I Want To Be Mortgage Free!

Jessy103

I don't mind doing them too much really, I start in the morning after I've walked the dogs and had breakfast and do them until about 1pm. I then have my lunch and abit of a break where I'll do my housework etc then start them again at about 4pm, have tea at 6pm and then do some more until bed. I find having the breaks helps me not lose the will to live!! I haven't tried Ginger Comms so will have to have a look at that one!

I've had the shopping for the next two weeks delivered this morning and it was £76 including the delivery charge. I'm hoping I can keep this up as it means more money towards the mortgage but to make a difference it means we have to resist a takeaway once a week which I find very difficult! As we don't really drink and we don't smoke a takeaway once a week is our little treat and I don't think we really should give that up, I want to be able to have a little somthing to look foward to!

Have a lovely day!
Jess x

themadvix

Hi Jess, I don't know that Ginger C0mms actually have a platform of their own - but I find them by going through Cr0wdology and SBs quite often - they're always short and simple!

Jessy103

Had a bit of an expensive weekend really! I have three birthdays next week so I've had to buy things for those, I met my friend and her son for breakfast yesterday and I paid for all of us becuase my friend said money is tight for her after Christmas so I wanted to treat her. She found it hard to believe that I could afford to pay for all three of us because I don't have a job, I explained to her I may not have a job but I do have a budget and a lot of spreadsheets to manage our money which means we could afford to buy things we want but we only buy things we NEED! Since I've started my money saving journey I find it sad that people fall into the 'keeping up with the jones's' trap, yes it's nice to have all the expensive things you could possibly want but why do it and put yourself into debt and make yourself so unhappy! (I hope that doesn't make me sound like a big head because I know I have made the same mistakes in the past!). I also bought two sets of new bedding from Wilko, I realised I haven't bought any new since we decorated our bedroom five years ago! I'm not sure how long bedding is supposed to last but it had started to get quite worn and so thought it was time! Lol!
On the plus side I have claimed £15 from two of my survey websites so that'll go into the overpayment pot.

Have a lovely day!
Jess x

atypicalblonde

Hi Jess

That was such a kind thing to do for your friend.

Which surveys would you recommend for a beginner? I have the time but absolutely no clue where to start xx

Jessy103

Hi ATB!

Thanks, I don't have many ftiends so I would do anything for her really! Lol!

If you're after surveys you can get money for I would recommed MySurvey UK, Inbox Pounds, Opinion Outpost, Survey Network and Swagbucks because you can get Paypal on all of those. If you fancy vouchers like Amazon, Boots and Marks and Spencers then Valued Opinions and i-say.com are good.

Let me know how you get on! Oh and try and be patient because they can take a long time and be quite frustrating at times! Lol!

atypicalblonde

Thank you so much x

Teacher2

Many of your expenses are compulsory, not discretionary so you don't hve a huge amount of 'wriggle room' for further cuts. The two that stand out are the bathroom payment which ends in May which you can switch straight into OP-ing the mortgage.

Secondly, have you an emergency fund which equals a month's bills? If so, you might consider using £200 of your monthly £250 savings to OP.

If you added £16 to the bathroom fund every month and used both of these ideas you wouod be paying £400 a month extra towards the mortgage. You might well get yourself into a situation quite quickly where your mortgage was a much lower proportion of the amount your house was worth. You could then remortgage at one of these ridiculously low rates they are offering these days.

If you remortgaged and your monthly sum owing was less than you were paying now you could keep the amount the same and overpay even more with no appreciable difference to your finances.

Another tip is 'always save the payrise.' If you are used to living at a certain level and you get some extra, save it. Of course, payrises are like hen's teeth these days.

Jessy103

Teacher2 wrote: »

Many of your expenses are compulsory, not discretionary so you don't hve a huge amount of 'wriggle room' for further cuts. The two that stand out are the bathroom payment which ends in May which you can switch straight into OP-ing the mortgage.

Secondly, have you an emergency fund which equals a month's bills? If so, you might consider using £200 of your monthly £250 savings to OP.

If you added £16 to the bathroom fund every month and used both of these ideas you wouod be paying £400 a month extra towards the mortgage. You might well get yourself into a situation quite quickly where your mortgage was a much lower proportion of the amount your house was worth. You could then remortgage at one of these ridiculously low rates they are offering these days.

If you remortgaged and your monthly sum owing was less than you were paying now you could keep the amount the same and overpay even more with no appreciable difference to your finances.

Another tip is 'always save the payrise.' If you are used to living at a certain level and you get some extra, save it. Of course, payrises are like hen's teeth these days.

Hi Teacher2! Thank you for the advice, it is greatly appreciated (I am not the best with numbers!)! We do have an emergency fund of £2700 at the moment and I am hoping to get this upto £5000 this year. We are nearing our 10% overpayment limit so I'm going to make smaller overpayments to the mortgage until August when it resets so we don't go over the limit and put the rest of the money into the emergency fund. When the payments for the bathroom finish I will divert this money into the emergency fund as well so I can build it up asap. Our mortgage deal comes to end August 2018 so I am hoping the interest rates are still as low then as they are now and as long as we keep hitting our 10% overpayment limit our LTV will have gone down enough to get us a good deal!

Thanks again for your help! x

ch4rly2002

I've just found this thread. Well done, you are doing great! Just a thought, if you end up with a lot of money in the emergency fund next August when you come to remortgage, it could be a good idea to check how much you need to pay off to get into the next interest bracket so you get a better rate. We found that by paying a small lump sum at the end of our mortgage deal, we tipped into the next LTV bracket and got a much better deal. Also, if you already have dogs and have to take them for walks, have you considered taking other dogs for walks with them? Some people pay good money for a dog walker and you'd be out walking your dogs anyway (if they mix well with others and if you can handle another dog or two). Also, if you're an animal lover you do pet sitting where you go to someone's house and feed the pet, play with it or walk it so they can let the pet stay in it's home environment and don't have to put it in a kennel. Look forward to reading about your progress :T

ch4rly2002

Also, does anyone know how I can save this thread so I can come back and see updates later? Also (can you tell I'm new?) what does DH stand for? TIA