FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

financialbliss

Quick post about savings…

As mentioned previously, we’ve just closed the AA savings account as the 12-month bonus associated with it expired. On closure we got £66.96 interest. OK, not a massive amount but we only had about £3k in there. This is pretty much our only remaining emergency savings.:eek:

Got a further £28,500 in “savings”, but this is mainly as an overpayment reserve - working for us in the mortgage account and a little in ring fenced mortgage savings.

So, opened an ING savings account the other Sunday (7th). Typical Bliss luck in that the rate went up to 3.1% on the 8th August, so missed out on the slightly better rate.

Subsequently got an ING pin to operate the account and an initial £250 paid by cheque was deposited to open the account. Now that we can log in, I’ve been taking a look around the account to see what facilities there are.

One bonus over other savings accounts I’ve opened in the past is there is a schedule facility within ING where you can (the clue’s in the name), schedule transactions in or out to happen at a future date.

I’m probably not that different from others in that I get paid, spend a little then put the rest into an instant access savings account until the monthly big payments such as the mortgage or credit card(s) need to be paid. Here we’re currently using the Nationwide e-Savings as it’s a quick transfer to or back to the current account, but the rate is appalling at just 0.45%

Nationwide e-Savings £3k @ 0.45% = 13.50 or about 4p interest per day
ING Direct Savings £3k @ 2.96% = 88.80 or about 24p interest per day

May look into scheduling my wages into and out of the ING account, as despite the BACS transfer taking 3 days, overall I’m sure we’ll be better off although probably only £2 to £3 per month.

FB.

Twiddy

FB

Just caught up on the whole of your thread and it has taken a few days (of which some of them were work days - ooops - just couldn't keep away!).

Needless to say it is an inspiration to me and many. It is totally to the point, every post makes you want to stay and read, and the overall analysis of where your mortgage has come from and got to is phenomenal!! This thread is the benckmark to which all us MFWs should all work to to track our mortgages, hats off to you FB, great work!!

Keep it up as I sense a slight negativity creeping into your latest posts due to you beating yourself up over not achieving 12/12/12. I like many I would imagine am in awe of what you've achieved so far - so you go past this date by a few months, so what - you should give yourself and the Bliss's a massive pat on the back.

Me and mine personally are not in a position to overpay yet but our current deal ends next April so am looking to move to offset and start hammering ours down, hopefully in much the same way as you have.

All the best FB, keep it going!!

Cheers
T

financialbliss

@Twiddy, What a thouroughly nice post to read :T

I sometimes feel that Mrs Bliss isn't as comitted as myself to clearing the mortgage. In fact, I recently showed her a printed copy of the 'Final Push' spreadsheet to show how close we are to being mortgage free - mind you I didn't tell her that it's available online for all and sundry to see.

She made two comments - first was that it sounded like a birthing plan and second, are we pushing too hard and should we slow down?

I do want to start having foreign holidays with the kids - what they've never had they can't miss, but apart from the obvious one of having roughly £1,000 more in our bank account each month while one one wage, we're only going to do that if we're mortgage (and worry) free.

Spending has got a little out of control of late - we're off camping in Scotland on Monday for 8 nights at a fair cost :eek:, but I'm intending on having a pretty frugal 2012 and still hitting that mortgage free goal in the last quarter of 2012.

Comments such as yours Twiddy keep me motivated to keep trying and to keep posting here!


I've just posted a new thread in the Stoozing sub-section of the credit card forum:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3435903

With a shiny new Final Push spreadsheet with a hint of credit card debt!

Should be possible as long as I get some credit. That's the current plan - let's see if anyone responds...

Financial Bliss.

financialbliss

Car not packed yet:eek:

Not running around like headless chickens (yet) either.

Can't pitch until after 2pm today and it's only a 2 hour drive, so we're not in a great rush! at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Weather not looking promising in Scotland - a cross between heavy showers and thundery showers. Back on Tuesday (30th) evening.

FB.

abouttimetoo

Twiddy wrote: »

Needless to say it is an inspiration to me and many. It is totally to the point, every post makes you want to stay and read, and the overall analysis of where your mortgage has come from and got to is phenomenal!! This thread is the benckmark to which all us MFWs should all work to to track our mortgages, hats off to you FB, great work!!

