The first hurdle - Nichelette v the huge mortgage

Merchandiser2367

Great work on your budget and savings!

This long game is all in the mind, just keep strong and keep plugging away - those big numbers will get smaller and smaller

moneymagic

Looking forward to reading your progress! Good luck with the exchange!!

Nichelette

Okay, so it has been a few months since I last posted.

We finally moved 6 weeks ago, 5 whole months after our offer was accepted. The house was rented out and was empty for 3 months because the sellers solicitor was appalling! Anyway, we are finally in and mostly settled. We have done most of the bits which cost money in the immediate term, so I'm ready to knuckle down and try to hammer the overpayments.

I will re-jig the SOA shortly as figures are slightly but not majorly out, and fortunately we're both getting a small lump sum and a slight payrise soon (we work at the same place). There is also a small possibility OH will get a more senior job shortly as he is being very much encouraged by work, but I'm not sure it's the right time as his mum is terminally ill and he has enough stress at the moment.

I also have my own personal projection spreadsheet which I need to update to try and get a good idea of what I can expect. Ideally I'd like to have overpaid enough in 8 years to move to a forever home (I like to call it my 8 year plan ), but we will see how it goes.

I'm the end there was no way of avoiding the stamp duty, but to be honest just the relief of having our own place and stability is worth its weight in gold.

Anyway, I have switched the current account to the same bank as our mortgage for easy overpayments.

First overpayment of £1553 made today

BachSoon

Congratulations on the move! Looking forward to reading your progress. I too have a large mortgage and take comfort from others being in the same position. That's one hell of an overpayment to start with... Well done!

Nichelette

Thank you!

I've always been pretty risk averse and whilst we can afford the mortgage, owing such a large amount does make me feel a bit tetchy so I'm trying to make hay whilst the sun shines (read: two full time wages and no kids). We're very fortunate that our jobs are extremely secure so at least that isn't a worry.

I'm also keen to see how people tackle their huge mortgages. I think overpaying is something I will enjoy and a good challenge!

Anyway, had a bit of luck today and had £170 of cashback became payable, so that is an extra and has been overpaid today. We're paid on the 15th of each month so I'm hopeful that we will have a bit left on the 14th which will also be swept over before we start a new pay month.

Nichelette

Me again!

By some sort of fluke more cashback has become payable today, so I have rounded that up to £75 and made the overpayment. I think that will probably be it until the 14th unless I get any more unexpected money (from cashback, receipt scanning sites and so on).

That makes my overpayments so far £1798. If I had checked my total I'd have added the extra £2 but I'm done for now. Halifax probably think I'm mad the number I've made in the last few days :rotfl:.

I still need to update my SOA, do a meal plan for next week, and also sort out our direct debits and their dates as they have got a bit messy.

We're at a wedding tomorrow so won't achieve much then. Maybe Sunday jobs.

Nichelette

Another day, another overpayment...

I started matched betting back at the end of November. I don't really do a great deal (should stop being lazy and do more), but I've made £27 today so I've sent that overpayment leaving me with a grand total of £1825 overpaid this month :j.

I'm involved with several things that make me a bit of extra money. Matched betting is one of them, but I also do things like receipt scanning (3 apps), and sometimes odd surveys and things like that. We both work full time, so sometimes it is a bit of an effort to do these things and I don't always keep on top of them as much as I would like to. Life is just exhausting sometimes!

I'm very nearly at £20 on one of the receipt apps so that will be an overpayment when I reach it.

I've rejigged my personal tracking spreadsheet today. I like to call it forecast 2026 . 2026 is when I will turn 40 and am hoping we can afford to move somewhere bigger. My spreadsheet suggests we can have overpaid £150,000 by May 2026. I'm tracking the overpayments month by month to see if we can stick to the projection. If we can we'll be in good stead.

I've included our current pay in the figures rather than the new one as of April, so it will actually be slightly more. We're quite lucky compared to some as we do at least get inflationary rises each year. I'm also hopeful that come the time we remortgage our LTV will be better, and we'll get a better rate as the default my husband has will be gone (one of his family members took out a catalogue in his name. We only found out once it had defaulted and he wouldn't challenge anyone. Don't get me started :mad:).

Other changes in the next 8 years should include my student loan being paid off (that's about £100 a month at the moment), and my husbands pay is likely to increase within his grade. I'm in the top pay band for my grade, so mine will only be inflationary rises unless I get a new job. We'll probably also go down to one car in the not too distant future.

As an aside, I wake up every morning and am so grateful we have this little place. I'm very aware that getting a house in the south east is hard, and although we had no life whilst we were saving for the deposit, we are so lucky to be in this situation because a lot of people can't be. I watched a squirrel running about our garden this morning, and we have a family of wild bunnies living at the side of the house. It's so lovely .

Nichelette

Another day, another dollar as my nan used to say.

Mortgage payment went yesterday. Balance has updated today (I'm so impatient I hate that it isn't instant!) and now we're in the 285's.

Daily mortgage interest averaged £22.29 in Feb and £20.72 in March which is encouraging. Bought fuel today but that's it so not too bad. I spent a lot on food last month which I am partly blaming on moving, but I'm going to try and have a low food spend month as I have so much at the moment, I really shouldn't need to buy more bar fresh things.

I moved the current account bills come from to Halifax for ease of overpaying and am getting £2 a month for having the account. That was credited today so it has been overpaid. I'm going to keep track of the smaller overpayments but I'm only going to update my signature when they updated on the account.

Anyway, we plough on!

BachSoon

You really are going great guns Nichelette. Your spreadsheet projections for the £150,000 by 2026 is very admirable

In relation to your apps etc for money making, are you on prolific academic? The rewards per survey can be pretty good in comparison to some of the lower paid ones.

BachSoon

P.s. I know how you feel about mortgage balance updating. I'm with the same provider and I was logging on several times on the 1st to see if it had been updated yet!