Mortgage free since 2011, best life ever!

William_Mateless

Just a little catch up on how I am doing as a mortgage free badge of honour member:j

We became mortgage free in on August 1st 2011 after years of overpaying, credit card tarting, scrimping and saving, squeezing every penny out of our budget and dumping it into our mortgage.
Years of my partner saying "whats the plan?" and me telling her "keep doing what we are doing, no guarantees but have faith!" When people we knew were re-mortgaging for holidays, new kitchens and extensions to their property we held firm, dump the debt!

When the big day came we bought champagne and toasted our new freedom!
The first thing we did was buy some nice red samsonite suitcases that we drooled over and thought of all the places that £900 a month we now had spare would take us!
But first we set the next bit of our plan into effect, save for a few more years, give up work and finally have choice about what we did every day.
In 2014 I gave up my job and moved from Hampshire to Shropshire then seven months later my other half did the same and joined me.
We found we could live quite cheaply with a couple of part time jobs and a smaller house...next we started travelling, a couple of trips to Ibiza for old time sakes then getting serious, we have been round the world twice as well as visiting to name a few New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore (five times) New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cambodia, Las Vegas, The Cook Islands, Swedish Lapland, Bali, Hong Kong three times, planning Japan and Korea next....live simply, do what you want every day.....this is the best life anyone could want and all because we stopped being a slave to the banks and use our money to suit ourselves.
I would never suggest that anyone puts their life on hold and denies their present for an imaginary future because there are no gurantees that you will get there but if you have a plan and a system that allows some treats whilst still hardcore hammering the debt then the rewards are definitely worth it.
We now have not even a quarter of our income from 2010 but nearly all that money was tied up in mortgage payments and expenses associated with work, running two cars etc.... I barely pay tax now, I don't earn enough but shopping at Aldi is fine when you are going overseas twice a year;)

It took me years to not feel guilty when I heard the neighbours scraping ice of off their cars at 0630 in the winter but I now know that the sacrifices we made back in the day were worth it!
Have a plan and keep going!;)

teameffort

That's amazing William Mateless.

We're hoping to be mortgage clear in 2026 (secretly hoping for 2024).

Our plan is to see off the mortgage and to drop down to part time jobs we love and see even more of the world so our goal is very similar to yours.

It's great to hear from people who have achieved the dream. Thanks for sharing your story.

Happy travels

Teameffort

bexster1975

Many congrats William mateless :beer:

A not dissimilar story for myself too. I now work for myself, part time, and do not miss any of it. Equally speeds are shall for everyday meds and wants. Travel so far has been lots more in the UK, but also new hobbies and interests taken up.

It's the freedom to do what you want that's most important.

Very well done, long may it continue for you.

Bexster

Escapar2020

Well done William

Hopefully, I won't be far behind you! I’m already in Shropshire and won't be downsizing once we’re mortgage free (never upsized!)

I've often thought what we’d do once mortgage free, but working less or doing something more rewarding is definitely in mind. I'd be interested to hear some more about how you fund life and travel, is it all through part time work, or other investments/savings?

Thanks

Escapar2020