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Quest for (mortgage) freedom

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I'm a long-time reader of this forum, I find other peoples MFW diaries really interesting and inspiring. Now it's time to do a MFW diary of my own and hold myself to account.

OH and I bought a house in February 2019. We've spent around a year making cosmetic improvements (lick of paint, new carpets etc) as well as some bigger (and expensive) much-needed improvements to bring it up-to-date, like new boiler, insulation, new bathroom, woodburner etc. 

We've got £240,089 left on our mortgage, with just under 24 years to run on it. We have no other debts (no credit cards, overdrafts etc). We have an EF of £15,000 and I'm not looking to increase or decrease it as we're comfortable with that amount. We own the car outright. We both have jobs which seem secure at the moment (touches wood furiously). But just in case something did happen to one or both of our jobs, we don't want to have such a large mortgage debt hanging over our head. So we are now turning our attention to getting our mortgage down. I look after our finances, OH lets me get on with it - like me he's cautious with money and is a saver, not a spender. 

At the same time we haven't really done anything with the garden since moving in, other than regularly mowing the lawn, so we're going to get on and get that looking pretty and tidy for as little as we can.

Plan of action
1. Compile budget to understand where the money goes
2. Use budget to decide what can be cut back and where
3. Swap energy suppliers and get best deal; use money saved to OP mortgage. We swapped energy supplier when we moved into this house in Feb 2019 and found the best deal then at the time, so it's time to look again at the best deals.
4. Look at food shopping savings. That seems to be a large chunk of our monthly budget, even though we already shop at the discount supermarkets.
5. Decluttering house, selling decent items no longer wanted on various online selling sites


Mortgage free as of March '25!
£240,000 paid off in 4 years, 8 months and 18 days (July '20-Mar '25)
Mortgage paid off 19 years early.

2025 MFW #40

2025 Goals

Pay off mortgage of £55k for good! - £55k/£55k paid - mortgage free!!!
Keep emergency fund at £10k - £10k/£10k - goal met!
Lose 12 kgs - 3/12 kgs lost so far
Try 1 new activity/experience as a family each month - 0/12 new activities/experiences tried
Decluttering - declutter 500 items from house and outbuildings - 136/500 items so far
«13456732

Comments

  • So I did an SoA to understand where things stand, and we have around £2,300 a month left over after outgoings in our monthly budgets. So I should be able to meet my goal of £10k OP against the mortgage by Dec this year if I try and OP £2k each month.

    [font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

    Household Information[/b]
    Number of adults in household........... 2
    Number of children in household......... 1
    Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

    Monthly Income Details[/b]
    Monthly income after tax................ 1800
    Partners monthly income after tax....... 2700
    Benefits................................ 80
    Other income............................ 0[b]
    Total monthly income.................... 4580[/b][b]

    Monthly Expense Details[/b]
    Mortgage................................ 1030
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 0
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 232.5
    Electricity............................. 100
    Gas..................................... 0
    Oil..................................... 150
    Water rates............................. 30
    Telephone (land line)................... 0
    Mobile phone............................ 40
    TV Licence.............................. 5
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
    Internet Services....................... 7
    Groceries etc. ......................... 200
    Clothing................................ 10
    Petrol/diesel........................... 50
    Road tax................................ 0
    Car Insurance........................... 30
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
    Car parking............................. 0
    Other travel............................ 0
    Childcare/nursery....................... 0
    Other child related expenses............ 80
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
    Buildings insurance..................... 30
    Contents insurance...................... 30
    Life assurance ......................... 70
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
    Haircuts................................ 0
    Entertainment........................... 10
    Holiday................................. 0
    Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]
    Total monthly expenses.................. 2194.5[/b]
    [b]


    Secured & HP Debts[/b]
    Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
    Mortgage...................... 240089...(1030).....1.9[b]
    Total secured & HP debts...... 240089....-.........-   [/b]

    [b]Unsecured Debts[/b]
    Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR[b]
    Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-  [/b]

    [b]
    Monthly Budget Summary[/b]
    Total monthly income.................... 4,580
    Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,194.5
    Available for debt repayments........... 2,385.5
    Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0[b]
    Amount left after debt repayments....... 2,385.5[/b]


    [i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com. 
    Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]


    Mortgage free as of March '25!
    £240,000 paid off in 4 years, 8 months and 18 days (July '20-Mar '25)
    Mortgage paid off 19 years early.

