Rachel’s Run towards mortgage freedom

Rachib

Well I was really rubbish at updating this thread last year.... I can't believe it was April the last time that I posted something on here. Life just seemed to be really busy last year and I thought that I was focussing too much on overpaying to mortgage. I did some reflecting and decided to enjoy life a bit more and cut back on the cutting back and scrimping.

I didn't quite hit the target I set for the mortgage last year to get under £145k by the end of the year but having said this I was pretty close, (about £145,500 left at the end of the year).

The later half of the year I decided to focus more on living life, realising that I was too focussed on finances, including the mortgage over my head and how I could clear it as quickly as possible. I realised that I cut back too much and that I needed to ensure that I still had some fun. It got to the point that work was increasingly busy, my stress levels were rising so I booked a week long trip to Barbados, at 10 days notice, which was just the break I needed, showed me the power of fun things to your mental and physical health.

Financially I'm still toying and flip flopping between whether I should be prioritising investing in my Stocks and Shares ISA or overpaying the mortgage. I know that I could probably get bigger returns from the ISA but there is definitely something about seeing the mortgage going down, down down and the the big black cloud over your head getting brighter and brighter, and the uncertainty on the returns that I could get from the investments.

Overall last year was a good year for my finances, with my net worth increasing by nearly £29k, and my mortgage should be paid off 8 months earlier, assuming no future overpayments than the original term. This will be 9 years early if I carry on at my current levels of overpayments.

As I have around 6 months of expenses in easy access cash accounts as my emergency fund this year my target is to focus on the mortgage and get it to under £140,000, with a £135,000 stretch target. Incidentally getting to the stretch target will get me to around the point I was at 5 years ago this July, when I bought the house, albeit at the time I had a £35,000 HTB loan (which is now repaid and incorporated into the mortgage).

I am doing the 1% overpayment challenge for 2020, this being £1,455. Following this should allow me to get to my under £140,000 target. Hopefully I can achieve this whilst also having a couple holidays this year and not cut back too much on life.

2020 has started quite well, I had 5 NSD's this week, broken by todays food shopping. This enabled me to through some money at the mortgage, £54.01 to be precise. So this is 3.71% of my 1% target, a good start, with still a long way to go.

Moneyfordreams

you've put yourself in a fantastic position with your OPs and financial planning. Enjoy the fruits of your labour. There are many of us here that enjoy our holidays

Rachib

Moneyfordreams wrote: »

you've put yourself in a fantastic position with your OPs and financial planning. Enjoy the fruits of your labour. There are many of us here that enjoy our holidays

Thank you moneyfordreams... I know I really need to get out of my risk averse nature.... I like my safety net and feel bad when my savings decrease, but really that's what there for!