Introducing....

Urbanshyne

Hi and thanks for dropping by to read my first MFW blog. I have been utterly inspired by the commitment (and sacrifices) so many of you have made in order to pay down your mortgages early. An especially BIG shout-out to Tilly, Museumworker and Man v Mortgage - you guys rock! I've been obsessed with your blogs for the passed few weeks following the realisation that I would be 59 before my mortgage was paid in full. 59. I truly shudder at that thought, but for some reason it just hadn't clicked before. So I sought help and found it here in all your amazing blogs!

Some numbers for you:

Original Mortgage: £108,950 Sept 2015
Outstanding Today: £100,702.92
Daily interest (approx): £5.80
Days Until Mortgage Cleared (without OP): 8461
with OP: 2252
Interest Saving (approx): £24000

It's my aim to OP by £1000 per month for the next 6 years. This blog, with your help and support, is my testament to that challenge.

Lee. x

wishingthemortgaheaway

Welcome (from a newbie myself) £1k op a month will certainly make a huge difference.

I'm nosey, what are your strategies? Is this an easy op a stretch or a super stretch (who's terms are those?, sorry for stealing, but I love the terms)

Subscribing for the ride

Debtslayer

Welcome.
Wow £1000 a month is serious overpayment! That will certainly make a serious dent in your mortgage.
Good luck.
We are currently overpaying £71 per month as regular overpayment.
On top of this I'm saving as well to hopefully make a chunky overpayment in the next 12 months.
Our first goal is to see the mortgage go below 100k

TallGirl

£1000 a month that is a serious amount definitely doable if you use all :money: tips on saving on every day bills and you cut down. I paid mine off nice years early but I got had salery increases, inheritance and luck with interest rates getting lower during that time. A diary is a great thing to motivate you and log oyur progress. Good luck

Urbanshyne

Thanks for your warm welcomes, TallGirl, Debtslayer and Wishing. I was fairly nervous about posting on here, but clearly my nerves were misplaced. Thank you again.

Wishingthemortgageaway: Okay. I'll be upfront with you. I've got zero debts and £21000 in savings. I also earn around £3000 per month. I'm single and have no dependence. However, I save £700 a month, my mortgage and OPs will account for around £1500 p/m; bills and Council Tax add £160-£170 p/m, food shopping I can get down to around £150pm, which should leave me with around £400 for everything else. Is there anything I'm missing or should add?

On the advice I've read in your blogs and on MSE, I've opened up two further current accounts with Nationwide and TSB paying 5% and 3% interest plus a regular saver with the Nationwide.

Oh and also, I've started doing surveys with OnePoll and YouGov when I've got some spare time.

I'm getting closer to covering all the bases. Is there anything else I could do?

Lee.

Jessy103

Sounds like you have a plan and I wish you the best of luck!

Urbanshyne

Payday arrived on Friday and I made my first £1000 OP, bringing my mortgage below £100000. I immediately felt like a milestone had been reached, but my enthusiasm for this challenge will be tested if I can only see my goals in £100000 intervals! So, a yearly goal is needed and that is to see my outstanding mortgage balance down to around £84,000 by August 2018.

Last week (that's Saturday 22-07 - Saturday 28-07) I spent £138.02 which is way too much. However, £32.66 was on cigarettes, and a further 32.50 was on a vaper. Overall, then, my expenditure for the week (ignoring tobacco products) was £72.86 or £10.40 a day. It's my aim to cut this to £7 a day. I bought the vaper to replace tobacco smoking and I hope to completely stop smoking before the year's out. That alone should save somewhere in the region of £1500 a year.

And on a more personal note, I've decided to lose 4 stone in the next 12 months as well. I've eaten too many truckers' breakfasts in the passed few years and my weight's ballooned.

penny*pincher_2

Hi Urbanshyne,

Well done for how far you have come and for those serious goals you have set yourself. You will, without doubt, save money giving up smoking - and your health will benefit hugely!

I am only just embarking on the whole process, I hope to buy next year and then begin my mission to become mortgage free - I am looking forward to following your journey!

Penny*

newgirly

Best of luck urbanshyne, you could consider joining the mortgage free wannabe challenges (although they run Jan-dec!) you set a target and update monthly.

Good luck with the weight loss, I'm on weightwatchers at the moment and it's working ok most of the time have you looked at MyFitnessPal online, it's free and a brilliant tool to help you lose weight, many on here use it.

Urbanshyne

Hi Penny, thank you... By sheer coincidence I was reading your diary this morning. I wish you well with the house hunting. I'll be subscribing for the ride.

Newgirly - I've never heard of MyFitnessPal but I'm all over it right now! Cheers.

Urbanshyne

Oh yeah Newgirly, what are the MFW challenges? I think I'd be up for whatever it is!