A Fresh Start

a_fresh_start

A new year brings an opportunity not to be missed for a fresh new start.

I am going to turn 30 this year and have decided to sort out and organise my life. All aspects, health, finance, family, career, etc

I’ve had a mortgage for just over 7 years, having bought a house with my (now) fiance. Two years ago we agreed that we were (finally!) in a position to overpay. Luckily it coincided with us reverting to the nationwide base mortgage of 2.5%, so unlimited overpayments! In 2012 we managed to overpay an additional £5000. This was done by setting up a standing order and getting used to the money going out at the start of the month! In 2013, we upped the standing order, and managed £10,000. This year we have set (the rather ambitious!) target of overpaying £15,000!!:D

This will be very tough, as it means increasing the amount we have gotten used to overpaying by standing order by 50%:eek:. BUT, if we manage it and more importantly, maintain it, then the calculators are showing a very tempting mortgage free date of 34 and three quarters!! Crucially before i’m 35!

Righto folks, I’ve talked enough, now off to think of my financial and personal goals and more importantly what I need to do in order to achieve these crazy overpayments!!:rotfl:

a_fresh_start

I’m back!!

Have given it a bit of thought and have decided to split my goals up into three ‘categories’.... Financial, Personal and Life.

So as you’ve probably guessed from my first post, my first goal under the ‘financial’ heading is overpaying the mortgage.....like crazy! :rotfl:

Financial Goals

· Mortgage Free by 35
· Building up ISA / savings
· To have a fun fund J

Personal Goals

· To compete a 5k run
· To lose a stone (eat healthily and increased exercise)
· To look after / treat myself more

Life Goals

· Progress Career
· Have a happy and organised home
· Consider organising a wedding

Now obviously some of these will take me a good few years, but I’m hoping to set the foundations this year and get what I can in order.

greent

Hello, welcome to the board - and good luck with your journey!

a_fresh_start

Thanks for the welcome greent

So first week of the year through, and apart from being shattered at the 55hr week and commute after a lovely fortnight off, I have managed to do a few things.... my first, tentative steps towards the finance goal

Have done an individual and joint budget. Fianc! and I earn our own money, and put the same amount into a joint account for bills / household expenses. The rest is ours to do as we please, but as my first post indicates, we need to start being a bit more considered with our finances. Maybe also paying the same into a savings / fun fund – need to look into / mention to him.

One big eye opener that the budget exercise highlighted was the amount we spend on food!!! :eek:There’s only two of us but we spend a fortune, so this month, I’m shopping from the freezer and pantry and then sort out a grocery budget / meal plan for February!

Also, I made a list of all the things I want to do in the next few years. Being realistic, there’s a few biggies on there that won’t be achievable unless we really get ourselves into the right mindset (thank goodness I did the budget first, or else I would’ve been trying to jiggle the numbers!) like a trip to NYC for my 30th, a new car, getting married , landscaping the garden, city breaks, increasing our savings and of course upping the mortgage overpayments! Wow!!!! Maybe will need a chat with OH to see what we will focus on this year.:o

a_fresh_start

Ok so I’ve channelled my initial enthusiasm and booked a fitness assessment at a small local gym on Monday evening! Scary!! He will weigh me, and take body fat measurements, etc and advise on a fitness programme to achieve my goals. Hoping to manage to exercise myself 3 times a week and only need to see this guy once a week to keep me accountable / motivated!

My healthy eating has only been going since Monday, but my weigh in on Monday will (hopefully!!) keep me from gorging on all those Christmas sweeties over the weekend!

Also downloaded the couch to 5k..................but might wait til better weather before embarking on that of a morning!!!

Im not that eager J

nookey_bear

Welcome a fresh start. Sounds like youve got a good plan ahead of you. I love planning myself so good to see someone else writing 'to do' lists!! Did make me laugh when I spotted 'consider organising a wedding'!! - I assume thats yours?! Does the OH know this yet?!!

Also good luck with the running. Start slowly and build up. I train in 3 mth blocks, then enter an organised 5 or 10k 'fun run' which keeps me focused. I dont run during Dec & Jan (I consider that my training break and always feel better for it come Feb.

I started OPing back in early 2012, and so far so good. My plans have gone a little off-course from time to time, and at frst I beat myself up over it but soon realised that wasnt doing me any good. OPing is addictive, fun and financially-rewarding (especially when you see your daily interest drop) but there is always a balance to be had. Yes you can OP like mad and be MF by the time your 35 but make sure you have fun along the way. If that means your MF date is pushed back a couple of years then so be it.

I'm sure you have thought about all of these already and you may already have provisions in place but make sure you have 6 mths expenses tucked away somewhere - I call mine my job loss fund. Hopefully I'll never need it but I have the safety net of it being there is anything does happen, or the washing machine/diswasher/car blows up and needs replacing. I then have my medium term investment fund where anything over and above the six months expenses go, and then my long term 'dont touch until I retire' investments.

Have a read of my diary (a marathon not a sprint) if you get some spare time. My view is that OPing should be looked at along with all the other demands on your income, so that you have a balanced view of what should go where.

Good luck!!

a_fresh_start

Hiya nookey bear, thanks for posting J I love planning and organising, but actually doing the stuff, well I procrastinate by doing more lists!! :rotfl:

We also started OPing the beginning of 2012, by setting up a standing order, and leaving it to work its magic. Only in the last year have I made adhoc payments whenever (I’ve thought!) we’ve had a bit extra.

I was actually thinking last night, that perhaps just getting the mortgage down to a nice manageable sum, where, if you really needed to you could pay off with savings. That would be better, and not neglect the importance of savings. We are lucky in that we are allowed to borrow back any overpayments made, or take a mortgage holiday until the overpayment pot has been depleted, which reduces some of the worry should job losses strike. Unfortunately I have seen many colleagues be made redundant over the course of this recession, and I have personally been in the redundancy pool twice, but thankfully never lost my job.

I will absolutely give your diary a read, and the title is apt, I guess I’m just a bit impatient J

Oh and yes – it is my wedding that I need to organise! J I’ve been engaged for a couple of years, but am in no rush to add the stress of organising a wedding in the weekend / evenings over and above my daily work stresses! Plus I figure that OH took 9.5yrs to do his bit (propose), I can take a few years to do my bit!!!! :rotfl:

LauraJo

Hi Fresh Start!
Good luck with your journey, post often, it really is motivating
Look forward to hearing your progress

FamilyLife

I'm a little envious of your planned mortgage free age! I will be turning 34 this year and only getting my first mortgage now. It took a while for me to train for my job and then secure a permanent contract hence the long wait.

I've started a diary too but with a baby on the way and impending childcare costs I'm finding it hard to realistically decide on a mortgage free date. I'm sure it will be more than 10 years anyway.

Have you and your fianc! talked about the kind of wedding you'd like? I got married last year and would have loved a cheap beach wedding with a BBQ but ended up with an expensive (by my standards!) country house affair with posh frocks.

FL xx

FamilyLife

Oh and I have subscribed to your thread

tootoo

good luck.
groceries are always talked about for cutting back - have you had a look on the old style board?