pay off the mortgage which will allow me to retire early. Catch 22!

So that is my game plan. Find a job that will pay me loads. Can't see it to be fair. I have been working forever and still haven't reached that level of nirvana, so I will keep on struggling within the limited resources I have to at least get part way towards the lifetime dream.

Tahlullah

I have been reading other diaries and the one that has inspired ad re-invigorated me is stripeytightspottysocks. Absolutely great mindset and fabulous way of looking at how to pay off the mortgage / debt. So, I have of course copied her style and have calculated that if I follow the spreadsheet that I have now carefully prepared, I will have paid £71,500 of my £77,500 in 48 months.

I said I wanted to do it in 4 years, and this is how I can do it. Everything is costed. I can see where I am falling behind, where I need to be putting money to ensure I meet that funding stream etc.

So, bring it on. It all starts on 1 August 2019. I shall amend my footer now, as I know I will no have any spare money to pay down.

I am going on my first campervan trip this weekend to a festival, so money out, not money in. Should be fun. This has always been a dream of mine. I hope it lives up to my expectations, or there will be a campervan for sale!!

Moneyfordreams

Great planning... I need to understand spread sheets. I've hand written a year budget one to pay off my cc's. one that updates automatically would be amazing ( I haven't got office anymore)
I hope you have a fantastic weekend

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Hey there Tahlullah :wave:

i found you and have read all your diary Just Wow! What a journey you have been n and how amazingly inspiring :T and i saw my name on here too :rotfl:

I have so many questions!! But first a campervan :j:j:j:j how utterly fab! And i think he/she should most definitely be named i really want one - i'd love an old style one but realise a more modern one would perhaps be better in terms of maintenance - and there is the small matter of affording it too :rotfl:I hope your weekend away was amazing

Also :wave: to Rufus - he does sound like a little love i was trying to eat my tea earlier, and had fed my cats first but no, what was on my plate was clearly more appealing as the younger one kept making a grab for it :rotfl:

it was quite late when i finished reading but you have moved - could i ask do you still have the flat you bought to rent out? This struck a chord with me as I need to look at rental income as part of my pension pot in the future. I have also rented properties in the past and know exactly how I don't want to be treated by the landlords taking a very hefty amount for doing nothing to make their homes healthy and safe to live in.

Anyways you are doing great, paying down your mortgage and living your life too :T

Tahlullah

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a good weekend. I was in my camper-van for the first time and it was great! It worked exactly as I wanted it to and it allowed me the opportunity to see if there was anything I would change before the next trip. 1. I need another water carrier - 30L wasn't enough. Perhaps 40L in 2 20L containers would be best. 2. Get some privacy window tint for the side window. People can stare in too easily and the mosquito net doesn't help. One way tint would be good I believe, so need to get that priced.

What was great was the amount of storage space. So much I didn't even use some of it, so a longer trip is easily doable. The toilet functioned great! What an absolute treat to be able to use your own toilet last thing at night and first thing in the morning, without having to make your way to the communal facilities!

The solar panels worked great, kept the fridge going for longer. I got 2 days out of the fridge without electric hook up because of them. Would absolutely recommend them.

What could be improved? Hot water from the taps, but I am happy to boil the kettle when needed. I will reserve that for the next camper van I get in the future. You know, the one which is brand new out of the showroom and worth more than my house! Not happening, but if I had the money, I could consider it in the future.

All together, had a great trip. Happy to go out in it again and really looking forward to using it for what it was bought for - getting me to Glencoe in winter!

Tahlullah

Hi StripeyTightsSpottySocks, thanks for dropping by. I gave a quick roundup of the camper-van and how it coped. It was great thanks. Mine isn't new - I couldn't afford it otherwise. So bought it old second hand and have been working on it ever since. The problem with old vehicles is that the seller never tells the truth - always things wrong with it, whatever it is. This was no different, but it's on the way to being almost perfect for me now.

