MFi3: Mortgage-free by Christmas 2010 - diary of a MFW Martian

[Deleted User]

We've opened a second joint account for groceries and other essentials (everything that doesn't go out by Direct Debit, essentially) in order to keep the spending under tighter control. Overpayments are back to normal, but I'm not sure how long it will be possible to maintain that: regular bills have started to creep upwards, regular savings are down, and money for personal spending has been slashed.

On the plus side, though, we will have passed the £40k mark on Monday.

setmefree2

Marvin_the_Martian wrote: »

On the plus side, though, we will have passed the £40k mark on Monday.

Well Done on that:T:T:T:T

[Deleted User]

Well, we've hit the tracker floor... that wasn't something we expected when we took it out. I'm wondering if we should have let the mortgage run on to the BMR, now...?

[Deleted User]

NATIONWIDE WILL NOT ENFORCE TRACKER FLOOR OF 2.75%

:beer:

Praise quantum vacuum fluctuations. :j

Oh and for setmefree2:

setmefree2

:rotfl::rotfl:Very funny:D

[Deleted User]

One idea we've been bandying about for a while is the notion of getting a second place once the mortgage on this one is paid off, doing up the place we're currently in, and then renting out one of them - either moving back into our original home and renting out the second, or renting out this one once it's done up.

It occurs to me that the way things are going at the moment, house prices might well 'bottom out' some time around mid-2010 - which would be rather convenient from our POV.

Not sure where to start, though. At that point we wouldn't have much in the way of savings so we'd be drawing down our overpayments on this place in order to get a deposit for the second (plus money for repair work on the first) so we'd be landed with two mortgages whose total value might exceed the value of either one of the houses, and I'm not sure what the ramifications are regarding a second mortgage. (Not least, getting one.)

Ah well, we've at least a year to think about it!

[Deleted User]

Well, we may not be due for any more shrinkage of our tracker rate, but with interest rates as they are, it seems a bit academic. We've whacked our overpayments back up to the maximum once more, the rate of 2.63% means that we're paying less than £70 a month in interest (and falling; it was around £80 a month at the beginning of the year), so more than 96% of our monthly payments/overpayments is coming off the capital. Getting that "the end's in sight" feeling as we're approaching the £30k mark.

Now wondering what to do about the life assurance. It has occurred to me (somewhat belatedly) that we've never revised or reviewed it since taking it out in 2002, and the policy is probably still worth what we would have owed had we not overpaid, renewed mortgage at shorter term, rinsed, washed, repeated, etc. With less than 18 months to go on the mortgage, and enough overpayments that we could take a year-long payment holiday if we had to, I'm seriously thinking of cancelling it.

ION, the Martian Supermarket Survey has discovered the following:
1. Smart Price soft cheese = win. (EDIT: Sainsbury's Basics soft cheese = meh.)
2. Smart Price/Basics mayonnaise = epic fail.

[Deleted User]

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

Cat food - until Av's great age required a special low protein diet, we had her on James Wellbeloved. It's hypoallergenic and she loved it. You can get a free sample on their website at www.wellbeloved.co.uk and it's not that expensive - £37.99 for a 10kg bag.

Caz

An extremely belated reply to this...

We have a winner.

:j

The new kitten (actually not so much of a kitten anymore, as she's more than six months old) was weaned on James Wellbeloved, so we ended up buying a load for all the cats. The two adults have now successfully kicked the IAMS habit.

Martian Supermarket Survey update: Basics Jaffa cakes are deemed acceptable. Smart Price "Vitality" cereal is considered just about edible, but probably not worth buying again.

[Deleted User]

Brief update:

We've passed the £30k mark, and have received the overpayment confirmation letter that reduces our term to 1 year 8 months as of May 1 - which confirms that we are now officially on track to meet our December 2010 goal, even if we don't make any more overpayments from here on in.

ION, it looks like my wife will be starting a new job next month, which will be a good move for a variety of reasons - it does, however, involve a daily commute and a cut in basic pay, so we may have to adjust our overpayments accordingly. So the revised goal of August 2010 may prove challenging.

Martian Supermarket Survey update:
Smart Price Rich Tea and Digestive biscuits = Win.
Smart Price Raisins = Win.
Smart Price 'Vitality' cereal (updated) = grudging win. (I hadn't planned to get it again, but was overruled by my wife!)
EDIT: Smart Price malt loaf = Clear win.

SmlSave

Well done on getting under £30k!