Foxy's Mortgage Free Quest

Foxglove

April 2010 - Took out mortgage for £112,000
April 2019 - Current balance £ 74,026.70
Which means I have paid off £37,973.30 !!
17 years left to go...... :wow:


Crikey!

:hello: So - its been a tricky old path to get here. Lives and paths are never simple, are they?! My particular story starts with a divorce. I bought my ex-husband out of our joint home and I am still here, all those years later. I was adamant I wanted my daughter to have a stable home - and now she is away at uni, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I have managed to achieve that. (she is now off at Uni - proud mum alert!)

All through that time, I have striven to make little extra payments here and there; each time the mortgage rate went down I kept the payment the same. I also do a 'save the change' thing through my bank which gets swept into a seperate bank account - once a month I transfer this to the mortgage too (only every about £15, but every little helps, so they say)

in 2012 I had to increase the term of the mortgage back to 25 years. I had a really nasty accident and was off work for 3 months.....I couldnt stay off longer as I would not have received sick pay, and unfortunately that has had repercussions for my health to this day.... and I had to reduce my hours at work, which made the extra overpayments very low priority. However, as the mortgage rates were far lower, I was making an OP of £90 per month.

In 2017 my OH moved in, but has been ill eversince and left a good career in the NHS and now does a bit of bank work here and there. He pays his half of the bills. I also started a less physically demanding role and was offered an increase in hours for 2 years with some funding. I grabbed this and began overpaying by £350 each month with the aim of paying off my mortgage in 7 years. Sadly my work have reduced my hours this week after they lost the funding. So I am back to working just 3 days per week... ARGH!

So - I am sitting here at home, trying to balance my spreadsheets and desperately trying to work out how the flippety-flip I can manage my money. How I can overpay and how I can reduce the mortgage term. My new goal is to try an pay it off within 10 years...

I feel by keeping a diary, I can hopefully keep myself on track. Plus I love reading and lurking on all your journey's too.....So....once again Hello!

FIREdoc

Sorry to hear all you've had going on, but you sound really positive and I'm excited to read about your journey.

Foxglove

Thanks FIREdoc.....looking forward to getting started now. I think keeping track will really help me see what I have actually achieved. You look to be doing really well on your quest!

nyc_451

You've been overpaying whenever possible, well done you. 🙂

I'm sure circumstances will change for the better sooner or later.

[Deleted User]

Welcome, and best of luck! You're doing the right things already so don't get disheartened!

Foxglove

Thank you - I have just pinged over an overpayment as the OCD in me was rather irritated by the odd £26.07 on the balance. :j

Hazelnutty

Welcome! I'm in a kind of similar situation in that I have the house once I separated from my XH but had to remortgage to afford it on my salary (would have been MF in 13 years, now it's 24 but £1000/month was way beyond my means). My new OH has a long-term health condition. Unfortunately, she's not able to work at all so we're a single income household. I'm only able to chip away in tiny chunks at the mortgage (I do the little sweepings from my current a/c too ) My DD's younger than yours but feeling the same about giving her stability and not moving, so trying to build my career at my current employer for the long term. Anyway, sorry, didn't mean to put my story on your diary! Looking forward to following your journey

Foxglove

Hazelnutty wrote: »

Welcome! I'm in a kind of similar situation in that I have the house once I separated from my XH but had to remortgage to afford it on my salary (would have been MF in 13 years, now it's 24 but £1000/month was way beyond my means). My new OH has a long-term health condition. Unfortunately, she's not able to work at all so we're a single income household. I'm only able to chip away in tiny chunks at the mortgage (I do the little sweepings from my current a/c too ) My DD's younger than yours but feeling the same about giving her stability and not moving, so trying to build my career at my current employer for the long term. Anyway, sorry, didn't mean to put my story on your diary! Looking forward to following your journey

Wow - just so many parallels there! Lovely to meet you. I have been fiddling around all day with finances and have saved the princely sum of £39 per month on DD's. So upped my overpayment to £150 per month. No idea if its do-able or not, but will try for a couple of months. Plus sweepings

LeighofMar

Wow. Thats an amazing story. You sound determined and have already accomplished so much. We will be cheering you on.

Foxglove

Thank you Leigh
There is soooooo much more to the story, I left out all of the interesting and colourful details!:rotfl:

It is at the point that I am seriously considering selling up and buying somewhere almost mortgage free...just because it gives me the option to do what I want work-wise. Maybe, just maybe having the kick in the guts with work dropping my hours may be a blessing in disguise. I used to practice holistic therapies a few years ago - before the OH moved in and took over the log cabin in the garden where I used to practice. Id love to do something like that again - he is rather against anything that brings other people into the house though, so it isnt simple.......

Any suggestions to boost income would be really appreciated - little things help to chip away at the mortgage and all that......

greent

Hello!

Could you do some mobile therapy work instead? I used to do massages - mostly at home, sure, but I did have some regular clients where I went to their house instead (charged more) I know that where I live people are often looking for mobile this-and-that (depends on you couch, I guess - mine is foldable, but a heavy wooden Darley one (and the same for the massage chair) but I love it )
x
ps: you're doing fab, btw! x