£35k to £245k to £0...

Busy_Mee

Thank you so much - I might bite the bullet next year and give it a go. It really pains me to be missing out on some of these great accounts, just always thought that a tax return would be too much effort when we don't need them for our earnings.

14 Years !!! Surely we should be having a party

pinkteapot

14 Years !!! Surely we should be having a party

I'll probably start a thread in 12 years called "£50k to £800k to £0" :rotfl:

If the only thing you'll need to declare on your return is some interest, you'll only fill in the savings and investments sections (and all the investments questions will be "£0"). In the old paper days, there was a sheet for your basic info, then separate sheets for savings, self-employment income, BTL income, etc etc. You filled in any that were relevant. It's the same now but all done online.

I should have said that you will still need to put down your earned income details, but it's just the numbers from your P60 and P11D, so file those somewhere safe when you get them each year.

I think you also have to phone HMRC and let them know as soon as you become aware that you'll need to do a return. I.e. don't wait until the end of the tax year. I did some freelance work on the side a few years ago and got in trouble for waiting till the end of the tax year to tell them - they said I should have told them when I set up shop and that I'd get a £100 fine. It never arrived, so I didn't chase it up! I had just assumed it was OK to wait and say "I need to pay some tax on some money I made this year", but no. I'm not sure if they're as strict about savings interest as additional income, but worth the phone call when you open the accounts to be on the safe side.

Yorkielass

It was definitely this site that helped me stay on the straight and narrow whilst I was a student and then whilst on a low salary.

When we bought our first home in 2006 (me on a 4 month temp contract, OH a PhD student, we had a parent as guarantor, and a good deposit thanks to inheritance but would never happen now) compared to when we bought our 2nd home in 2012 our take home money each month had more than doubled but there wasn't a bit difference in mortgage payments.

We'd spent 2 years trying to move and I'd been very careful with money all the way along, lots of budgets etc, but we had a year where we were sensible but didn't over pay and I lost the habit of keeping track so carefully.

In August 2013 we started overpaying (motivation is on my diary) and I've started adding money to a savings account each month as soon as we're paid too.

Next step is to go back to budgets and check we're making the best use of our money and getting the balance right between saving and still having a nice life style.

Busy_Mee

That is great - thank you and to be honest it doesn't sound too difficult. Need to just do my research on the accounts and how to run them.

Am really impressed with the amount you intend to overpay this year - makes me think we could do better. Our downfall will be holidays - we like to travel and although we try to do this in the most cost effective way we can, we still spend a fair bit. Not sure I want to give this up though - keeps me going at work if I have something to look forward to

pinkteapot

I know the feeling. We've reduced ours but I wouldn't give them up completely. If we could be mortgage-free in a year with no holidays I'd do it, but not for 14 years!

We have reduced the number of holidays we go on and also how much we spend on them. Self-catering made the biggest difference to us (compared to previous hotels) and we do self-cater rather than eat out.

Last year was meant to be a one holiday year but after a bit of a rubbish time we went away again for a week in the autumn. I'm not convinced we'll actually make it through the year without booking another break but if we do it'll come out of spends cut-backs rather than OPs.

debtfreeoneday

I love my breaks as well, but we have decided this year to not have a holiday. We would like to take the littlies to Disney World next year, so that will be our break to look forward to!

Busy_Mee

For me there is a real balance to be had between being frugal and enjoying life. We didn't travel much when we were young - I had my first mortgage when I was 19, and then when the kids were young we did lots of cheap camping and caravaning holidays ( lovely memories ). So I really want to see a bit of the world, I have seen poor health in later life scupper our parents ability to travel far and so don't want to leave it until the mortgage is paid off. So I am trying to save a good amount for the mortgage and also save some extra to travel too. Beans on toast then !

Firegirl

Hi pink teapot, I've just been reading through your first post and it's so similar to me. Check out my mortgage balance on my signature:eek:

So I know how you feel with the big jump. You look like your going to make a good dent in it very quickly with your OP plan.

I've subscribed to follow your journey.