regularsaver MFW journey - Achieving a dream.

regularsaver

CrazySexyCool said:

Hi regularsaver,
Let me help you with the maths 
25% of your mortgage is £107.44  (I'm assuming that you mean monthly payments, rather than entire mortgage)
This means 100% of your mortgage is 4 x £107.44 = £429.76 
So to calculate what percentage of your monthly payment, you are overpaying do:
(over payment) / 429.76 x 100          [ / means divide]

Hope that helps  

Thankyou kindly. So I make that 29% just over, excellent. It sure does help!

regularsaver

I have been thinking over the last few days since making my last mortgage over payment. I guess just doing a little assessment in my head. 

I presume the general advice would be to ensure that -

1. You are still saving
2. You have at least 3 months wages saved into an emergency fund and are continuing to add to that each month also.
3. As far as you can tell you are safe in your job in the current climate, well, as safe as anyone can be (I am classed as a key worker in Communications & IT) 

Then continuing to overpay would still be fine/wise. I feel it is and like I say I want to keep up with it. Just wondering whats others thoughts are and what you guys are doing under the current circumstances. 

South_coast

I'm not OP'ing and it's making me really gloomy 😦 I had my EF in my S&S ISA so of course it's not now worth what it was (I haven't been brave enough to check). My work have furloughed almost all of the staff, with those like me who are still working taking a reduction in pay for at least 3 months. However, we're in a "demand" industry in normal times, so as soon as we get back to work we'll be mad busy. I'm aiming to get to 3 months' very basic living expenses in a savings account (that's not going to go down in value 😡) and then start OP'ing again. I've set £100 a week as my aim at the moment, so the savings can keep growing as well, but let's see how impatient I am by the time I get there - I really, really, really did want to be MF next year! 

regularsaver

South_coast said:

I'm not OP'ing and it's making me really gloomy 😦 I had my EF in my S&S ISA so of course it's not now worth what it was (I haven't been brave enough to check). My work have furloughed almost all of the staff, with those like me who are still working taking a reduction in pay for at least 3 months. However, we're in a "demand" industry in normal times, so as soon as we get back to work we'll be mad busy. I'm aiming to get to 3 months' very basic living expenses in a savings account (that's not going to go down in value 😡) and then start OP'ing again. I've set £100 a week as my aim at the moment, so the savings can keep growing as well, but let's see how impatient I am by the time I get there - I really, really, really did want to be MF next year! 

Hi South_coast, thanks for your message. 

I had thought about putting my EF into an S&S Isa a while back but I wasnt 100% comfortable with the fact it could loose money if things didnt go well. I am sorry to hear this has affected yours, I hope its not too bad. I ended up sticking mine in a regular savings account in the end and may well move it to a Markus or other top paying current account shortly. 

I'm sorry to hear you have been furloughed, this has also happened to a member of my family too. I hope everything goes well regarding sticking to your aim with your budget, I have my fingers crossed for you. Have you any plans for your furloughed time? 

South_coast

Alas I'm not furloughed yet, still working full-time and not getting much more than the 80% I'd be getting if I wasn't doing anything! If colleagues come back to work and complain that they were bored, I may struggle to hold myself back from physical violence! Actually, I'm quite enjoying working from home, so will be very sulky when I have to return to my long commute, smart dressing and looking presentable 😮

That's a good shout about the EF, my S&S money was originally planned as a fund to bridge the gap between early-retirement and receiving a pension - before I decided to go full-on MFW and stopped making payments, but it was handy to know that it was there and could be called on if required. Sadly it didn't cross my mind that "when required" might be during a time of global economic meltdown! I'm just going to leave it there now and hopefully in a few years it might have recovered its value 😀

LeighofMar

We are still overpaying. Actually, the last few payments have been the official monthly payment in advance so by the end of this week, we will be paid up until July which gives me peace of mind. We may still do little OPs between now and then but we are being cautious with our extra cash for now. We are still considered an "essential" business so work is slow here and there but I don't see it drying up for now. So far we can regularly save too which gives me further peace of mind. It is definitely moments like these that I am reminded of the value of a paid off house. Can't wait for the day. 

regularsaver

South_coast said:

Alas I'm not furloughed yet, still working full-time and not getting much more than the 80% I'd be getting if I wasn't doing anything! If colleagues come back to work and complain that they were bored, I may struggle to hold myself back from physical violence! Actually, I'm quite enjoying working from home, so will be very sulky when I have to return to my long commute, smart dressing and looking presentable 😮

That's a good shout about the EF, my S&S money was originally planned as a fund to bridge the gap between early-retirement and receiving a pension - before I decided to go full-on MFW and stopped making payments, but it was handy to know that it was there and could be called on if required. Sadly it didn't cross my mind that "when required" might be during a time of global economic meltdown! I'm just going to leave it there now and hopefully in a few years it might have recovered its value 😀

Hi South_coast, 

I am sorry, I think I may have misunderstood regarding the furloughing. My apologies. 

I agree with you, especially as I am in the most vulnerable group, the first person I hear at work who moans will get short shrift. 

It as actually quite nice isnt it, working from home, not having the commute, the smart dressing like you say and being able to eat lunch in the garden or whatnot. Just the savings in time on commuting and the cost of fuel is great. So many benefits. One thing I will say, having experienced working from home full time for a few years a while back and currently where I do it for a few days a week, I much prefer the few days a week method as its nice to see your colleagues and have those office chats and socialising with others which I am quite missing at present for obvious reasons. 

