mortgage free by 45 diary

suse*

HI, I am a long term lurker but as I have just sorted out a new mortgage I am all geared up to get it paid off asap.

I started with a lovely northern rock 100% mortgage in 2007 at 160k always intending to overpay as 25 years seems an very long time. My plans haven't quite worked out how I had thought though, as I ended up being moved to nram and being stuck in negative equity when the price dropped to 135k.

I have finally though managed to remortgage and get an offset one to boot, which is what I had really wanted all along, but at least I have got there now.

So the new mortgage is 118k so that is from 160k to 118k in 6 1/2 years, which isn't too shabby. I don't however have the same job any more though, so won't be able to make as big over payments on my reduced salary, but am determined to make every penny count to get this down more.

I am 35 now so I think a target of 10 years is realistic to still have some fun as well when I can. I also have some health problems which make me want to get this sorted really, just as I know I won't be able to work full time till I'm 68, I am not sure if I'll even make it to 55 in full time work, so my logic is the sooner this is paid for the better really as this is the biggest expense I have.

So my first steps this week has been to move my emergency fund from my isa which was 2.3% into the offset savings account which is 2.93% so I am saving more having it in there than what I'd earn in an isa.

I have 3 offset savings accounts as part of my mortgage so I am thinking to have the emergency fund in one so that isn't touched. One will be my savings account which is more for holidays and the like, as I will need a new car at some point before I'm 45 as well, so that will need some thinking about in a few years time.

Now the third account is where I might need some advice. I was thinking I would use this to transfer my salary into each month. Now I can't do direct debits from it but I can do standing orders. So what if I get all my direct debit dates changed to say the 15th of the month. I currently get paid on the closest weekend to the 20th. Then I could have most my wages including my mortgage payment sat in this account, which would be reducing my daily interest more. Then just at the end use a standing order to move all the direct debit money over to the account they go out of. I don't want this to be to manual a process as I know what I am like and as much as I am checking the interest every day right now, the novelty will soon wear off but if I can automate this using standing orders to move the money about can anyone think of a reason not to do something like this? Or am I looking at it the wrong way? I could just keep some spending money in my normal bank account still to go food shopping and the like with but the bulk of it would be in the offset for longer then is my thinking.

Anyway hello as well and I will be reading all your posts as well for tips to help save me paying any more interest than I really need to, and to get this all paid for asap.

suse*

Plans for this weekend are.

Spend some tesco vouchers that are about to expire on garden vouchers as it is £5 tesco to £15 garden vouchers. You can use 3 of those in one order and just pay 5 real pounds for postage if I am reading it right. My garden is a right state, and I have seen they do these raspberry plans that mean you get them nearly all year round. So I am thinking for just £5 even if I end up killing them that has got to be worth a shot, as I do love raspberrys but they are a guilty pleasure as I eat a whole box in one go when I get them as a treat.

I got an email from ba saying I have some points with them running out soon so I need to see what that is for, and if I can use them on a little holiday.

I need to go through any other reward type accounts I have I think and see where they are up to and if anything is due to expire. I am quite good at using points and quidco and the like but don't seem to then use the points to their best advantage so investigate some free treats I think.

I have a cash back scheme through work for bupa for different things, which I haven't spent all this years allocation of yet, so I need to figure out how much I have left for different things like acupunture and the dentist and get that all booked in.

Get the ppi bank forms done as that is money that could be in my offset if I can get any back for that.

Get my expenses and overtime all done, so that when the boss is back in next week she can approve it all.

suse*

Isa money is moved into the offset. Just need to see how much that makes the interest go down as it looks about just over 10 quid a day intrerest right now but will have to see if that makes it go down a bit.

I think I just need to decide now as well if I do overpayments as well as offset savings or just one or the other.

suse*

Checking the interest each day is turning into some weird game right now slowly watching it go down. All the savings I have are moved over now into the offset savings though, so it looks like it is stable again.

So I have gone from £11.06 a day interest, when there were no savings in the offset, down to £9.67 a day today.

So next I need to work on my soa a bit more, and see what I can cut or get cheaper so I can over pay as well as save.

I currently have about 3 months emergency money in the savings, and I think if I can I want to build that up to 6 months, just as there is quite high amounts of redunancies in my job sector. So it is finding a way to overpay the principle as well as increasing the savings too, so if something happens hopefully the overall payment will have reduced over time and I could just stop any over payments then.

suse*

Having a read through some of the other diaries made me realise I have done more than just check the balance so let me list my good deeds here.

changed quidco payment account to one of the offset accounts and changed it to pay straight away. It was setup to pay once it got over £100 just it was nicer to get 100 once in a while but this way I won't even see it so can't spend it.

Sent off bupa cash back forms for the dentist which will be 45 quid back soon.

Cancelled a different dental insurance as I have very bad dentist phobia and have stupidly been paying this thing for far too long, to try and force myself to go. I was scared I might need major work doing as I haven't been for 10 years or more but in the end apart from needing some major cleaning doing, it wasn't that bad and the cover I can get with work can be used for that.

I have done about 18 hours of overtime this month so far, with some more next weekend too which I plan to put straight into the offset.

I have booked a train and hotel via quidco and a couple of weeks in advance for a christmas party, rather than leaving it to the last minute which has saved me quite a bit.

Started doing expenses for work this week, but I need to talk to someone about how to finish it off. So I plan to get that sorted on tuesday so it is paid back this year and again can go straight back into savings then.

Sent off ppi claim forms to the bank finally, to see if I can get any money back for that.

Sold the max amount of days I can out of next years holiday, as I can always get more days again if i do more overtime if I need to.

I haven't had a take away this week and took food to work for lunches rather than eating in the canteen.

EchoDelta

Sounds like you are off to a flying start! Good luck.

sleepygirl126

you're doing really well!! keep writing xx:j

suse*

After working a crazy amount of hours in overtime this weekend I had booked today off. Woke up as there is a massive scaffolding lorry outside and they are banging about putting up on next doors house so there goes my lay in.

I look at my phone and see I have the normal weekly text with a mini statement on from the bank, and glance at that seeing 500ish in credit. My brain wakes up a bit and thinks that's not right as the hotel etc I have booked should have gone out by now. Then I realise it isn't 500 in credit it is 5000 and there is a payment going in for that. Now I'm not expecting any money like that, so I rush downstairs to check my interenet banking thinking it is some kind of mistake.

I log in and it is *drum roll* ppi repayment!!! I only sent the forms back on wednesday and they haven't written back to me yet, but have paid me in the money already. It feels like I won the lottery or something, as when I did the forms I had no idea how much it might be even if they did agree to pay, let alone for it to come through that quick.

I need to have a think and try and remeber what credit cards I had back at uni too I think as I'm sure they used to do ppi on those as well.

suse*

Well I got the ppi letter through. They hadn't actually got what I had sent them yet it seems, and just gave me the money anyway. I didn't realise you had to pay some tax on some of that though, so have just spent 1/2 hour in a queue to phone hrmc which ended up with my tax code being changed to cover that.

Still free money is very welcome even though that will now lower my monthly wages coming in for a few months.

Tahlullah

Congatulations! What a wonderful unexpected windfall. Hope you manage to do everything you want with it.

sleepygirl126

what fab news and a lovely surprise!!:j