I really really want to be........mortgage free!

ourcornercottage

Another month and the mortgage is down to £89,880 so just over 1000 down in the last month. This is a very good result as we are really cracking in with renovations at the same time.

New oil tank completed and a load of decorating completed. We have had s two week holiday/business trip in Asia thrown into the mix too.

Matched betting is still going well with a two week break for my holiday. Still managed nearly £800 profits. 10% went to mortgage and another 10% into a special savings account to keep separate.

S&S isa and pensions doing better this month after a few rubbish ones.

All in all getting there slowly but surely. Aim under £89000 by end of the year and under £75000 by end of 2019.

ourcornercottage

Once again the months have flown by and I have not updated for 5 months!

Once these diaries have been going a few years though, it is difficult to update as its more of the same! A mortgage is a long drawn out thing!

We have been slowly getting the amount down and currently it stands at £83,480 which isnt too bad. Looking at the stats we were paying £245 in interest per month 3 years ago now its £195 so a massive difference and £50 extra OP every month as I have not changed the payment at all.

I am still OPing every month, keeping an eye on our finances and having the odd side hussle. I am nearly a year into matched betting and am enjoying that still although the offers have mostly dried up. It has been very lucrative and have made thousands over the last year. Most is being used on more offers and nicely building up but a few thousand has been withdrawn for mortgage and other expenses.

We have been cracking on with the house doing as much ourselves and paying tradespersons when needed. We have recently been attached to mains sewage which might not sound a big deal to you but having a septic tank where the soakaway didnt work properly for the last 6 years there is amazing piece of mind knowing youre never having to deal with the aftermath of a blockage again! Have not had the final bill in yet (even though the job was completed weeks ago!) but I am expecting about £4000 including VAT. That money is happily sitting in my account making some interest until they get around to invoicing me. Its a big company so I expect they have bigger fish to fry first!

The plan is still to move to a smaller house when we have it finished and pay off the mortgage at the same time and even buy a terrace house to rent out too if we get enough for it. I expect this will be another couple of years until we get it done. The slight issue is we love living there so we are not 100% motivated to complete this plan!

Things have got a lot more urgent to get the money/mortgage paid off as have signed miniOCC up to a fee paying school starting september. It will not suprise you that we have been a little canny and saved up several years worth of fees in a seperate account since he was born and we even asked the school for a discount on his fees and suprisingly they said yes! This will no doubt focus our mind on getting the house complete, reducing our outgoings in terms of bills and mortgage of the house we are in at the moment. I truely believe without this MSE attitude we would never have been able to do this for miniOCC. I really hope he appreciates it when he is older!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life x

Moneyfordreams

welcome back, can I ask is it a national or local company? We've just been quoted £5.5k for our drains to be replaced. We only live in a 3 bed semi :eek:

Cariad71

Hi, just wanted to say I’m following and check in occasionally. You’re doing great!

ourcornercottage

Moneyfordreams wrote: »

welcome back, can I ask is it a national or local company? We've just been quoted £5.5k for our drains to be replaced. We only live in a 3 bed semi :eek:

It was a local firm that did a fantastic job. We had a vast range of quotes so worth getting a few.

ourcornercottage

a quick check in. Ended the year on £76500 which is a little more than I was hoping to end the year as I was hoping to be around £75000. We did though, manage to get some work done on the house which limited the OP's and is going to be the same going into 2020. We are having a door replaced and our bathroom completely changed in 2020 which we will pay for as we go along. That will leave a small amount for OP's. Will keep getting it off the mortgage where we can.

2020 is remortgage year and we can re-mortgage at the end of March. It should result in a small reduction in the percentage rate. Its a decision to make regarding how long to fix for, I am thinking 5 years but may go for 3. As my mortgage is in 2 parts I have 19600 already on a 10 year fix. the other 56900 is up for renewal. Decisions decisions!

Need to have a thorough review of the the bills this year as I haven't had a thorough check for a couple of years so should be able to make some good savings.

MiniOCC enjoying his very expensive school but it is worth it, its suprising what an ordinary family can achieve with a MSE attitude.