Just my thoughts on the EF, its an interesting one isnt it, no right or wrong way I guess. If everything was going swimmingly, your method would most likely outperform mine by having it in a top paying current account or ISA. My understanding of stocks and shares investing, which is to be fair limited and something I have never done, over time it will always do well and events such as currently, can and will always have an effect on the market, but over the long haul generally always recover and get over the dips. 

I am sure you will be fine and fingers crossed for you. 

regularsaver

LeighofMar said:

We are still overpaying. Actually, the last few payments have been the official monthly payment in advance so by the end of this week, we will be paid up until July which gives me peace of mind. We may still do little OPs between now and then but we are being cautious with our extra cash for now. We are still considered an "essential" business so work is slow here and there but I don't see it drying up for now. So far we can regularly save too which gives me further peace of mind. It is definitely moments like these that I am reminded of the value of a paid off house. Can't wait for the day. 

Hi LeighofMar, thankyou for your message. 

I really couldnt agree with you more regarding the value of a paid for house. I am only just into year 2 of my mortgage so a long way away from getting it paid off, however, I find it really focuses the mind on getting on with it as best as we can. Every little helps as they say. It will be a fine day when it is paid off, that is for sure. 

regularsaver

Evening all, 

Just lately I have been achieving a lot of no spend days, which is great. Pretty much my only weekly spending has been on food which I have someone shopping and dropping off for me as I am on lockdown and not leaving the house for the foreseeable. Its great I have a family member close by who can do this for me. 

Unfortunately this last week has been a little bit spendy, as I had to order some new clothes due to old one needing replacing etc due to age. I cant even recall the last time I purchased clothes, probably a good 12+ months ago so I guess not too bad and I do budget a monthly amount to buy clothes too. I also treated myself to Xbox live, as I have been using my games console a lot more recently since lockdown and it was a social decision to be able to play online with some mates and work colleagues. 

Its payday in a few days so looking forward to that and getting ready to make next months mortgage overpayment. In no time at all next month will be the fourth month in a row, I cant believe how quickly thats gone. 

I am also slowly decluttering the house, and making a list of things that I would like to sell to generate a few extra pennies that could be put towards the OP's so that will be good and I am waiting on TCB for cashback on recent purchases mentioned such as the hoover, Xbox live and insurance for the next car so potentially about £40-50 to come back from that when it all clears. I have become a stickler for checking TCB when making purchases and its paying off. 

Next up is to sort my banking as well, as the paid for account I use is dropping its current account interest at the end of this month so need to have a think about what I am doing with that, I dont think it will be worth keeping it anymore once the interest drops as I will be able to get more elsewhere so I might drop that to a free account or I think a £1 a month option as I still make around £3-4 a month on bills cashback. Its a tricky one at the moment though isnt it as interest rates are terrible across the board. I think the two highest paying current accounts are Markus and Saga at 1.2% and someone is doing a 1 year fix at 1.6%. Just got to decide what will work best on that front. 

How are you guys? How are you all getting on in lock down? Any tips or suggestions for me? I would love to hear from you.  

Sistergold

regularsaver said:

Good afternoon all,

I am a long time lurker on these forums and since purchasing my first house in January 2019, I have been a regular reader of diaries in the MFW section of the forums. A big congrats to all those working towards being mortgage free and also thanks so much for the inspiration. I had wanted to make a few overpayments in my first year of house ownership but, people aren't kidding when they say the first 6/12 months are super expensive.

However, I feel now like I can start to concentrate on making some overpayments and really work towards getting the mortgage figure down as best I can.

I am not sure if there is a standard way of starting these threads but it seems like a little summary is a good place to begin -

- My house cost £138,000
- Deposit was £22,100
- Mortgage when taken out in Jan 2019 was £115,900
- Balance as of Jan 2020 - £113,643
- My mortgage type is repayment (think thats the correct term) paying capital and interest
- My current LTV is 18.57%
- I currently accrue interest at a rate of £7.32 a day / £227.24 a month
- My monthly mortgage payment is £429.75
- I am on a 5 year fix mortgage at a rate of 2.35%
- Mortgage term is 32 years.
- I am 37 and single.

Having spoken with my mortgage provider I have a 10% per year limit on overpayments and they can be as big or small as I like.

I have since before I moved into my home, been using Martins budget planner which has been really helpful and I have just updated it actually to reflect any changes to this years bills etc.

Not sure if I have missed any information, I think that's the usual stuff covered but absolutely please let me know if I have missed anything, and if you have any tips then please share, I love learning new things.

I shall be looking closely at all areas of my budget, and any unspent money at the end of each month I will be looking to overpay. Currently I am also working a fair amount of overtime too, so rather than saving it all, I am thinking about splitting it 50/50 savings/OP.

I do have just one question at this point, I have seen abbreviations such as DD, DH listed in peoples threads etc, I havent fathomed what these mean, I know this will be a silly question and I shall laugh at myself when/if someone tells me what they mean but had to ask

Thanks for reading so far and I hope you will join me on my journey to keep me motivated!!

Hello there 
You have a very good action plan there well done. Your LTV(Loan to value) is 82.2% there abouts on looking at your figures?