the time has come...to get the mortgage below £200k

helibob

bexster1975 wrote: »

Good luck! I don't think your analysis is dark at all. The whole point of a consumerist society us that it works for everyone except the people who buy into it! If you need it ( or want it enough and can afford it) then great - buy it. If you don't, all you do is tie yourself to the grindstone for a bit longer. If you love how you earn your living, no problem. If not.....

Exactly my take on things. Choose your luxuries - be that holidays, big TVs, or being able to work less. I did a whole chartered qualification, not because I needed more money, but because I figured if I was on a higher rate of pay, I'd need to work less and could have the luxury of spare time. I'm still working full time, but looking to pay down my mortgage as quickly as comfortably possible (because I'm not interested in scrimping, but my "comfortable" is probably similar to some of my friends' versions of scrimping)

What's the blog, out of interest?

thewalrussaid

Hi Bexster and Helibob,

Thanks for dropping in - I am beginning to see what people on here mean about it being so nice to find others that think in the same way and have similar attitudes. For me, my priority is to have options and more freedom in the future. I love Gallygirl's signature quote which says something like; be prepared to do what other won't now in order to have what others can't tomorrow - very badly paraphrased by me.

In money saving news I took a dress back on my lunch break so that's £25 back in my bank account. However I am going out for dinner with a friend and although it is a tasting menu offer I get the feeling that by the time the service charge and drinks have been added it won't be a cheap night. Hey-ho, something to think about curbing in the future.

And Bex you are right this does get so addictive, I am already thinking about how I can squeeze more money out of our monthly budget in order to increase the overpayments!

Helibob the blog is called - "Not Buying Anything" . The guy who writes it is based on Canada, I find it a refreshing read, a reminder of what really matters in life (in my opinion).

Penny_Bridge

thewalrussaid wrote: »

Thank you for posting Penny sorry for the slow reply - a big congratulations on being debt free! :T I do know precisely what you mean about trying to think about everything at once, pensions, investments, the mortgage, upkeep of the money pit (I mean house) and then factoring in all the curve balls that life throws at you :-/ For me personally this is why I have decided to focus on the mortgage for 2 years to start with. I get bored when goals are very, very long term so 2 years is a much more manageable timeline.

Have you decided on a plan?

Hi Thewalrussaid, yes I have put the following plan together which starts in earnest in October: -

Quadruple payments on Husband's main pension
Pay £2,800 are year into a small pension of mine (I'm a non-tax payer at moment and think I will get tax relief on this amount) - check with IFA
Still save £500 per month in cash (increase once mortgage paid off)
Reduce amount of over payment of mortgage to £500/£600 per month
Aim to have 4 years take home pay in cash savings at retirement (but secretly hoping for 5 years).

This will be tight at times as income can fluctuate but should even out. Discipline will be required but I'm up for the challenge. If it is tight some months (or indeed turns out to be too ambitious) the first option would be to reduce the mortgage over payments.

Other factors that I am aware of which could mean a mini review of this plan are: -
Still have work to complete on the house
I could be back in full time work at some point
Considering taking on a second lodger

I don't want to dwell on the curve balls that life can throw at the best laid plans, as this will make me panic and lose my focus. Will deal with these as and when they happen.

If we get to the stage that we could seriously look at investing some money in stocks & shares, I have come to the conclusion that I am not capable of this (it's me that make all the financial decisions). I think the best option for us would be to increase pension payments again, as that would still be using stocks and shares but leaving it to the professionals.

I will do a mini-review around about Christmas time once I am aware of the reality of this plan. May have to adjust it but hopefully all will go to plan.

Runders

Welcome to the forum Walrus!

I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it all and I will definitely take a look at the blog you mentioned!

Firegirl

Welcome Walrus. I have followed you're thread and look forward to following your journey.

It looks like we have very similar targets too!

thewalrussaid

Penny Bridge - that sounds like a great plan ,sorry for the v slow reply. My DH has pensions that really need to be sorted out. But that should probably be a task for Christmas (i.e. when we both have time off to sit down and look over properly - not very festive though!)

Runders - thank you for the welcome

Firegirl - yes ideally I would love to get the mortgage done by August 2023 - but that would take some doing hence focussing on two years to start with. Thanks for the follow

thewalrussaid

So I haven't posted in a month! Not good!

In my time away I have had a bit of a health scare (blood clot prior to flying - but luckily not DVT!) and a few pressing family matters.

However on the plus side we had a lovely holiday in the sun, a £4k tax refund and DH has started car sharing.

The £4k tax refund was not a complete shock as due to perm employment DH had shut down his ltd company and his accountant estimated the tax payable on the funds left in there. Obviously this was an overestimate and the over payment was refunded. But of course it was fabulous to get £4k back. Of this money I have overpaid about £1k - this should show tomorrow so will update sig then, we have bought a new running machine (okay not v mse but hopefully will have a good impact on activity levels - altho not completely walrus-like DH and I have a fair few pounds to shift)

The rest has gone to savings.

Of course DSD's laptop has chosen now to break so that was £250 spent on a contribution to a new one and she as a school trip that we will also need to pay a share of. However not much that can be done about such things.

The car sharing is more exciting for the budget in an ongoing way and I have to applaud DH for sorting this out. At the moment he has a 60 mile round trip daily and a toll to pay meaning that we budget about £270 a month for petrol and the toll. Now that he is car sharing with two others this should drop substantially. I am not planning on altering the figures on the budget just in case it doesn't last - however anything left over will be sent to the mortgage once savings have reached £10k.

I keep on having the desire to squeeze more out of the budget to send to the mortgage and then I remember this is a marathon not a sprint. So for now all plans are the same but once savings filled up I may push more towards the mortgage.

That's all for now - food all brought from home for lunch so only expense is dinner out with a friend tonight.

thewalrussaid

Latest OP has gone through and now showing on my signature. No more large OPs until we start properly in February 2016 but I will be paying over any excess from budget and cashback etc if it appears.

All food brought into work and dinner last night was £21 inc tip each - which I thought was okay considering how good the food was.

Today won't precisely be a NSD as I have to pay a friend for a ticket to see one of the Royal Palaces at the end of the month - however at least it will be all paid up now!

1st review in new job tomorrow so tonight will be spent preparing!

Luckyinlife

great over payment :]
do they generally pay the tax refund this time of year ? as i thought you could see how much they ow you in jan or april ?

i would of been very tempter to get the mortgage to 239k myself but agine i would of saved it and thought its as good as down to 239k hehe :]

great job tho and look how much its come down in 2-3 months

thewalrussaid

Luckyinlife wrote: »

great over payment :]
do they generally pay the tax refund this time of year ? as i thought you could see how much they ow you in jan or april ?

i would of been very tempter to get the mortgage to 239k myself but agine i would of saved it and thought its as good as down to 239k hehe :]

great job tho and look how much its come down in 2-3 months

To be perfectly honest I have no idea why they paid the tax back now however with some googling I think it may have something to do with DH having been an employee on PAYE for the whole of the 2014/15 tax year and reclaiming overpayment of tax for that year? But tbh I have no idea.

I was tempted to throw the lot at the mortgage however our sofa is truly on its way out (it was DH's before we moved in together) and so I thought some of this "bonus" money should go on that. There is no excuse for the treadmill, apart from possible health benefits (it has to be used for them to materialise tho :rotfl:) OPing is really addictive but I want to try my best to stick to the parameters I have set as opposed to getting carried away and then having to then cut down on OPs the next month.