MF before I'm 30

EchoDelta

I have a santander mortgage and there is no minimum op. The only thing I have to do is call and tell them it's towards the capital or the next month's direct debit is reduced by the amount of the op. I am finding it better to stash and then pay enough to reduce the term by a month at a time (currently around £300).

The holiday sounds amazing!

And well done for being super organised for Christmas.

YoungBaker

Thanks EchoDelta.

I think one of the problems is that I cant view my mortgage on my online banking with Santander. I know it shouldnt really matter but if i had access to it and could just transfer bits here and there over as I go I think it would actually really help...

I know its pretty much with doing it to our savings account which is for the same principal but its a bit different :P EchoDelta - how do u keep so focussed when u have so many different funds on the go haha we are struggling enough with one or two!

Think the problem is that we were beginning to make some headway with the emergency fund, but then because we got a great deal on the flights booked using our 900 spare plus another few hundred quid from the savings. The dog had to go to the vets as well so that chipped at it and took us back down.

But really looking forward to getting focussed again now and seeing those numbers go up! I think its been difficult because we are still really young and have spent the past few years scrimping and saving to get married and get our first home together, so now when we have the cash sitting we want to splurge a bit and treat ourselves...

Onwards and upwards !!

teabody

Echo delta, are you on a fixed product? Sadly, I have checked on mine and i definitely have a min op amount. I wish I could do smaller amounts I would find it much easier. I used to be with Nationwide and I could transfer small amounts daily if i liked. I am hoping that its a particular product you are on and then i could transfer to this after my term has ended!

EchoDelta

Definitely treat yourselves - you can afford it etc. As someone said upthread it's a marathon not a sprint.

YoungBaker wrote: »

EchoDelta - how do u keep so focussed when u have so many different funds on the go haha we are struggling enough with one or two!

Ooh do I seem focused? I like that! :rotfl:

I made a resolution to make 2013 the "year of frugality" as I had a slight freak out about retirement etc (as I had no pension in place). Also I'm mid 30s now and we really want another baby so have to crack on with the savings for that, my job was looking like it was really insecure (lots of govt enforced changes in the area of law I work in) and that made me fear that my income was going to halve so we needed things to be much more shipshape than they were ...and the MFW thing just kinda hooked me in!

EchoDelta

teabody wrote: »

Echo delta, are you on a fixed product? Sadly, I have checked on mine and i definitely have a min op amount. I wish I could do smaller amounts I would find it much easier. I used to be with Nationwide and I could transfer small amounts daily if i liked. I am hoping that its a particular product you are on and then i could transfer to this after my term has ended!

Ah that's interesting - we are on a fixed product. Will definitely be careful regarding the OPs when our fixed period finishes in the summer.

Phil3822

Been nice reading this thread. Great motivation from YoungBaker. I purchased my house in 2009 aged 24 and had the intention of becoming mortgage free. I have made maybe about £1k overpayments but other things have taken over during that time. Another child, two very nice holidays, new kitchen and bathroom etc etc meant our overpayments took the back seat. Anyway, I am now spending time paying a credit card off, saving and then will move on to overpaying again. As many others have said all over this site, take your time, live a little and enjoy it!

YoungBaker

Hi all

Hope you are all well. I havent posted in a while but have been keeping up with everyone elses threads and can see the really great progress everyone is making!

Things are really good here. Myself and my wife have been working hard and after all the inital expenses of moving into our home we are beginning to see some of the benefits of our joint wage coming in each month.

Unfortunately we havent made any overpayments at all yet. If i am honest we have had a sit down and a bit of a proper chat about it and our priorities have changed a little over the past few months... And it is looking as though it meams we wont be making amy overpayments for a while!!

Basically we are trying to take the advice that many have already given in here to not get too strung up on it and try and enjoy ourselves a bit as well, and we also have quite a few different savings pots we are also trying to get going at the moment...

We owe the inlaws some cash that helped us out with the deposit, we are going our holiday of a life time this year to new york then down to miami and to drive down the keys... We have a few things we are wanting to do to the house this summer' and we are also saving up emergemcy savings as well.

So quite a lot on! To add to this we are weighing up whether it would be best to invest some momey into the housebeefore starting to overpay instead??? We are planning on being in this jouse for about five more years and whilst out bathroom and kitchen are certainly nice enough we would like to have them both refitted to our design....just unsure how worth it it will be? This is definitely on the bottom of the pile in terms of things we need to do to the house but none the less is something we would like.

Finally... We have also sat and had quite a serious discusion this weekend about when we would like to start a family and we are considering trying this summer!!

Nothing definite yet but we would both love to habe a baby together, everything is lined up nicely and we are having our dream holiday this year. The only thing is it just creates yet another savimgs pot to get started ha ha.n
So it looks as if this diary is going to become more of a general savings one really haha our overall aim though is to make some more money on the house long term and ideally get in to a position to overpay, but as we have jusy started out and have so many other things on the go at the moment as well needing our financial attention we just arent at that point yet.

Luckily we have a nice size mortgage and both earn well so will hopully get our savings pots full up and focused on over paying in no time!

YoungBaker

Hi all hope you are all well!

Yet another monday over :beer::j

Finally cleared up from dinner and took our dog out for a walk! Now sat down with a cup of tea to finish off a bit of work from today then have a proper look at all these different saving pots we have on the go and the most efficient way to be building them up over the course of the next few months.

On a side note - how do you guys all manage your budgets? I created a household budget spreadsheet and it covers everything but im struggling to grt into using it dedicatedl... Any suggestions?

quicklee99

Sounds like you have your aims nicely planned out, wish you all the best! I wish I had considered all of this 10 years ago but hindsight is a wonderful thing

Happier_Me

Hi YoungBaker

It sounds like you are really finding the right balance for you and your OH now and that's great. Paying off a mortgage is a long road for most of us so why not throw in a bit of enjoyment whilst on the journey.

We made sure we had a final holiday abroad before having a family and it was the best thing we did.

And if babies are planned for the near future then a savings pot for this is probably more important than overpaying - they don't have to cost that much (I would not spend £600 on a pushchair if I had my time again, for instance:)) but babies can affect your household income and spend (childcare costs:eek:) for several years after they arrive.

Enjoy your dream holiday, you're doing something I would love to do! (but without my kids, so need to bide my time for a little while longer yet!)