The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

LydiaJ

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Huge congratulations LydiaJ. Lovely to see you reach your goal despite the difficult circumstances

Aww thank you MSE Andrea.
And there was me thinking I wasn't sure if I counted as a proper MFW...

Notfarfromtheborder

Hi All

Not been here very long, but clearing the big one gives me a great feeling, but you know how that feels..

a, Difficult one to answer, but have been overpaying for years but extended the mortgage and invested in 'the big asset' which was very profitable in the long run. On top of this we could spend like millionaires, both have being addicted to spending for years, for example the last two cars, holidays have been 'put on the mortgage' so it kept going up and down, dramatically... Recent sale of a big asset cleared £85K though

b, £105,000

c, Not sure I can quite claim to be mortgage free till I get through the month without paying any interest on mortgage. Acct shows £3,500 still to pay, however, current offset savings are £4,500 so at present I suppose I am. Need to 'catch up' on certain home improvements though as recently I have been a bit 'tight' on this front so will be a challenge to stay mortgage free by not paying any interest again. Doesn't really matter if I do, however, I am determined not to so I can truly claim to be mortgage free.

It's daft, and difficult to justify to OH why we have gone from spending loads when we owed loads, to trying not to spend when we actually can. I'm getting OCD about NSD's as I just now want to save, save, save for early retirement I'm 45, OH is 43, got a ten year plan.... We classed our overpayments as 'saving'

d. Whilst our journey is probably different to most, my advise is keep at it, I knew it would come in the end, I did it a different way than most but believe me, the feeling is worth it.

MrsCD

I'm not sure if I qualify to be here, as I haven't posted as a MFW before, but here's our story...

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
When we moved house in November 2000, we decided we wanted to be mortgage free as soon as possible
b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
56k
c. Mortgage-Free Date
21st August 2014
d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Pay as much extra as you can afford.
e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you
Just reading the forums, and realising that everyone else is there in the boat with us!
f. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.
Didn't keep a diary, just a very tight rein on the purse strings.

It is such a good feeling to be debt free - not just the mortgage.
Now we pay our credit cards off as soon as the bill comes in, and I am OCD about keeping a 'book' with everything we spend. The overpayment standing order will be changed to pay into a savings account, so we won't get used to having that amount extra to spend each month and being tempted to squander it.
It's worth a little bit of struggle to get there sooner.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Congratulations Notfarfromtheborder and MrsCD!

Former_MSE_Andrea

If you're Mortgage Free now please do let us know What you did next. We'd love to hear how things have gone since you cleared it!

Saver-Rob

Yesterday was the day for us. 5 years to the day since we bought our first house I made the big payment on the remaining balance - £73,630 - (we had a 5 year fixed rate mortgage).

The total amount we borrowed was £110,000 after putting down a deposit of £50,000.

My one tip would be to ignore people that tell you that spending your life at work is sad, or "why would you want to pay your mortgage off when everybody else has one and manages okay". We are now 28 and 27 years old and hopefully made our future more comfortable and secure. Not to mention saving tens of thousands of pounds in interest.

And if anybody is interested, my diary thread (although not posted very often) is here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2404327

Thanks to everybody for the encouragement and interesting threads!!

Ruthybabes

Free today yippee!

a. The date you decided to become a MFW About 6 years ago
b. Mortgage Debt at its highest £45,000
c. Mortgage-Free Date TODAY
d. Your one perl of wisdom - pay off as much as you can, when you can.
e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you - all of them

So happy:j

Jolaaled

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
January 1st 2011

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£62K

c. Mortgage-Free Date
September 10th 2014

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Remain focussed on your goal and let no temptations get in the way!

gollysmissus

The date you decided to become a MFW - Apr 2004

Mortgage Debt at its highest - £127,000

Mortgage-Free Date - 19 Sept 2014

Your one perl of wisdom - Keep an eye on rates and deals but obviously look out for penalties etc - do this every year.

The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you - Read anything on MSE to do with mortgages also check ur own mortgage co as sometimes they can give u a good deal.

We only had 1 year left on mortgage but DH made redundant in 2004 and got a job 300mls away so remortgaged house and bought flat for him to live in during week and I decided then to pay off as much as possible rather than put the money into savings and it's definitely paid off.

Thank you MSE for all ur help and guidance.:A

Gizmo247

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
16th June 2012

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£98K

c. Mortgage-Free Date
1st October 2014

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Get an offset mortgage and model your Net Worth in a spreadsheet. Keep all your money in the offset and every now and again transfer surplus money into the mortgage account. Ask of every purchase if it is a "Need" or a "Want" and only buy the "Need"s