Downshifting to a nicer life... 7 July 2016 at 1:28PM in Mortgage-Free Wannabe 72 replies 13.5K views

MeandO

Thank you lovely xx

MeandO

Right, I'm feeling a bit despondent not being able to do much to alter this limbo situation I'm currently in, so I'm going to focus on starting to overpay the mortgage to do something positive.

I have nearly £8k stashed in an ISA and around £1k in various e-saver 'pots' for car & house maintenance etc, Christmas/holidays etc so I can draw on cash if I need to for other things.

My mortgage has 3 sub accounts, after porting and then re-mortgaging to buy my ex out, so I'm focusing on paying down the sub account with the highest interest rate which is currently at 3.39% with around 60K outstanding on that one. I've just made my first overpayment of £100 :jand I'll continue to chip away at this bit by bit in order to gradually reduce it. I'll keep a record of my total overpayments in my signature.

I've also set up an e-saver in which I'll build funds up to £100 each time and pay it off the mortgage in £100 chunks. So the challenge is to find 6000 ways to make £1000 and the account will be paid off! There's currently 51p in there towards the next £100 after transferring the pennies off the other accounts

apple_muncher

A very positive plan! Overpaying gets addictive as every penny is saving you paying the bank your hard-earned cash.

MeandO

I can see that Apple, it's becoming addictive already! Just have to make sure I don't get carried away and leave myself short...

MeandO

I've tidied up the accounts again this morning and another 68p has gone to the OP pot towards the next £100, there's now £1.19 in there.

The first £100 OP is showing on the mortgage today and it has made both that sub acount and the whole mortgage drop down to the next 1K brackets. Total mortgage is now £97,928.73 and sub account 3 I'm focusing on first is now at £59,949.56.

Feels good to have dropped a bracket.

No house move news to report though unfortunately.

Busy_Mee1

Hi MeandO - just wanted to say Hi. I was a long time lurker on your DF thread, so great to see you have moved over here. It sound like you have already got the MF bug, we all addicted and slightly obsessive over here:rotfl:

MeandO

Hello Busy Mee1 and thanks for stopping by and de-lurking

Yes, definitely feel like I've been bitten by the MF bug now, it's very addictive. I've done all sorts of calculations as to how much interest I will be saving and how many years I will cut off the remaining term, I love it!

lulabelle1

Hi there, just had a little read of your thread.....

I hope you don't mind my comments... but I do wonder whether downsizing to a house thats say £20/30k cheaper will save you all that much per month.

I'm just thinking about:
Estate Agents costs
Solicitors Fees
Stamp Duty
Removal fees
Potential decoration of new property so that you like it etc

And then I'm thinking that you seem to love your current home. I understand it may have too many bedrooms, but would you be happy with smaller downstairs living space. Is your son settled in your current home? Does he have friends nearby? Is he settled at his current school?

Have you worked out what your new payments would be if you were to downsize? Would it allow you to cut your hours?

Please forgive me my questions and utterings, I'm sure you've thought long and hard already about everything I've said, but just felt compelled to comment, especially in light of the stress so far with selling and viewings etc.

Best of luck with whatever you decide

MeandO

Of course I don't mind Lulabelle, it is a good question, but yes, I have worked out the sums (I have reams of paper with all sorts of calculations on!) and a drop of £20k in my mortgage would mean I could drop my hours to a level where I wouldn't have to pay childcare as I could pick DS up from school. That's a saving of £175 a month right there too!
There are properties in the area I'm looking in for between £20k - £70 less than mine is now, so it could well be a drop of more than £20K, but that would be the minimum I'd need to lower it by.

We don't really know many people in my area except for the immediate neighbours, it seems to be very much an older-person area. Unfortunately, DS doesn't have any little frinds to play with there either. With the hours I'm working presently and the childcare arrangements, he doesn't have time to go out and play evenings much anyway as it is pretty much home, food and bed within an hour.

Hopefully this move will make both our lives much happier.

lulabelle1

Bless you, it makes perfect sense then
Best wishes with everything, I'm sure you'll find a lovely new home for you and your son and with any luck he'll make some friends too.