The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

beanielou

Congratulations @RND79.

MrsCD

Well done @RND79!

mpgsheep

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

September 2010

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£251,500 (though at one point had mortgage of £438,500 with some savings in place when we took that on putting it at £220k)

c. Mortgage-Free Date

6th April 2026 (still hold a mortgage, but savings cover it all so effectively mortgage neutral)

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

Very cliche - but it is a marathon and not a sprint. Also your plan changes - this is the second time we are mortgage free after we decided our previous home was not our forever home - initially seeing our mortgage go from 0 back to over £200k was pretty galling. Also not for some - but i wouldn't have been able to do this as quickly as we did without using stocks and shares ISA to accumulate - do recognise we have been fortunate with that.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you

Early on was playing with the Overpaypment calculator - for small amounts like "oh if i pay off £10 a month extra, that means we save 2 months off the end etc", and some other forum regulars at the time who i enjoyed following their updates and taking their tips on little things - like whenever I took lunch instead of buying for work, I would overpay £4 for that day etc.

f. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.

Below - apologies its way over busy at the start, and very lacking at the end.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2950320/my-mortgage-free-diary/p1

HelenaPinky

I've read so many posts on this thread over the past few years for inspiration!!!

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

2018, I saw an annual mortgage statement and was shocked at how much we'd paid vs. how much the mortgage had reduced. Hadn't given interest a second thought until then! I put my savings of 20,000 into the mortgage and that started the journey I've been on for 8 years

b. Mortgage debt at its highest

112,000 first time then 165,000 after our house move

c. Mortgage-free date

1st May 2026

d. Your one pearl of wisdom

The phrase I read on these threads really early on: "Treat it as a game", which I did, I got a thrill out of each overpayment! and got into a habit of overpaying regularly. (A note added to say that inheritance also sadly sped up this process)

e. The MSE mortgage guides and others that helped you

The overpayment calculator is a great visual boost to remind you why you're doing it.

This equation: (mortgage amount) x 0.0(interest rate) and then divide by 365

showed me my interest rate per day. I wouldn't accept paying £16 a day for anything else, so I wasn't prepared to pay it a day on my mortgage interest!

The community here has been a lifeline including Julicorn's MFW challenge. Overpaying the mortgage isn't something I hear talked about in day-to-day life, so to know that there's other people who put importance on this has kept me on track and made me feel that my approach is sensible and sane. 

V3cash

It’s so lovely to finally write my message on here, this is our second and definitely last time on this journey and everyone on this forum has been inspiring and I wish everyone luck. We were very fortunate to get a helping hand from an inheritance which helped expedite our journey.

a. The date we decided to become Mortgage free was 7/1/21 the day we remortgaged for 2nd time, we paid our first house in full 2019.

B mortgage debt at highest £100k

C. Mortgage free date 12.5.26

D. Pearl of wisdom join mortgage free wannabe thread and use it for motivation. Agree with @HelenaPinky

E The mortgage guides etc

Definitely use forums to motivate, loved diaries of others, really inspiring

Definitely mortgage calculator to help you see how much you save with overpayments.

Budget apps really useful to see expenses and budget budget budget!

Bella_Budget

I can't believe I get to fill in this post. Finally!!!

a.The date you decided to become a MFW

I always wanted to be mortgage free and was well on the way to paying off my mortgage on my first home when all my plans went out the window. I fell in love, got married, had kids and we jumped from a one bedroom flat to a 3 bedroom semi detached that we bought september 2008. That's right, slap bang in the middle of the the financial crisis. Couldn't sell my flat and were saddled with 2 mortgages for a bit although sold the flat 4 years later.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

165000 on 3 bedroom whilst carrying 30000 on flat mortgage

c. Mortgage-Free Date

Today!!!!! 6 years and 3 months early

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

I couldn't do ad hoc overpayments, didn't have the willpower and never usually anyoney left, but I arranged big mortgage repayments over shorter terms each time I remortgaged because that was a financial obligation not just a nice thing to do. Then we just lived with what was left over. I guess it was bank imposed discipline when I didn't have any myself.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you

Too many to mention so many people have been so inspiring.

f. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.

I tried but i think I only ever posted about 3 entries as all I was saying each month was big mortgage bill paid this month, I had no ingenious tips to share.

kippers

just wanted to say we finally paid our mortgage off in October last year but for some reason I wasn’t able to log in due to some kind of glitch so I couldn’t post here.

I’m so proud we did it 7 years early thanks to this site

( I don’t have the exact amount I will fill details in later )

👏👏👏👏👏👏

Our pearl of wisdom= every penny you save is a penny nearer

Willowtree222

Actually mortgage free at the age of 43, and 22 years earlier.

£86000 in interest has been saved.

What a huge weight and relief.

I forgot the details so will add them below.

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

I joined this site in 2015, to try and be debt free.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£193,000 after buying out my ex husband to keep the house. That was a scary amount.

c. Mortgage-Free Date

08/09/2026

d. Your one perl of wisdom.

overpay little and often. It really does add up.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you

Everyone that commented on my diary.

f0xh0les

Congratulations!! @Willowtree222 What an amazing achievement.

Enjoy being MF and don't let the energy-vampires take the shine off that - a lot of people don't get how this is even possible to do.

We get it and we are celebrating with you!!! 🍾🍾🍾 🍸️ 🎇 🥧🍾🍾🍾

Willowtree222

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134075#Comment_82134075

Thank you.

I haven't told many people! Only ones who would be happy for me x