turning pennies into pounds on the mortgage

sillyinthepast

Hi I started a thread about 2 years ago just before we bought the house with grand plans of how I was going to pay the £145'000 mortgage off in 5 years. Well as you can imagine that has not happened at all, in actual fact we haven't overpaid anything as of yet.


It took a few months to sort finances out after we moved in as this was our first house after army accommodation so we had extra bills to what we were used to. We then had a problem with the lean to after the bad weather which took a huge chunk of money. Also DH lost his job and was unemployed for 5 months which used all of our savings up. I am so thankful that we saved an emergency fund otherwise to be honest I think we would have lost the house.


I finally had my lightbulb moment the other day. Our mortgage statement came in and I think we paid £10'000 in payments but only £2500 came off the total. We are on a 7 year fixed rate so I can't change the mortgage company. I don't have the letter with the exact figures but I will add them tomorrow.


My goals for this year are to


- 1, overpay the mortgage by £2500 we can only overpay once a year so this will go into a separate account.


- 2, cut my food bills in half - I overspend so much out of pure laziness.


- 3, all gifts apart from my childrens are going to be handmade


- 4, decorate son 1s room
decorate son 2s room
decorate son 3s room
decorate landing
try and get carpets for upstairs and the stairs


- 5, build up emergency fund to £2500


- 6, save £500 for Christmas




As you can see I have a few goals. I start a new job in January and the money is a lot better - we are not desperate for the money so I am going to save the extra. I have a lot of craft items and a house full of stuff. So I am challenging myself for a no spend few months too.


We have no debts thankfully.


I will pop back on tomorrow with actual figures. I am starting tomorrow as I am doing no sale shopping this year.


Phew that was a bit long sorry.

Edited to add 2015 goals to come back to

£100 clothes budget
Sealed pot challenge - all change under a £1
2015 mfw - no:39 2500
Christmas - £500
Emergency fund - £2500
Yearly craft budget -£75

Grocery challenge

January - £175

Muser1

Great list! Good luck.

pavlovs_dog

welcome aboard

There is a monthly grocery challenge on the old style board each month with ideas on how to successfully cut your grocery spends. We will be having a similar plan of attack in 2015.

sillyinthepast

Thank you Muser and Pavlov.


Right I am here with my mortgage statement.


We are on a 5.89% interest rate - this is fixed for another 5 years.


The statement is from 1st Dec 2013 to 30th Nov 2014 it says


Total 1st dec 2013 139065.13
In 10568.16
out 8060.93
Balance 30th Nov 2014 136557.90


We have 24 years and 1 month remaining


Our payments are £880.68 per month. WE can only overpay once per year and we can't go over 10%


Just by deciding to round the mortgage up to £1000 a month (putting the extra £119.32 in to savings to pay off each November) I have put it in to the mortgage calculator and it would save £23,734 in interest alone and we would pay it off 4 years 3 months early.


If I can increase the overpayment to £2000 each year instead of just the £1431 by rounding the mortgage up, we will save £30,311 in interest and would pay it off 5 years 6 months earlier. - - - This is what I am aiming to do. Seeing the figures on the screen is a massive lightbulb moment!!!


DH after seeing the figures is now well on board

sillyinthepast

Good morning. It's a frost here so I have put the washing on the airer today. Yesterday was a NSD and today will be too as I am not going anywhere.

Dinner is in the slowcooker - using up some of the massive ham mum have me yesterday. I also have bread rising. I have lots of flour and yeast so I am going to try and bake all of my own bread until I run out.

I have seen a challenge on Facebook where you save each week week 1 £1 week 2 £2 etc. I am thinking of doing it but going backwards and doing it until November. I can then use the money for Christmas and to tax and insure my car which is due December. Is anyone else doing the challenge?

I had a look at the sales last night but there is nothing I wanted. I need a new pair of black jeans for work but there are none reduced that I liked. My last pair was from tesco and was only £14 so I think j will just buy another pair.

My meal plan this week is

Breakfasts - cereal, pancakes, bagels

Lunches - hm soup, leftovers for night before dinners and I still have mountains of cheeses, crackers etc

Dinners - ham, cheese and potato bake
Quiche, baked potatoes and salad
Ham and pineapple pizzas, wedges
Turkey and ham pie
Beef stew
Pasta bake
Risotto

I have everything I need in already so the only things I need to buy this week is eggs and milk.

sillyinthepast

Evening. Happy new year to anyone reading.

I put £300 in to savings today. I don't quite know where the £300 has come from, all of the bills are paid so I have put it in my everyday saver.

All together I had £170 christmas money. There is nothing I want or need so I am keeping it to decorate one of the bedrooms. - it will pay for the plastering of one room. This will make me happier than anything else I can buy.

I have write out some of my craft lists that I want to achieve this year. I will be finishing off a gift ready for next year tonight.

We aren't going anywhere it's just board games and nibbles with the boys.

ourcornercottage

Good luck, I'm doing practically the same as you so will be checking in for hints and tips :-)

sillyinthepast

Thanks ourcornercottage.

Well the last few days have been quiet. We all seemed to come down with head colds. Luckily everyone is feeling better ready for work/school tomorrow.

I have done a mini food shop - the receipt is in my purse so I need to add that to the grocery challenge thread. Ds1 needed new football boots yesterday and we managed to get them reduced at £31.99 - we had budgeted £55 so very pleased with this.

Once a month I go to craft group it is usually £8 for the day and we all take a potluck for lunch. This month it was cancelled as the hall we usually use was already booked. There was only 4 of us going so one of the ladies hosted it at her house. I bought her a bunch of flowers to say thank you and made a quiche with the leftovers so the day only cost me £3. I have put the rest of the money in my sealed pot tin.