What Twiddy says with bells on FB, keep up the good work :j

financialbliss wrote: »

American Express CC. Was our 12 month anniversary since this credit card was opened On Saturday. Have about £167 in cash back waiting to be credited back to the account. As we've never received any cash back on this card yet, I'm mildly curious as to when this will be received. Should have been credited on the 6th, as that was 12 months, but I suspect it may be the August statement date. Checking this card every few days. :beer:

I meant to look into this myself last month (seemto recall I took my Amex just before you and us comparing cashbacks )

Just had a look at my Amex account and have had £206.01 cashback credited to it so I don't think yours will be too long FB

Ps, yikes, I new it was a while since I'd checked in here but I see it's been so long that you've already had one holiday and presumably are now pitched and ready to enjoy a second.

Your diary and journey continues to be a great read and motivation FB, you are doing brilliantly! I checked out your credit card post link earlier but don't think i can add any more than the other have said. I must admit I'm curious as to what your response and thinking might me anbout the suggestion not to pay off your mortgage but save it instead, actually, you might have already responded so I'd better go and look

All the best FB, wishing you Mrs B & the blisslings a lovely holiday

abouttimetoo

Hi again FB

Not sure if you are in the market again for a new credit card now that you've reached your Amex anniversary. Anyway, just been looking at a couple and one of them caught my eye that I thought might interest you.

It's a Santander one called 123 cashback. It doesn't give cashback on all transactions but instead targets supermarkets, department stores and fuel and u get 1%, 2% and 3% on the areas mentioned respectively, although some caps do apply.

It's not for me as I drive very little and my company more or less keeps me but I thought it might be of interest to you. It looks like it's being launched early September.

Regards
ATT

financialbliss

Got back yesterday evening, but didn't get as far as MSE.

Did however check Mrs Bliss's bank account - she got the savings interest tax refund from HMRC @ £115.19 - As a result of this, I decided to top up the overpayment for August which we made at £150 to the "regular" £200 I've been making this year.

So, a bit late in the day, but as it's the last day in August, it's mortgage interest stats. August is as follows:

Opening Balance: 33,304.75

Overpayments in Blue.
Interest in Red.
Balance in Green.

Month: Payment (Std / OP) / Interest (day) / Net reduction / Balance

January: 1,000.00 (929.33 / 70.67) / 131.57 (4.24) / 868.43 / 32,436.32
February: 1,000.00 (929.33 / 70.67) / 115.64 (4.13) / 884.52 / 31,551.96
March: 1,000.00 (929.33 / 70.67) / 124.43 (4.01) / 875.57 / 30,676.39
April: 887.41 (887.41 / 0.00) / 61.27 (2.04) / 826.14 / 29,850.25
May: 887.41 (887.41 / 0.00) / 61.62 (1.99) / 825.79 / 29,024.46
June: 887.41 (887.41 / 0.00) / 57.87 (1.93) / 829.54 / 28,194.92
July: 887.41 (887.41 / 0.00) / 58.04 (1.87) / 829.37 / 27,365.55
August: 887.41 (887.41 / 0.00) / 56.28 (1.82) / 831.13 / 26,534.42

Totals: Payment / Interest / Net reduction.

Minimum: 887.41 / 56.28 / 825.79
Maximum: 1,000.00 / 131.57 / 884.36
Average: 929.63 / 83.34 / 846.29
Grand Total: 7,437.05 / 666.72 / 6,770.33

Balance outstanding: 26,534.42

Also got £1,050 put aside as mortgage savings so that's an effective mortgage of £25,484.42.

With the payments / overpayment being collected tomorrow, once the mortage has cleared we'll have a sub-£25k mortgage. Next big hurdle is the £20k one - looking forwards to that :j

Also should have had e-ISA interest and ING Direct interest applied today but nothing showing just yet - guess I'll see them from tomorrow onwards.

Funds in place for mortgage collection - will report / update the usual signature and graphs once it's cleared which I expect to be Saturday 3rd.

FB.

Twiddy

Looking good FB.......

financialbliss

financialbliss wrote: »

Also should have had e-ISA interest and ING Direct interest applied today but nothing showing just yet - guess I'll see them from tomorrow onwards.

Got two sets of £4.22 tax exempt interest from the ISAs, so I rounded up to £25 and made an additional overpayment yesterday.

Also got £3.22 interest from the newly opened ING Direct savings account - just over two weeks of interest, so hoping for a bit more next month.

FB.

black_taxi_2

are you an accountant FB

your good with figures