My Mortgage free mission

smile24

Hi everyone,

I have been reading the forums for a while now and thought that today would be a good time to start my own thread. I have read some great stuff on here and been really inspired.

Me and my OH bought our house exactly 3 years ago for 185,000 using a 20% deposit which we saved up ourselves. Just over 9 months later out little girl was born so we paid the mortgage payments but our focus was on basic house and baby things. But generally we survived the change in finances quite well given the added cost of childcare and me dropping from full time to 4 days of work.

Anyway our 3 year fix with Leeds ends today and we start a new deal with Santander at a lower interest rate (2.89% on 137,500 fixed for 5 years) saving us £100 a month. The plan is to overpay the £100 a month plus any extra that we can.

This is the aim of this thread to be like a diary to keep me focused on being as efficient with money as possible in order to live life having fun as well as saving to overpay.

Currently I am 26 and my OH is 32. If we don't over pay anything extra we will be mortgage free in 22 years from now. The extra £100 will lower it to 18 years. Therefore at the moment my goal is to lower this further to 15 year :-)

There will be a few challenges;
-We would like another baby in 2 years time
- In 5 years we may look at moving to a bigger house
- There are various "projects" that need money spending on the house. This year the aim is built in wardrobes and next year the aim is a new porch.

Over the next few weeks I will look more closely at where I could save some money and I hope the diary will help with this. I also have a few ideas on how to get some extra money coming in which I plan to split between savings and over paying.

Anyway that is me for today I will update further tomorrow. Thanks for reading :-)

Habibiboo

:wave:

Just to say welcome and good luck!

It sounds like you have a good grip on everything and a solid plan to start with, which is a great starting point!

Very glad for you about the new interest rate (locked into 4% ourselves which is a stinker) every little helps as they say!

The thing that's caught me out with OPs (definitely in March) is the fact we don't have an emergency fund, so I have to use MOP money for that too, so my current plan of account shuffling (and sealed pot) are towards that so that by June we'll have an emergency fund. It was one of the many excellent pieces of advice I was given on here when starting this whole MF malarkey, so I'd definitely recommend it!

Anyhow, good luck and a warm welcome to you ...

smile24

Thanks Habibiboo :-)

I feel like we are so lucky at the moment with the low interest rate I just want to overpay as much as possible over the next 5 years.

I know what you mean about the emergency fund, we have about £2000 between us. We replaced the boiler before Christmas so that took a good chunk of our buffer money and to get the lower interest rate we just paid £900 to get the right LTV so we have less of a buffer than we did.

My main concern is cars breaking down... We both depend on them for work big time and although they have no problems at the moment from past experience know they get to a certain age where they start to cost.

Anyway our finances work like this;

Joint income = 2,600 paid into separate accounts. Childcare is paid in vouchers before tax.
We each put £600 into a Bills account and £75 into a food account.
From the Bills account all household money gets taken as well as £40 saving for our LO.
We save £80 in a joint savings account which currently has £100, this is to save for house jobs.
I keep £1000 each aside for an emergency and car insurance/tax/service.
I pay for fuel on my cashback CC paid off in full each months which is usually £200 but I claim about half this back for work.
So after I have paid bills, food, direct debits and fuel I have £450.

This is the money where I need to keep a closer eye on as it just seems to go. I earn more than my OH but he always has more money in his account than me!

I think I will try using my e-saver to separate money for saving and overpaying. This week I have £12 extra from selling some bits and bobs and I have been delivering magazines which will hopefully be finished tomorrow so an extra £50. I will put this money in my e-saver. Build it up then keep half in savings and overpay with half.

Today I have spent £2 - £1 into the monthly milk fund at work and £1 on a toll bridge which I will get back at the end of next month.

I love Tuesday evenings.. Wednesdays are my day with LO so no work until Thursday and then it is nearly the weekend :j

RoaringTwenties

Hello smile and welcome I'm relatively new here too, I'm finding it a great place to be. I'm on the exact same interest rate as you, having recently ditched 5.49%. Good luck on your MFW journey, & enjoy your day with your DD, such a special time

WishIwasstill25

I'm new too.....
And am finding everyone really helpful.
Good luck with your mission, I'm getting a little obsessed already.....

Wish.

smile24

Urrgh just been looking at home insurance renewal to see if we can get a better price and it's made my head hurt!

Had a nice busy day (although the "easter disco" at toddler group was a but manic and also made my head hurt!) only spent £3 at toddler group.

I think I have decided what to do about work.. I work 4 days a week and for me this has been a good balance but I have often felt I should be doing more as more money = more fun things and less mortgage therefore more fun things in the future. Last week I went for an interview for some bank work which I was very interested in but they want quite a lot of time for training etc. So it would mean working an extra day every week/weekend for at least 8 weeks. It hit me today my LO will grow up and be at school and I will have missed out on valuable time with her .. the money is not worth it. We have enough for what we need and a bit extra to play with. So I am going to e-mail to say thanks but no thanks. Feel a little sad as money aside it would have been good experience but I guess my priorities just need re-adjusting sometimes.

Right back to home insurance! Thanks for reading :-)

Habibiboo

smile24 wrote: »

Urrgh just been looking at home insurance renewal to see if we can get a better price and it's made my head hurt!

Had a nice busy day (although the "easter disco" at toddler group was a but manic and also made my head hurt!) only spent £3 at toddler group.

