TrulyMadlyMummy - Creating a better future for our children :)

trulymadlyhannah

This week, something amazing happened... We paid off our last non-mortgage debt!

6 years ago, in the space of a year we; got engaged, married, saved for a deposit, bought an house and fell pregnant.

My husband also lost a job in ICT (Just before we signed the mortgage), started agency work, was taken on full time, was made redundant due to the recession (Just before our wedding), he started agency work again but.. after that run of bad luck... he received a phone call from an interview he had had earlier in the year, the position was open again and they wanted to know if he was still interested, Yes Yes Yes! (because at the same time I was off work suffering from work-related stress)

The next few years were tough, we had a new house, new baby and we really had to sit up and learn a tough lesson about money!! We owed about £12000 in debt back then, which compared to some of the figures Ive seen on here isn't a lot, but for us on a relatively low income, its huge! We have just paid the last payment to make us debt free, which is why I want to now focus on our mortgage

The Mortgage
We bought just before the recession hit and fixed for 5 years... We had no idea what was ahead and when the recession hit we had to go onto interest only for a few years. We bought our 3 bed semi for £122'000 in 2008 and today we owe £109'946 with 19 years left. Our fix ended last year, but our house is currently worth the same as we owe and our credit ratings are BAD as they are still recovering from defaults due to reduced payments and partial settlements, so we are paying the standard variable rate, crossing our fingers and toes rates don't rise until we have a better LTV and a better credit ratings. We have been overpaying the mortgage £150 a month since since our fix ended, when our payments lowered we continued paying the same amount.

The Future
We are very family orientated and currently i dont work as i am raising my 3 children, and we are planning our fourth (and last) child. We are very frugal and hardworking, I cook most meals from scratch and we make do, patch up and mend a lot! We also got an allotment last year and have started growing own food to help, and plan to keep chickens soon too. Our next mission is to save for a bigger car to accommodate our growing family, before we can increase our overpayment! Our aim is to pay the mortgage off before my husband reaches 40 (10 years)

Hopefully this 'diary' will help keep me motivated and surrounded by like minded people

tootallulah

Welcome and good luck. £150 extra a month is a great overpayment your determination shines through. Mortgage free by 40 is a brilliant goal.

Alchemilla

Welcome and Good luck!

What timescale do you have in mind?

trulymadlyhannah

Alchemilla wrote: »

Welcome and Good luck!

What timescale do you have in mind?

I was hoping to by mortgage free by the time my husband is 40 (10 years) Which will be quite a challenge! When we have saved for a new car, we should be able to up our overpayment to £400pm, which would have us mortgage free in about 12 years (If all rates stay the same, which is unlikely...) So we will need to increase the overpayment in future to complete within 10 years, but cant really afford to overpay any more at the moment.

On the bright side, I am 28, so if we do manage to pay within 12 years, we will be mortgage-free before I am 40 :T

Thank you tootallulah

Alchemilla

Sounds great. I like reading MrMoneyMustache for inspiration.

trulymadlyhannah

Alchemilla wrote: »

Sounds great. I like reading MrMoneyMustache for inspiration.

Wow, ive just googled, and WOW, retired at 30!!!

We are very lucky to have a comfortable life. DH is in a skilled profession (ICT network technincan and programmer (and he trains the ICT teachers!!)) BUT earning just over minimum wage. Pros out weight the cons as its a 5 min walk to work and he comes home for dinner, gets weekends off, and its extremely flexible and stable, Also the staff are great, and he has a vast knowledge of practical experience under his belt. If he took any pay rise he would have to travel at least 20 miles, and that would cost time and money, so it would have to be significant. He will chase his career (and i mine) just when the children are older so we dont miss them growing up, and when job security isn't an issue! But it means we wont have the mortgage paid off by the time I am 30!! (28 now)

I had a quick read of your diary too, its nice to read about like minded people, the friends I have told think im crazy...

Have a good weekend

CathT

Hello and welcome, no one will find you crazy over here as we all want to pay the banks less interest! Sounds like you have had a hard few years but you have come through it and you are making really good OP's. Have you used any of the OP spreadsheets? They are a really good motivation.

We all share our money saving tips so am sure you will like it over here with us MFW's.

CathT

Al, I might try and have a read of MrMoneyMustache too.

Coffee_Cup

You have done so well to become debt free and the positive is that you are so young starting on your mortgage journey. I am 40 and only just starting now!! I wish I had had my head screwed on when I was younger!

Good luck

Crumpets

Just popping in to say hi and well done for paying off your debts :j There are quite a few of us with young children and I love to read other diaries to get hints and tips about bargains and cheap things to do with the children.

Good luck and I look forward to following your journey

trulymadlyhannah

CathT wrote: »

Hello and welcome, no one will find you crazy over here as we all want to pay the banks less interest! Sounds like you have had a hard few years but you have come through it and you are making really good OP's. Have you used any of the OP spreadsheets? They are a really good motivation.

We all share our money saving tips so am sure you will like it over here with us MFW's.

Hi CathT :wave: Thank you for your welcome, I normally use the overpayment calculator on MSE, I havent tried any others, but I will have a look

Hey Coffee Cup & Crumpets. Thank you for your welcomes I wouldn't say my head is screwed on just yet, Ive an impulsive side that needs addressing :rotfl:I am looking forward to reading some of the diarys from parents with young children too

I have had a read of MrMoneyMustache earlier, and found some inspiration, so am sending you a huge virtual hug Alchemilla

Savings:

Potential £12.12 per month saving on our TV Licence
We only watch live tv once/twice per month, and thats Cbeebies for the children, which could be watched from BBC Iplayer for free (when not broadcasting) Myself and DH only really watch series on the TV and we steam these from the internet anyway.
Though DH wants to check before we actually cancel this!

£12.50 per month saving on BT Vision TV package.
The children watch DVDs/Stream from youtube, and I am a bit sad I havent realised this sooner....

£18.16 per month saving on Broadband, plus £11.24 extra savings for the first 6 months, and possible quidco £35 cashback.
We always pay our line rental up front, and its due next month, so now is an ideal time! Our current package for Fibre Broadband and Calls costs £33.15 per month. Our new package is £14.99 per month (with first 6 months reduced to £3.75, and I went through quidco for a further possible £35 cashback).:T

So overall, if we cancel the TV Licence too, we may save £42.78 per month :T. The broadband order has been placed, I need to ring BT tomorrow to confirm I am cancelling with them.

Those are the positives, this weekend has otherwise been awful. DH has had a slipped disc in his back for 18 months, but his back started to spasm on Saturday, leaving him unable to walk, stand or even sit up. We called the out of hours doctors out on Saturday AND Sunday, and 2 injections, and 2 new medications later and hes just able to move, but hes in lots of pain.

Luckily... (if thats the right word for it!, he is on holiday this week as we wanted to get DS's room painted, so he hasnt had any time off work) We honestly thought we would be on our way to hospital all weekend he was so bad, so we did zero cooking and bought and ate 100% convenience food (from Aldi, so i guess not as bad as it could have been!) He has a steriod injection planned for Monday, so fingers crossed the new medication and the injection brings him some relief.

I visited homebase too, as after starting a second coat of paint in DS's room (before DHs back), I realised we may need a 3rd/4th coat of paint and only have 1/2 a tin of paint left. The paint was on 2 for £20 so i bought an extra tin for DS's room and a tin for DD's room. The 15% off meant I paid £17, but I don't know if I need it yet... another impulse buy which may yet go back (if they will take it back, its unopened)

Heres to a better week ahead!