10 Year MF Mission

helmetbetty

Hi Everybody! Well, where to start?

We bought our house in 2011, borrowing 109k on a 3 year fix 30 year term at 5.15%, not overpaying anything. Back in January started looking at remortgage options, still owed about 107k!

Applied in January for a 10 year fix at 3.84%, borrowing 105k. Got accepted and our new mortgage completed yesterday.

The 10 year fix allows overpayments of 10% of the original loan each year, so we aim to overpay by between £300 and £800 a month, and if we average £500 a month, we can be all paid off just as our 10 year fix comes to an end.

We've managed a emergency fund of 15k, which would keep us going for a year with no job, and also have a car fund which I pay £25 a month into, so come MOT & Tax time, I don't have to panic.

We have 3 kids, dog, cat, chickens etc so quite a busy life, but we keep our expenses as low as we can so we think this is achievable. Most months overpayments will be around the £500 mark, with only Christmas/Birthday months a touch less, and some months, hopefully more!!

Will try my best to keep this thread updated, as and when I remember. Thanks for reading!

Sandstone

Welcome, well done on the remortgage and good luck with the 10yr mission!

WishIwasstill25

Just wait till you get going on an overpayment calculator, I love putting in my overpayment amount and working out what it saves in interest, it makes me feel like I'm doing even more.

Here's to a smooth journey for you.

Wish.

helmetbetty

Yeah, I love putting in different potential payments and seeing the results! It feels a bit uphill at the moment, 10 years of saving and cutting back on things, but it will be worth it I hope!

Anyway, paid our first overpayment yesterday of £2000, unfortunately that amount is a one off as I was left some money from my Gran, so thought i'd put it towards the mortgage, then there's always a part of my gran in the house IYSWIM!!

Next months target is £500, but we have a trip to london and a bunk bed to buy, so it'll be close!

Alchemilla

Welcome and good luck.
With you on the three kids and multiple pets.
How old are the pets? !!

helmetbetty

Thanks, the cat is about 5, dog is 3, chickens are various ages ranging from about 3 to 18 weeks and the tropical fishes range from 7 years to some tiny babies that appear regularly!

All good fun!

Wombatchops

Hi helmetbetty. Your goal is wonderful, and good luck with it. My aim is to be mortgage free in 14 years, which coincides with when my eldest will be due to leave school and may want to go to uni, so if we had no mortgage payments, then we could help her out.

However, things are so tight at the moment that we can only make very small overpayments, so I'm looking for ideas and inspiration on how to really make a dent in the mortgage. How are you achieving your overpayments? Cos £500 per month is excellent.

helmetbetty

Hi Wombatchops!

The things we are doing to help with every penny are:

Growing our own fruit and veg, we have cut right down on takeaways, do more things locally to reduce fuel eg shop locally, take kids to a local park instead of going out etc. We set ourselves a food budget every week, plan our meals and then do our shopping online so there's no temptation to pick up other things that look nice!

I have bought a cheap sewing machine so can patch up some clothes if they are otherwise ok, decluttering and selling bits we don't need or use on aution site or locally on facebook selling page, as well as a few surplus plants (that helps to pay for the seeds and compost!)

We have a freeview recorder box, so just record films as and when they are on tv, so don't need to buy or rent dvd's.

The hairdresser comes to us to cut our hair, which is alot cheaper than going to a shop.

Hopefully, some of those ideas will help you out!! Best of luck with your journey, It will be worth it all in the end.

HB

Wombatchops

Thank you, Helmetbetty. That's definitely food for thought. There are things there we can put into practice.

Good luck with your mission. I look forward to hearing how it goes.

Wombat

helmetbetty

Well, another month and we managed to pay another £500, Just! Was all going to plan, and then the cat came in limping and wailing. Well, off to the vets we go, and £500 later he's been mended. X-ray, antibiotics etc. Turned out he's been bitten by another cat right on his leg joint, and it had gone down to the bone. Vet was worried about him getting infected but luckily the antibiotics have prevented that, and he seems just fine now. But obviously that has eaten into our reserve money, and am just pleased we still managed our target.

Next month may be a different story as the car is making funny noises and will be going into the garage in a couple of weeks, so will see how that goes. Need to make at least £250 as thats our minimum overpayment, so fingers crossed the cars not tooo serious!!

Thats it for this months news, anyhow. Thanks for reading!!

niftythrifty33

Well done on your overpayments. We also have 3 (big teenage) kids and are struggling to have any money left at the end of the month.

I like your ideas of keeping things simple and meal planning def' works and makes life easier. I have veg growing at my father in laws allotment and I've got some raised beds in the garden which I need to fill.

Keep posting as it's really motivating for the rest of us.