I haven't named it. Not sure I will. Nothing is calling me and nor is it giving off an air of 'Penelope Pitstop' or anything in particular. Will watch and see if one suddenly materialises.

Yes I still have the flat I bought to rent out. Fabulous tenant. Not sure I could want for a better one. It is the income from this that allows me to pay the mortgage I do at the level I do. I would never pay it off otherwise. But, whatever I do buy, it all goes on the same mortgage, up and down it goes. Hopefully, the camper van is the last big outlay and so I wont need to spend large amounts of money again, so I can concentrate on reducing the mortgage and getting on with life.

Probably the biggest challenge was what I called 'the big debt' because I had no control over it. I ended spending close to £20k to get past that hurdle, but because I was living an MSE life and paying down the mortgage, it didn't affect me adversely. I was able to pay it all without borrowing and still live life. The hardest part was the all consuming rubbish that that took up mental space. But once I was past that, it was easy. I just made the decision that it wasn't the be all and end all, and that I was a bigger person than they were. Plus, the biggest thing was to say - it's only money. I didn't lose my home, my health was still good and when comparing myself to others in dire straits, I was ok.

Downside of it was that I would be much further down the line in paying off the mortgage if I hadn't have to waste money on them, but hey, I am still so much better off than so many other people who, if that had happened to them, it would have broken them. Here I am and the only thing I have to moan about is that I am still paying my mortgage and the camper van need window tint!

I am doing ok and so will you.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Your trip sounded wonderful Tahlullah Thank you for such a comprehensive round up

And thank you for answering about your flat too - i love that on here people can share information and if we can, we try and help each other.

A campervan will be a long time away for me yet. i have the potential looming ££££'s issue to deal with, I want to pay this mortgage off and then i want to move. These are my priorities at this point and its good to think about things and learn these things about myself too. Also, a camper if it was even affordable, wouldn't be practical right now. I work different shifts during the week and Mr Socks works at the weekend. But what i also realise typing this is I am working to pay off my mortgage to give me the freedom to do the things i want to

I was sorry to read about your 'big debt' but you do sound like a very strong person as, even when i was reading your earlier posts, which is when it was happening, you were always so composed and calm and collected

I am currently pushing myself out of my comfort zone with a lot of things - I have done some shops i wouldn't have done without forcing myself (miss terry one's) with varying degrees of success :rotfl: kicking myself for taking work which i shouldn't have accepted for the timescale / rate of pay but recognising i am learning along the way

Have a good day Tahlullah

Tahlullah

Hi STSS! One of the things we learn about ourselves on this journey to mortgage freedom is our ability to adapt and roll with the punches. It is an amazing learning curve. You find yourself considering doing things that ordinarily would not cross your mind, but you persevere and push through. Not because we are masochists, but because we have a goal, which is to have freedom from the ties that bind. I have realised that on this lifetime trip, (which it seems to be for me!) the point of the journey is to live how I want and to do what I want. The journey allows me to focus on what it is I want out of life and to help me achieve it.

Would I have done as much in my life (including the ups and downs!), survived as much, grown as much, if I wasn't on this journey which has forced me to re-examine the way I have been going through life? I think not. I believe I would have coasted along, paying the mortgage and thinking that I can begin to 'live' once I retire. And that process would have meant I forgot to live now, because I was putting the living off until a mysterious date in the future when I would no longer have any debts and so could suddenly do everything I had dreamt of. The reality is that by then, I would be worn out, tired, jaded and potentially not in the best of health. And most probably not in a position to do what I wanted to do.

This journey that we are on helps us to reflect on everything we do. As you said, it takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you focus the mind. Congratulations to you for doing this. Well done for deciding to go down this road. I can guarantee you that you will enjoy it and you will succeed. Because the point of the journey isn't to pay off the mortgage only. It is to give you the freedom to do the things you want to do in the here and now, not at some non committal time in the future.

Enjoy the ride!