Our journey to mortgage freedom

Sue2607

Hi everyone! After reading diaries for a few weeks I have become inspired and want to clear our mortgage asap! A bit about us... there is me, my husband and four children between us, one lives with her mum. I don't work as we wouldn't be any better off if i did and my husband has just started a new job which pays £3k less than the previous one! Our mortgage now stands at £47,158. 10 years ago we were in a very bad place as we had been extremely foolish and managed to accrue over £50k of debt excluding the mortgage! But after a lot of hard work and some lovely PPi reclaims we are now debt free and I now want to focus on the mortgage. Unfortunatly, my husband is very much a live today don't worry about the future type of guy so it's not as easy as it could be but I am determined! Our overpayments won't be massive but hopefully they will be consistent! I have already overpaid £340 in the last 2 weeks and I'm now very excited :j I hope you lovely people will continue to inspire me and give me some tips along the way!

Sue

LadyGnome

Welcome and best of luck on your journey.

What an amazing job you have done to clear that debt. You know you can crack the mortgage because you've already cleared a bigger amount.

Sue2607

Thanks! I just hope it doesn't take 10 years

System

Hi Sue,

Good luck with your MF journey.

Not much to add other than lots of diaries on here are great for inspiration and ideas.

How long do you think it will take to be MF and how long do you have left? 10 years?

Sue2607

Thanks! I've just looked and we have 9 years and 1 month left but I want to reduce that to under 5 if I can!

System

Have you see/done this Over-payment calculator before? Might help

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-overpayment-calculator

Sue2607

ooo I like that according to that I would have to make a £350 op every month to pay it off in 5 years! I've already op £340 this month so £10 to go :j I'm going to aim for £500 though as some months will be harder than others!

gavted

Sue,
Your mortgage figures sound a lot like ours did with our first mortgage.

£500 is a great target for regular OP's, but make sure you save some to a "rainy day" fund. Washing machines dont last as long as they used to! Maybe set your OP's at £350 and if you dont have any, save £150 until you have a nice pot. :money:

If you stick with that long term, sooner or later the savings and outstanding mortgage will meet, and that is a very nice trip to the bank/building society. My wife always remembers that day very fondly. :j

Best of luck with whatever you decide on. :beer:

Sue2607

Thanks for the tip gavted! We fell short a few times on our journey to debt freedom due to not having an emergency fund! You would think I'd have learnt by now but.... not so much! I do have a teeny tiny £130 in a savings account which I am building up slowly! I think I'll review my figures and see if I can cut other expenses to increase my savings pot! The urge to see that mortgage figure reduce along with the interest I could save by reducing it is all consuming at the moment

System

Hi Sue!!! Just wanted to wish you luck on your journey

Sue2607 wrote: »

Unfortunatly, my husband is very much a live today don't worry about the future type of guy so it's not as easy as it could be but I am determined!

Haha, I have one of those :rotfl:

Sue2607

Thanks Loopybecs Oh no! They are a pain aren't they! Mine text me at dinner time to tell me he had bought 2 new hooded sweatshirts! I almost hit the roof as he's normally a nike/adidas sort of person! But... he bought primarni's finest at £6.50 each :rotfl: there's chance for him yet :T