regularsaver MFW journey - Achieving a dream.

Sistergold

Wave Regulasaver
There was a street “party in my Close”. Each household set up table and chairs outside and had food and music. Social distances were observed as we did not mix up with neighbours but we could all wave and talk but all very far apart from each Other in our front gardens. This was from 4pm to 6pm. There were decorations too. It made for a nice change 

Xx

regularsaver

Sistergold said:

Wave Regulasaver
There was a street “party in my Close”. Each household set up table and chairs outside and had food and music. Social distances were observed as we did not mix up with neighbours but we could all wave and talk but all very far apart from each Other in our front gardens. This was from 4pm to 6pm. There were decorations too. It made for a nice change 

Xx

That all sounds very nice indeed Sistergold. I hope you guys had fun, and are safe and well. 

regularsaver

Its been a while since I have updated. I have just made Junes OP, the largest to date, £221.46 or 51.53% of my normal monthly payment which is great. It also crashes me into the £111k bracket down from the £112k bracket. Even better is that I am well on course for my 1% challenge this year, currently standing at £703.16 of £1159.

This feels like such a massive achievement, even just making one overpayment felt so huge, never mind having now just made my 5th in a row. 

I figure that even though interest rates are low, most mortgage rates are still higher than savings rates, I know mine is, so I feel, and please correct me if I am wrong, that the more I overpay now, whilst I can, and also in the early stages of my mortgage, the better of I will be in the long run and the more interest I will save. I mean, the more I pay now, should interest rates go up, or should I lose my job and have to take one on a lower wage, then I am in a better situation I believe, than if I had just made the standard monthly payment. So my theory is whilst I can, I shall, and if I cant, then I cant. I feel that makes sense in my head but someone please let me know if me theory is sound?

I still need and want to make up another 1% to cover off the first year where I made no overpayments at all. I need to figure out my plan to achieve this. When I get to the end of my 5 year fix, I want to have overpaid by at least 5%. 

In terms of a general update, I don't have lots to report. I have been being much better with my eating and have now had three consecutive weeks weight loss which is great, considering I have been barely exercising. Great news last weekend that us shielders can now go out to exercise once a day so that should really help in terms of weight loss but also especially from a mental and well being perspective having been couped up for 10 weeks in the house. I have done a little baking and made a flourless banana loaf using oats which was nice, more like a banana cake than banana bread sort of thing but it did taste very nice. 

Thats about it for me for now, I do hope you are all well, I would love to hear from you in relation to this post and also what you have been upto and will be making much more effort to catch up on others threads and updates too. I am really sorry if I havent been in and posted on your threads this last month, its been so busy with work and doing loads of overtime etc, its been work/sleep/work a lot of the time. 

Hope you are all well and staying safe. 

Grogged

Hi regularsaver,
You look to be making great progress all round!
You're absolutely right, overpaying, even by pennies, has such a massive effect down the line. I like to think of it as compound saving. Compound interest boosts your savings over time and in the same way overpaying boosts your interest savings over time.
Given the current uncertain times, we're just saving our regular overpayments in case they're needed to live on. Still overpaying, but just using tilley tidies by rounding the bank balance down to nearest £5 on Mondays.  Still adds up to 3-4 days interest a month.
Other than that we've just been working from home, fortnightly shopping and trying to make the best use of chest freezer...
Take care.

Sistergold

Hey there regular saver
Good to know that you are well as OPs are going great for you. 

Yes your thinking is my thinking exactly. It is just that the economy is so uncertain at the moment but with the reduced interest rates this is the best time to save. I also incorporated the interest reduction into the OPs as you say every little helps. 

Welldone on the weight loss front! 

Welldone on being on track on the 1% challenge! 🎉🥳💃🏾👯‍♀️

discotek

Hi regularsaver, I've also been doing regular overtime in an effort to help the bank balance stay healthy although I do wonder how long I'll be able to keep it up for and how long it's healthy to do it for. We should have overtime available until October so my thoughts are to grab it with both hands while it's there. Similar to you, we've decided to carry on OP'ing as our mortgage interest rate is 1.84% and we're getting nowhere near that return on our savings (one of my accounts is at 1.3% and that's the highest). I have enjoyed reading your diary so far and will be cheerleading you on!

regularsaver

Grogged said:

Hi regularsaver,
You look to be making great progress all round!
You're absolutely right, overpaying, even by pennies, has such a massive effect down the line. I like to think of it as compound saving. Compound interest boosts your savings over time and in the same way overpaying boosts your interest savings over time.
Given the current uncertain times, we're just saving our regular overpayments in case they're needed to live on. Still overpaying, but just using tilley tidies by rounding the bank balance down to nearest £5 on Mondays.  Still adds up to 3-4 days interest a month.
Other than that we've just been working from home, fortnightly shopping and trying to make the best use of chest freezer...
Take care.

