2020 Mortgage-Free Wannabes

Sistergold

#136 reporting another OP for June of £1000

total for June now £1700
@Julicorn thank you for all your hard work you are a star keeping us motivated. 

julicorn

Sistergold said:

#136 reporting another OP for June of £1000

total for June now £1700
@Julicorn thank you for all your hard work you are a star keeping us motivated. 

Thanks Sistergold - it works both ways, seeing all your overpayments is a great motivation for me too
On that note, it looks like you've reached your target already, well done! Would you like me to amend it or keep it as is?

ilselm

Awesome, @Lomcevak. Although I’ve only been on these forums for the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed reading your updates as I see some similarities with what you have written. All the best with the ongoing FI/RE plans. 

#21 back again with a further £2,375 paid off the mortgage giving a new total reduction for June of £3,500. 

This is courtesy of some internet auction site sales. While not going as far as Elon Musk in selling almost all physical possessions, I have - probably like a fair few others - spent the recent months going through our stuff and chucking, recycling, upscaling, donating and selling a few bits and pieces. Having spent the past nearly 100 days working from home and with no immediate plans to return to a regular office-based work environment, I am even contemplating disposing of my work suits and the mile-munching, dirty diesel-powered wagon used for commuting. I should probably keep a jacket just in case there’s a need for a formal video call!? While selling the car won’t net a great deal of cash as it’s 15yo with 200k+ miles on the clock, it will save longer term on the ongoing tax, insurance and maintenance costs. We are fortunate enough to also have a van which we will keep as the only vehicle as it supports our lifestyle. Although I wouldn’t want to use it to pile on unnecessary miles, it could take the occasional trip to the office.

A few mortgage-related milestones have also been reached this month. This has provided some welcome motivation as we’ve been slogging at it for the past 7.5 years since we extended the mortgage in 2013 to move to our current home. So, having now repaid £167k in capital, we are now just over two-thirds of the way through the mortgage debt in just over one-third of the time as the mortgage term was 22 years. I can’t figure out how much that works out as overpayments as it’s an interest only offset mortgage and we’ve had different fixed rates over the years. We have also just ticked under 15% LTV which doesn’t benefit the interest rate but provides an additional sense of security in these uncertain times.

The next set of milestones to aim for over the coming few months is going sub £80k on the mortgage and being mortgage neutral. This latter milestone will likely be short lived as what cash we have is already earmarked for some house renovations which should hopefully start sometime this year. 

Onwards and downwards everyone with the outstanding mortgage balances! Thanks!

Lomcevak

Suffolk_lass said:

Ooh congratulations @Lomcevak I might have to contact the BS to ask about early redemption fees and see if they might waive it - our mortgage has just over two years to go, is under £10k, and interest is under £5 a month thanks to an interest rate of 0.49% above the base rate (so 0.59%) - your experience sounds so good (and it is a monkey off your back, having drained the swamp and killed the crocodiles, to use the old metaphor!)

Definitely worth asking! Getting down to the £10k range was probably the most significant step for us from a purely financial perspective, because that marked our transition from "we both have to work to pay this" to "we'd be ok if our circumstances changed", but I've found that getting rid of it completely has made a surprisingly large difference. Some of those "if only I didn't have a mortgage to pay" thoughts really snap into focus. Time will tell if that lasts, but at the moment all the effort to get here seems very worthwhile!

While not going as far as Elon Musk in selling almost all physical possessions, I have - probably like a fair few others - spent the recent months going through our stuff and chucking, recycling, upscaling, donating and selling a few bits and pieces. Having spent the past nearly 100 days working from home and with no immediate plans to return to a regular office-based work environment, I am even contemplating disposing of my work suits and the mile-munching, dirty diesel-powered wagon used for commuting.

I'm in a similar place, it's been almost exactly three months since my company locked down, and it will be at least two more months before we're back. Under normal conditions I only have a 20 minute commute each-way, but my quality of life is much better at the moment (rather than gulping a coffee, grabbing a suit, and heading out the door to try and beat the traffic, I get more sleep and start each day with a long walk or run) and my team is scattered across various locations anyway so remote working hasn't been hard, if anything we're more productive. Seriously thinking about making a move to remote permanent - helps that I've got a purpose-built office at the bottom of the garden, with air conditioning for the hot days
Envious of the declutter though. I had an initial burst of enthusiasm as lockdown started, but that rapidly stopped. Would really like to sort out and simplify, there's far too much that we never use and don't need.

WorldCitizen

Hi! #30 here,
Congrats to Lomcevak! We all aiming to be there!!!
Reporting my June OP of £100.92, YTD = £820.92
Thanks, Julicorn!

Sistergold

julicorn said:

Sistergold said:

#136 reporting

On that note, it looks like you've reached your target already, well done! Would you like me to amend it or keep it as is?

@julicorn

Thank you, this is such a great forum! Makes us make our money work harder for us.
Please amend my OP target to £6700 for this year. 

Xx

Accountant_Kerry

Hi All, 
I know we are in June but would it be too late to join in? Thanks 

julicorn

Accountant_Kerry said:

Hi All, 
I know we are in June but would it be too late to join in? Thanks 

Never to late! Just let me know your goal for the year (and any overpayments you've already made, if applicable), and I'll allocate you a number  

Accountant_Kerry

julicorn said:

Accountant_Kerry said:

Hi All, 
I know we are in June but would it be too late to join in? Thanks 

Never to late! Just let me know your goal for the year (and any overpayments you've already made, if applicable), and I'll allocate you a number  

Thank you. My over payment target for the year is £14,000. I have OP'd so far £3,241.73.

julicorn

Accountant_Kerry said:

julicorn said:

Accountant_Kerry said:

Hi All, 
I know we are in June but would it be too late to join in? Thanks 

Never to late! Just let me know your goal for the year (and any overpayments you've already made, if applicable), and I'll allocate you a number  

Thank you. My over payment target for the year is £14,000. I have OP'd so far £3,241.73.

Excellent, thank you! You've got #148