The Journey Begins...

AgathaSquirrel

Well done - mortgage free by 50 would be a good accomplishment.

Thriftmaster1973

Thanks Agatha, been a long road and it's nice to be able to see light at the end of the tunnel.

ElmoR

Keep chipping away and you will start to see dramatic reductions as you get closer to the end - it becomes highly addictive. Have you thought of doing surveys etc to earn a few extra pennies to fling at it too? By the end, I was looking on the spreadsheet and seeing what could I set as a new mini target? Get the daily interest under the next pound bracket? Get a zero knocked off the total? Once you reach that stage of addiction/obsession, spending gets severely reined in, new income appears (not masses, but surveys do bring some), and it goes very quickly!!

Well done so far!

ElmoR

Bella_Budget

Just popping in to say hi. You are so close it's brilliant

Thriftmaster1973

Thanks Bella, it seems the closer I get the more I get the "Miser" traits, constantly looking for ways to cut back lol.

Thriftmaster1973

Well, into May 2021 and haven't done any overpayments for a couple of months due to me deciding to purchase the freehold to the property (£1400 including solicitors fees).

This wasn't planned to be done now, but it was forecast to happen once the property was owned outright. I noticed this year that the offer of the freehold was a significant amount lower than usual so I decided to get the ball rolling and make the purchase.

Funds are now available to be handed over to solicitors and June should see business as usual with the £500 overpayments.

Thriftmaster1973

Well, end of May and in a few hours another "normal mortgage payment" will have gone off to the lender.(mortgage payment is on 1st)

I've been feeling a bit down with it all just lately, it feels never ending although I know I've made good progress so far.

The recent freehold purchase hasn't helped matters - meaning around £1400 has been diverted away from overpayments for a few months. Although this purchase was planned to be paid once I was mortgage free anyway, so it just means another task has been done early.

So, I will be in the £25k range by tomorrow and I am trying to buck myself up by telling myself that by Christmas, I should be at £18k mortgage debt.

£500 overpayment for May is primed in the overpayment account to be paid when it's married with June's £500 overpayment.

Looking at my forcast it's also looking unlikely to be finished by December 2022, but on a positive note what is forcast is £6k outstanding.

So, onwards I go on the downward spiral of my mortgage debt.

Thriftmaster1973

Back on the overpayment ride again after a few months off (bought freehold for £1400 including solicitors / land registry fees) - yes, I want full control!!!

Just transferred £1k to the mortgage company and balance is showing -£24,311.

Under £25k now so feeling quite pleased with myself.

I feel like it's dragging, but looking forward to being under £20k at Christmas.

badmemory

Buying the freehold is a good thing.  My improved freehold offer came just after I'd paid off the mortgage but if it had come before I would still have bought it.  It is all part & parcel of the same thing - owning it all & the freehold is part of that.  If it adds a couple of months to the mortgage then so be it.  It has probably reduced the total payable by a month anyway as it was reduced so that is a definite win.

Thriftmaster1973

Well, fast approaching Christmas now and I'm hovering just over £20k mortgage debt.

Making the £500 overpayment is becoming a struggle to be honest - inflation is becoming more noticeable every month but with constant observations of daily costs it is still doable.

I am becoming ever more obsessed watching the amount owing decrease by a hefty £1000 per month.

I often wonder if I will still be a thrift addict (miser) when I get to £0 owing, I suppose many traits will have become the norm and will carry through when I'm living a debt free life.