Freedom for the future

Mortgage_Minimiser

Hi All,

I've been an avid reader and occasional poster of the forum for many years but now I need a push to achieve my goal so I've decided to start a dairy to keep me accountable.

Back story - back at the end of 2014 I was close to mortgage freedom @ £52k. But following the little MM's arrival in 2012 we needed to move to gain more space and a safer outside space. I had been paying 3 times the mortgage on my old house @ over £1200 per month. She's now 6 and adorable - but costly

Fast forward to Feb 2015 and we had moved and increased the mortgage to £243,750 :eek: The last 4 years have seen us spent a lot of work on a house that needed nothing doing to it - new windows, drive, decorating throughout, new lintel outside and more recently (and still being done) a side / rear 2 storey extension :rotfl: We had saved a lot for that but also borrowed further as well......however, we are not moving again, and now have our forever home. To have moved in our area to get the extra space and the garden / outdoor space we would have needed to spend at least £650k on a house - not that it existed anyway

I have been overpaying most months, even if just a tiny bit in leaner months, and am determined to get rid of this millstone asap. I have OP'd over £21,000 since we took out the mortgage. OPs can be as low as a few hundred pounds or as much as over £2,500 - depends on my commission each month.

I have cut down expenses as much as I can and do surveys when I can. Have loads of children's stuff to sell, but never seem to have the time. Time is my biggest challenge.

Some facts and figures.

Main Mortgage @ beginning October - £192,374.50 (reduction of over £51k in the four years). Mortgage rate 2.59% - can remortgage now, fix ends Jan 19. Daily interest has reduced from £17.29 to £13.65.

Extra borrowing - £74,701.34. Mortgage rate 2.39% - still in fix, leaving this to run in the background for now. Daily interest is currently £4.89.

I'm going to focus on the main mortgage in this diary. I'm signed upto the MFiT-T4 challenge which finishes soon and the annual challenge, and have smashed both targets already. My focus is now about the re-mortgage. The idea is to fix for 5 years and try to clear the main mortgage in that time. It will be a real stretch and will need decent commissions from work too, along with a bit of luck.

Pensions-wise I currently have three. I currently pay 10% and my employer 5% and once I have remortgaged I will increase my contribution to 15%.

Debt-wise this year I have paid off my car (just over £17k) and paid almost £5k off the credit card (all 0% naturally). Am working to pay it all before the 0% runs out

That's enough for now I think.....

If you managed to get this far, thanks for reading. I will be back in the near future.

MM
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mumof3.12kindebt

Good luck on your journey ... Looks like you are doing well so far

Mortgage_Minimiser

Thanks mumof3.

Yours is a diary I have followed keenly and will continue to do so. Yo are such an inspiration!

Kittenkirst

Fab to see you starting a diary- I find they are so useful for keeping the motivation going and pushing you to find more ways to save

Mortgage_Minimiser

Thanks Kittenkirst - another familiar name, I'm honoured!


I am certainly hoping that's the case! I feel 'Im stalled a little until the remortgage is done, but I am focusing on earning extra pennies instead


Have a great evening all

MM
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Mortgage_Minimiser

Good morning all

In money making....checked prolific this morning - no surveys available at the moment, but I have answered some questions to hopefully generate a few. I've given up on VO - I find it so tedious for not a lot of return. Anyone else feel the same? What other survey sites do you recommend? I could never get to grips with SB.


I've done a bit of planning for next year. Looking at mortgage rates I don't think remortgaging will reduce my monthly payment due to the recent rate increase. Over the last few years I used my OPs to reduce my monthly payment. I know most if you reduce the term but the main payment started at £1174 so I wanted to give myself a bit of breathing space. I got it down to £1060. If I could get it under £1k it would feel like a huge step forward.


Mortgage reduction-wise I want to try and knock 20k of the mortgage. £7800 will be from normal payments (taking interest into account) and the rest from OPs. These are guesstimates based on this year's averages as the actuals are unknown at the moment. Something to aim for though!


Things to do today:
Pay off last week's bills - took the whole of half term off for the first time and took the LO away for the week. Wasn't cheap but we had a blast and I don't regret it. Had started to get terrible mum guilt about her always being in holiday club. The curse of a working mum I guess!
Check Uniform is ready - most was done before we went away.
Craft project for school needs completing - we purchased everything yesterday so today should be the fun bit
School reading and holiday work - they always give soooo much!
Source a camping stove - having the kitchen done and we currently don't have a full kitchen yet. So hard to cook without a hob!

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

MM
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beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

Mortgage_Minimiser

Thanks Beanie! Good to have some company.

Well I got most things done on the list yesterday apart from the credit card (I have until 5th to clear that and need to split all spends with my sister). Also I didn't source the camping stove - I decided to bring the slow cooker out of retirement instead!


Nothing to report today - just worked straight through from 7:30 until 5:30, (first day back a work is always a killer!) so it's Corrie and an early night for me ……


Roll on pay day!
MM

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VDOT47

Hi Mortgage Minimiser - sounds like you have got a good handle on what you need to do and a good plan for how to achieve it.


£20k capital reduction each year on the mortgage sounds like a good target.

Mortgage_Minimiser

Thanks VDOT47

Seems a long hard slog at the mo, so I need to keep loking at where I would be today had I not OPd. The daily interest reduction alone is quite motivating - but still huge :eek:

Well, every penny paid is a penny I wont need to pay again :T

A couple of Prolific surveys completed last nigt, so that's all gone in my 'free money' pot and I will decide if that's another OP or goes to the Xmas fund …

I shall keep at it.

MM
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Mortgage_Minimiser

Happy Weekend!

Well I woke up nice and early (6:07) and thought of a number of emails I need to do for work, so I will get those out of the way this morning so the rest of the weekend is all mine.


Little one goes to dance so whilst she is there I will get the shopping done, pop to the cemetery and get all my documents together for my remortgage meeting on Monday 12th.

Excited to do this as I think I can then just plough ahead for the next 5 years without worrying. I can up my pension (currently a total of 15% going in) to build that up and start thinking of other investments.


Have come to the conclusion that the extension wont be completed by XMas. We can eat in there but it wont be decorated, but that's fine.


In other news it looks like I will be doing this as a single parent as we have decided to split up. Not news to me, totally expected it but it's the first time we have said it out loud.

Im ok with it just incredibly worried about the LO. She's such a sensitive little girl but I really can't live in this atmosphere and with this stress at home on top of work any more. I will be a nicer person single I think.


That's enough for a Saturday morning! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!


MM
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