Crikey, just remembering what these involve has made my head hurt too! Those were the days ... is it really a disco in all its get into the groove glory or is it all still stuff like the Birdie Song?

I think I have decided what to do about work.. I work 4 days a week and for me this has been a good balance but I have often felt I should be doing more as more money = more fun things and less mortgage therefore more fun things in the future. Last week I went for an interview for some bank work which I was very interested in but they want quite a lot of time for training etc. So it would mean working an extra day every week/weekend for at least 8 weeks. It hit me today my LO will grow up and be at school and I will have missed out on valuable time with her .. the money is not worth it. We have enough for what we need and a bit extra to play with. So I am going to e-mail to say thanks but no thanks. Feel a little sad as money aside it would have been good experience but I guess my priorities just need re-adjusting sometimes.

Right back to home insurance! Thanks for reading :-)

:wave:

Re: priorities. You're right to have a long hard think. This decision comes out differently for everyone because all circumstances are different and if you can manage without having to make this kind of commitment and lose that time with your DD, then that sounds like exactly the right decision for you. You don't get that time again ... even if you have another child, it won't be the same.

You can always do a little something from home to earn a bit of spare cash for extras ... there are plenty of ideas on these boards to help. So try not to feel sad, it would be sadder if you had no choice but to take it. I'd insert one of those hugs here, but they look remarkably dodgy to me so here's a ((don't be sad)) hug - other opportunities will come along at the right time for you, I'm sure!

smile24

well i got in a right muddle today - i thought out 1st new morgage payment came out only it didn't and but leeds our old company took a payment with 150 extra. After some phonecalls it appears santander take payment in arrears so start next months and leeds will refund our payment apparently it's normal to take it and then pay it back? I don't understand how we don't make a payment this month but o well.

I'll still be working 4 days just not any extra for now. I deliver magazines for a friend every other month = £50 plus the odd bits on ebay. I'll keep an eye on the up your income section i think.

This disco played a lot of cbeebies music very loud with a load of flashing lights plus excited children all at 10 am whilst they tried to do an easter egg hunt.

Hoping to get some house jobs done this weekend and have lunch with my sister. OH is working tomorrow think I will attempt some baking with LO tomorrow she loves making cakes after we have tackled Aldi.

Spent;
£10 yesterday on a meal i am going to next week
70p on a snack

Today
£1 on emergency chocolate to make it through friday afternoon.
35p tinned tomoatoes for dinner

Have a good weekend :-)

RoaringTwenties

Hi Smile, bit late to the thread but I hope you are now comfortable with your decision re: work/your DD? It's very hard for many of us, I was lucky enough to be in a position to leave paid work when mine came along, that's not easy either (less money, no status, no time to be 'me', no pension, ok I'll stop whining now ) but it is such valuable time and as others have said you never get it back. I hope you find the balance that's right for you & your family.

Re: the CBeebies disco, I feel your pain :rotfl:. Santa made the mistake of giving my kids a Carrie & David's Popshop CD last Xmas. He is now persona non grata in my house

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Hi smile, a belated welcome from me. Work/childcare balance scares me as although me and the hubby do not have children yet, a family is something we wanting to start in the near future.

Cracking rate for the next 5 years. I kook forward to following your journey if I may?

smile24

Hi everyone had a busy few days so not been on here.

Had a study day for work (Normally have wed off) and got home to a quite empty house .. this never happens!

Had a bit of a u turn about my extra bank job as when the forms came through to accept the job i couldn't turn it down.. Not so much the money I just want a new experience, open new doors, learn new skills. OH is not the most happy about it as I do complain that I never have enough time working 4 days never mind extra. I am the type of person who wants a new challenge where as he is content with what he has and doesn't seek out opportunities. But hey ho we will see how it goes I need CRB clearance before I can do anything anyway.

Still not had our last Mortgage payment from Leeds refunded so will chase this if not heard on Friday.

Spend wise since Thursday;
- £3.00 on second hand jeans, dress and top for my LO (£1 each = bargin)

- £10 on drinks on Mon and Tues on pub trips with work friends and other friends.

- £5.00 at the weekend on baking ingrediants and toiletries

- £10 to sponser my friend to run the London marathon

- £15.00 on a suit from ebay for my OH as we are going to a posh dinner at the weekends and he lent his old one to a mate and it came back with the wrong trousers. He is paying for us to go to the cinema tomorrow night.

So not to bad yet this months still have a surplus of £400 once i have paid for fuel so optimistic that some left to go in my e-saver which I have so far saved £62 for the month in.

Spends coming up:
I am going to Wales for Easter so there will be extra fuel and food but trying to keep it cheap = £60
Going shopping with my sister on Friday but have £60 I was given for xmas stashed away to get some new clothes (dropped from size 10 to 8 due to trying very hard at running).
Posh evening do on Sat paid for last month so just a few drinks.
I need to enter a Triathlon = £30

I am finding this very therapeutic writing it all down. I am a bit of a worrier about money (my parents split up when i was young and money was a constant worry) and i like seeing where i am.

I think I will sneak out for a run before the house is full of chaos again ... My just turned 2 year old has decided she no longer likes nappies (my fault for giving a lots of time without nappies) but has not quite mastered the potty yet so it's causing a bit of stress all round!