Stephen's Journey to Mortgage freedom

lcfcstephen

We've had a good few weeks. We are under the amount to spend on food and stuff, but I'll have to wait till payday to know how much we can save towards things - especially as there are some payments that will come out at that point. We have been looking at what will happen when this fix ends and we are in a very strong position as we are fortunate to have a large deposit, decent interest rate, the ability to overpay and the ability to save into LW's HISA/LISA which will mean the deposit for when we move should be much bigger than I had hoped it would be

lcfcstephen

February went well, mostly because LW did actually get paid on the 28th, rather than the 1st March which is specified on her contract.
It means the car deposit is ready to be paid, and we've started saving towards a holiday. Switched energy providers as our fix was coming to an end, hoping that we can reduce payments and bills, but that will be an ongoing process.
The aim is to be able to afford a house almost double the price of what this was brought at, soon after our five year fix ends. This should be helped by my salary increasing, and LW also being included on the mortgage with equity built up and LW's HISA/LISA. My salary has already increased by about 20% and LW's salary should also have increased by then (the benefit of starting out in our respective jobs!)

lcfcstephen

Been less good recently at keeping this updated, but that's in part to not a lot of interesting things happening! I've started doing some surveys, and should be able to withdraw some cash soon, which will go straight onto the mortgage. Likewise with when we get LW's switching bonus for the banks. The car should arrive by the end of next week, but the car insurance I had been looking at seems to have dropped off the comparison sites, meaning insurance will be about £200 more expensive.
Trying to figure out the best place for LW's LISA as we won't be buying for at least four years so cash will get minimal returns, but stock might be a bit too risky as it is less than the five year 'recommended time frame'

lcfcstephen

I've already been able to pay out from one survey site - so £12 will be going straight onto the mortgage shortly. If I keep getting £10 a month, this extra amount will have saved me £1000 by the time my fix comes to an end. Hoping that it continues to pay out at this rate, but as it's barely been a week and I've already withdrawn money, and when I finish a week long survey I'll get another £10 I think it should be possible.
The aim is for at the end of the fix that the amount I'll need to reborrow (because of the help to buy loan) will be about the same as the original amount as I'd be surprised if I couldn't borrow that much again - especially as my salary has already increased since I was accepted! And then, the current aim is soon after we remortgage we'll start looking at moving, and hopefully have around £100,000 available as a deposit, but we'll see what happens over the next four years