The time has come...to get the mortgage under £100k

Savingkew

Hello all,

I used to have a diary under my old username of 'thewalrussaid' but I lost that during the forum switchover when I couldn't remember the relevant email address 
So, I am starting a new diary.  Despite some misfortunes (OH losing his job twice) and fortunes (being gifted some cash), we have brought the mortgage down from £245k to £119k (over 7 years)  Full disclosure, OH is older than me so we are on a shorter mortgage term than most.

So, the plan for this year was to save up an emergency fund (nearly there) and enjoy some holidays, obviously Covid-19 has put paid to the holidays. So for now, we have postponed our major holiday until next year. We are lucky in that we are both working fulltime from home and getting a lot more sleep than when we were commuting so we do not have anything to complain about.

Yet, all this sitting at home has me thinking seriously about clearing the mortgage. I know there are alternate viewpoints and received wisdom is probably to invest in the stock market but for now, with interest rates being so low, I'd rather have the certainty of not having the mortgage hanging over us forever. So it's back to this quest.  We cannot start overpaying for a few months because I'd rather have the emergency fund and next year's holiday funded. So for now the point of this diary is to stop me spending too much on a day to day basis, one would think you'd spend less whilst constantly at home but we have been merrily ordering online which must stop.

Anyway, enough from me, thanks for reading!

mark55man

good luck, that's a challenge I can relate too, which will kind of happen for me in about 15 months.  for now my focus is on CC, but I'm starting to frequent MFW as well as DFW

happy shiny new diary, by the way

Savingkew

Thanks Mark88man, good luck with the CCs and well done on the weight loss - my other battle!!

mark55man

Thank you - did very lo-carb/keto - was hard work but it did work, until it stopped working (rather I got less hard core) so now I'm back to usual food, but trying to up my exercise.  

Good luck to you in shedding the pounds (both types!)

LeighofMar

Happy new diary. $126K over 7 years is mega impressive. Way to go. I am still hopeful that there can be some travel this year. We did not get a beach vacation last year and we're hoping to this year but will just have to wait and see. I agree with you that even with low interest rates, this mortgage needs to be gone. Of course, we are investing in the market as well, but I'm doing both as for whatever reason, so many camps scream that you can only do one or the other. I've never understood that. So I am trying to be balanced with both investing and paying off the house. Best wishes on getting your holiday funded.

Savingkew

Hi LeighofMar, I have been reading your diary from time to time and I really enjoy it, I will make sure to bookmark it.
Hopefully, with the US opening up more on a state by state basis you will get your beach holiday.  I am particularly bummed about missing our holiday because we were taking my parents and I know my Mum has looked forward to this trip so much. You are absolutely right to invest in the market and OP the mortgage. I suppose I am a bit of an all or nothing person and this suits my binary brain.  

Savingkew

So today, I have made an attempt at getting my plane tickets refunded by B@.  The phones have been hopeless so I have turned to Tw!tter.  I have sent my DM as prompted so hopefully this will prompt a refund.  I do plan to rebook for next year with B@ but I know if I accept the voucher I will have to rebook over the phone which will be nigh on impossible so I will aim for the refund and then I can rebook at leisure with some (hopefully) more flexible conditions on the ticket.

Other than that, nothing to report other than £20 spent on groceries.  I have been back through my spreadsheets and done the maths to ensure this mortgage is paid off by Jan 2023 in time for our 40th and 60th birthdays.  It won't be easy but with the current situation I think it is important that we capitalise on our earnings now and get rid of our largest monthly expense.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend, SK.

jenni_fer

Happy new diary!