    2025 MFW #40

    2025 Goals

    Pay off mortgage of £55k for good! - £55k/£55k paid - mortgage free!!!
    Keep emergency fund at £10k - £10k/£10k - goal met!
    Lose 12 kgs - 3/12 kgs lost so far
    Try 1 new activity/experience as a family each month - 0/12 new activities/experiences tried
    Decluttering - declutter 500 items from house and outbuildings - 136/500 items so far
  • Happy new diary! I just wanted to wish you all the best in your mfw journey. 
  • Squirrelz92
    Squirrelz92 Posts: 770 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Debt-free and Proud! Photogenic
    Happy new MF diary! Looking forward to reading your progress! £10k overpayment for 2020 seems a very achievable amount with the amount of disposable income you both have after bills :) Good luck!
    Debt Remaining: £8,781.53
    3 Month EF: £1,000/£4,494
    2025 MFW Challenge #9: £999.00/£4,000
  • I've had quite a good week this week, spending wise. I've not bought anything other than food shopping and fuel for car. When I've taken my son out for day trips, they've been to free places (woodland walks, picnics by the river) or playdates in friends gardens. We've taken packed lunches with us too reduce the temptation to spend.

    Out of these Coronavirus times, what I've realised is that our supermarket food shopping spend has gone up, but that's because we're not eating or drinking out (plus we live in the country so no takeaways or deliveries to tempt us). Overall though we are definitely saving money on food and drink - because me and my husband are both working from home, it completely reduces the temptation to buy coffees out and about, or lunches on the go, or drinks after work.

    Spending so far this week:
    £20 fuel
    £110 food shop to last 14 days


    Mortgage free as of March '25!
    £240,000 paid off in 4 years, 8 months and 18 days (July '20-Mar '25)
    Mortgage paid off 19 years early.

    2025 MFW #40

    2025 Goals

    Pay off mortgage of £55k for good! - £55k/£55k paid - mortgage free!!!
    Keep emergency fund at £10k - £10k/£10k - goal met!
    Lose 12 kgs - 3/12 kgs lost so far
    Try 1 new activity/experience as a family each month - 0/12 new activities/experiences tried
    Decluttering - declutter 500 items from house and outbuildings - 136/500 items so far
  • I calculated what the daily interest is on my mortgage...gulp! £12.50 a day :s  !!!  Or £387.50 in a typical 31 day month  :s ... If that's not incentive to get on and overpay, I'm not sure what is.

    Our first payday is tomorrow (favourite time of the month!!!  :D ) so planning to make first overpayment tomorrow. Never made an overpayment before so will phone the building society tomorrow and experience it for the first time.

    Had a pleasant surprise yesterday, opened the post to find a cheque for £30 from family, they'd missed my birthday earlier in year due to coronavirus and wanted to give me something, very kind of them.


    Mortgage free as of March '25!
    £240,000 paid off in 4 years, 8 months and 18 days (July '20-Mar '25)
    Mortgage paid off 19 years early.

    2025 MFW #40

    2025 Goals

    Pay off mortgage of £55k for good! - £55k/£55k paid - mortgage free!!!
    Keep emergency fund at £10k - £10k/£10k - goal met!
    Lose 12 kgs - 3/12 kgs lost so far
    Try 1 new activity/experience as a family each month - 0/12 new activities/experiences tried
    Decluttering - declutter 500 items from house and outbuildings - 136/500 items so far
  • Hazelnutty
    Hazelnutty Posts: 744 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Welcome (and great username!) :)
    Choose kind:)
  • LeighofMar
    LeighofMar Posts: 672 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    What a terrific OP. Every little milestone does so much for us psychologically once we get going, doesn't it?
    Mortgage start date Dec 2015 - $64,655.00
    Mortgage end date Dec 2045 - NOT!!!!
    Mortgage balance  - $4600.00
    Business Savings $43,310/100k
    Hope to be mortgage-free by end of 2023 
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