I'm gonna smash the mortgage! 22 December 2019 at 9:17PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 11 replies 1K views

rootom

Hello. I've been a member of MSE for as long as I can remember but this is my first post, eek. I'm a mum of two (11 and 12yr old) and run a dog walking company with my husband. I'm 41 and he's 51. Last year, hubby and I tackled our debt. In March 2018 we were sick of working like dogs but struggling to pay the bills. We knew we had some debt- I thought around £10k - so one day we added it all up. The figure was £21k!! It was the shock we needed to sort ourselves out financially. We worked overtime, I got a side hustle, we budgeted and lived frugally and paid the whole lot off within 8 months. Now I've set my sights on the dreaded mortgage. It stands at £149k and there's no way I can tackle it without some sort of accountability so here I am! I can overpay by 10% a year. Currently, it is part interest only, part repayment and is £534pm. I want to overpay £600pm as the bare minimum (£1134 in total) and more on top if I can. It seems so unachievable but I am determined. We came close to losing our home twice so the thought of owning it outright fills me with joy. We currently have 11 years left on the mortgage. I hope I can shorten it! I love reading all of your stories. I hope some of you may be interested in my journey and keep me motivated!

I'm not sure how you do the 'signature' thingy at the bottom so I'll just do my own thing ha ha

Debt as of March 2018 - £21k
Debt as of Nov 2018 - £0

Start of mortgage 2006: £196k
Current mortgage (Dec 2019) £149.183

Pocket_poor

Hi and welcome!

I’m a newby to, will follow with interest.

Pocket poor X

shangaijimmy

Welcome aboard.

Keith99

rootom wrote: »

Hello. I've been a member of MSE for as long as I can remember but this is my first post, eek. I'm a mum of two (11 and 12yr old) and run a dog walking company with my husband. I'm 41 and he's 51. Last year, hubby and I tackled our debt. In March 2018 we were sick of working like dogs but struggling to pay the bills. We knew we had some debt- I thought around £10k - so one day we added it all up. The figure was £21k!! It was the shock we needed to sort ourselves out financially. We worked overtime, I got a side hustle, we budgeted and lived frugally and paid the whole lot off within 8 months. Now I've set my sights on the dreaded mortgage. It stands at £149k and there's no way I can tackle it without some sort of accountability so here I am! I can overpay by 10% a year. Currently, it is part interest only, part repayment and is £534pm. I want to overpay £600pm as the bare minimum (£1134 in total) and more on top if I can. It seems so unachievable but I am determined. We came close to losing our home twice so the thought of owning it outright fills me with joy. We currently have 11 years left on the mortgage. I hope I can shorten it! I love reading all of your stories. I hope some of you may be interested in my journey and keep me motivated!

I'm not sure how you do the 'signature' thingy at the bottom so I'll just do my own thing ha ha

Debt as of March 2018 - £21k
Debt as of Nov 2018 - £0

Start of mortgage 2006: £196k
Current mortgage (Dec 2019) £149.183

You can update the signature by clicking on your name, then view public profile, then User CP at the top. It should then give you a list on the left, which includes signatures.

BVic28

Well done on getting rid of your debt so quickly! Looking forward to following your MFW journey

jodles16

Welcome and best of luck, with the outstanding way you got rid of your debts, I have no doubt you can do this!


Jodles

Thrugelmir

rootom wrote: »

It seems so unachievable but I am determined. We came close to losing our home twice so the thought of owning it outright fills me with joy.

There's an old Chinese proverb. A man who wishes to move a mountain starts by carrying the smallest stones first.

The power of compounding (reducing the amount of interest paid) over the years does add up.

rootom

Thank you for taking the time to read and for your replies I've been thinking a lot about our financial situation over the last week. I'm so eager to get started but am going to wait until Jan. I'm kind of an all or nothing person and there are a few bits that I need to get for the house (such as new blinds - we've had ours for 12 years and they definitely need changing!) so I'm going to buy them now and start being frugal in Jan, ha ha. £149k is just so huge to me that I'm going to break it down into £10k chunks. Charts really motivate me so I'm going to print off a £10k saving goal chart and get obsessed over it like I did when I was paying off the debt. I also want to have £15k worth of 'emergency fund' in my account so I'm going to save for that along side overpaying the mortgage. I've already got £5k saved but I class that as 'sinking funds' - a Dave Ramsey term. It's for things like car repairs, Christmas, birthdays etc. So I might put a chunk of that towards the EF and start from scratch with the sink funds. I found paying off the debt sooooooo much easier than saving. I have no idea why. Has anyone else felt the same way? It was so satisfying watching the debt decrease. I thought I'd feel the same way about saving. Afterall, it was money in MY bank account and growing but I really found it tough going. Hopefully my charts will help this time around! Anyway, have a lovely day today whatever you're doing. We're taking the dog and the kids to Greenwich park today and then to see Star Wars at the cinema (I'm not a star wars fan so may fall asleep!) xxxx

Moneyfordreams

Welcome and best wishes

longway2go

Good luck and welcome aboard

LeighofMar

Welcome. I'm glad I'm not the only one who uses charts and obsesses over them
I also love the 10k a year increments as a goal. January sounds like a great time to make your plans. Best wishes.