Fighting the mortgage interest

Numbercruncher_mfw

Just popping by to say progress is still going well, current balance is at £119.9k so just below the £120k mark. We've decided that we are going to keep up the £1k overpayment per month pace up until we get below a £100k balance and then we will review and potentially take a few months off. Can't believe we have managed to knock £12k off the mortgage balance so far this year

savingholmes

Really pleased for you 

Numbercruncher_mfw

November update: Mortgage Balance is now down to £118k. We've paid £16k towards mortgage so far in 2022 and £1.2k has been accrued in interest so nearly £15k has come off the balance (and will stay off). 

I'm really pleased with our progress so far this year. To put it into context, last year we knocked about £8k off the balance so this year we will have doubled our effort

MF2027

Just read your diary - you locked in an amazing rate so you’re doing the right thing in paying it down before the end of your term. 

savingholmes

That's huge progress in a year! 

Numbercruncher_mfw

Happy New Year! In 2022 we managed to knock just over £15k off the mortgage balance which I'm very proud of. In 2021 we took £7k off the balance so we've doubled the effort in 2022. 

My aim for 2023 is to replenish our savings as we don't have much easy access savings in case of emergency. 

SuperSecretSquirrel

Excellent work last year NC!

As MF2027 said that's a ridiculously good mortgage rate you've locked in 🙂

You're well placed to smash the mortgage and meet (and no doubt exceed) any cash savings target you set for yourself this year 💪

savingholmes

Happy New Year

Numbercruncher_mfw

Hello everyone, happy Friday . The year seems to be flying by quite quickly. 

We've overpaid the mortgage by £1,000 in total across January and February and the balance stands at just over £115,000.  We have decided to pause overpayments for a couple of months whilst we replenish savings and pay for our summer holidays - we are fortunate to be having two trips abroad later this year. 

I'm slightly deflated that we aren't making as much headway with our overpayments this year as originally planned but I've got to remember that there's more to life than overpaying a mortgage. The past year has been great from a mortgage overpayment stand point but having so little in easy access cash savings has felt quite stressful at times. I realise that I'm at my least worried when I've got a pot of money that's easily accessible in case of emergency or job loss. I remember when I was saving up for my house deposit feeling quite invincible when I'd built up a pot of £15k in my bank. Yes that money had a future purpose as a deposit but I remember thinking that no matter what work threw at me I had at least a year's worth of living expenses if I needed to quit. 

I'm going to be focusing on building my emergency fund (let's call it a freedom fund) over the rest of the year. It currently stands at £1k and my aim is to have it reach £3k by the end of the year. I always grapple with how much of my wage to spend and how much to save and I've decided to try a 60/20/20 split: 60% of my income will go on day to day spending and bills, 20% will go on fun activities and treats and 20% will be longer term savings and investments and mortgage overpayments. I'll see how this balance feels over the next few months and adjust accordingly. How does everyone else split their income?

Numbercruncher_mfw

Hello, 

Long time since I last posted. Mortgage balance just over £111,000. I'm currently focusing on building up my savings and investments alongside my mortgage overpayments with the ambitious goal of financial freedom in next 2 years. Wish me luck