Yes I very much like your thinking of compound saving, that is a great way to put it. Every little helps in terms of savings and the tilley tidies. 

I too have been fortnightly shopping, its been a good little challenge making a meal plan to plan out for 2 weeks and ensure I have everything I need. I have been so used to just going to the shop each week. 

Thankyou for your message and take care too!

regularsaver

Sistergold said:

Hey there regular saver
Good to know that you are well as OPs are going great for you. 

Yes your thinking is my thinking exactly. It is just that the economy is so uncertain at the moment but with the reduced interest rates this is the best time to save. I also incorporated the interest reduction into the OPs as you say every little helps. 

Welldone on the weight loss front! 

Welldone on being on track on the 1% challenge! 🎉🥳💃🏾👯‍♀️

Hi Sistergold, 

I agree with you on the uncertainty of the economy and also as a single person, I do feel that pressure to get this debt paid off as quickly as I can. I am on a 5 year fix so my interest rate hasnt changed, and I did that so I have the certainty of knowing what I would be paying for my term as it was my first mortgage. 

I wonder where the interest rates will be in 3.5 years time, hence I feel like I want to OP as much as I can. 

Thank  you for your kind comments they are much appreciated and I will be sure to check in on your thread.

regularsaver

discotek said:

Hi regularsaver, I've also been doing regular overtime in an effort to help the bank balance stay healthy although I do wonder how long I'll be able to keep it up for and how long it's healthy to do it for. We should have overtime available until October so my thoughts are to grab it with both hands while it's there. Similar to you, we've decided to carry on OP'ing as our mortgage interest rate is 1.84% and we're getting nowhere near that return on our savings (one of my accounts is at 1.3% and that's the highest). I have enjoyed reading your diary so far and will be cheerleading you on!

Hi discotek, 

I absolutely understand your viewpoint on how long will it be possible to keep up regular overtime and how long is healthy. I have been going for over a year now and its been really hard at times, being tired, etc, missing out on the odd things, but whats kept me motivated are my goals and targets. As it happens I havent actually used any of the overtime to put towards OP yet, thats all come from savings I have made in my budget, the overtime has been used for things like a new front door, fascias and soffits, new computer and hoover etc. 

But I am planning on using some towards the OP and that will really help accelerate things I feel. Like you, when overtime comes up, I generally tend to grab it with both hands as it is not always there.

My rate is a bit higher than yours at 2.34%, but just like you, no savings rate is getting close to that. 

Thank you for your kind comments. I will absolutely appreciate the cheerleading I an assure you, I will also have a look to see if you have a thread going so I can subscribe and return the favour. 

regularsaver

I have been doing some thinking recently and reading up and watching some YouTube videos. Some specific ones I have found really good lately are from The Frugal Cottage. 

The lady who presents them got me thinking about investing and the possibilities around it etc. It is something I had sort of always had on the back burner but have never been confident about it due to feeling I don't know enough and also that risk of potentially losing money. 

After a good hard think, I've decided I am going to delay doing anything about it for maybe a year or so. I feel that I would be better ensuring that my emergency fund gets to its target of £10k, which I am at 64% currently. I may go a but higher with that but my original target was £10k. Once that's at target I can then divert the money I pay into that per month towards the OP on the mortgage, thus meaning my OP will be larger per month which will be great. 

Then at that point, I can reconsider the investing side of things and decide if its for me. 

Do you guys agree that seems like a sensible plan? Or would you guys do something different? Do you guys invest too? Or do you feel its better to put the money you might invest into the mortgage OP? I guess its a potentially tough question isnt it, maximise the OP toward the mortgage, or put some money into investments etc?

I have friends who absolutely are against investing as they feel its gambling with their hard earned money, and I have other friends who say they are trying to get as much money into investments right now as they can manage.