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Quest for (mortgage) freedom
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eat_that_frog
Posts: 266 Forumite


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
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
£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
5
Comments
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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........... 2Number of children in household......... 1Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]Monthly Income Details[/b]Monthly income after tax................ 1800Partners monthly income after tax....... 2700Benefits................................ 80Other income............................ 0[b]Total monthly income.................... 4580[/b][b]Monthly Expense Details[/b]Mortgage................................ 1030Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0Rent.................................... 0Management charge (leasehold property).. 0Council tax............................. 232.5Electricity............................. 100Gas..................................... 0Oil..................................... 150Water rates............................. 30Telephone (land line)................... 0Mobile phone............................ 40TV Licence.............................. 5Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40Internet Services....................... 7Groceries etc. ......................... 200Clothing................................ 10Petrol/diesel........................... 50Road tax................................ 0Car Insurance........................... 30Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30Car parking............................. 0Other travel............................ 0Childcare/nursery....................... 0Other child related expenses............ 80Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10Buildings insurance..................... 30Contents insurance...................... 30Life assurance ......................... 70Other insurance......................... 0Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10Haircuts................................ 0Entertainment........................... 10Holiday................................. 0Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]Total monthly expenses.................. 2194.5[/b][b]Secured & HP Debts[/b]Description....................Debt......Monthly...APRMortgage...................... 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.................... 4,580Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,194.5Available for debt repayments........... 2,385.5Monthly 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 far1 -
Happy new diary! I just wanted to wish you all the best in your mfw journey.“Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming” 🐠https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6098084/discount-duck-s-quest-for-mortgage-freedom#latest2
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Good luck, I started off in September 2011 and I am desperate to be finished by September next year. Just remember the difference between your net income and your net outgoing is going to be the quickest way to freedom.
Don't let it get too daunting, set mini goals and rewards for obtaining them. Sometimes you can face 100 balls to get 10 runs other times you will be smashing everything for 6.
Good luck you can do this.06/06/2023 mortgage mort dateJUST BRING IT5 -
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/£4,0002 -
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 far2 -
I calculated what the daily interest is on my mortgage...gulp! £12.50 a day
!!! Or £387.50 in a typical 31 day month
... 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!!!) 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 far3 -
Welcome (and great username!)Choose kind2
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Today was most definitely not a no-spend day. I spent around £100 on various things we've been waiting until payday to buy or pay for. And it's payday for my husband today woohoo
Annoyed at myself for not taking a packed lunch with me, I ended up buying sandwiches whilst out and about. Determined not to make that mistake again, I need to be more organised.
As it's payday today, going to look at accounts tonight and work out how much I can move to overpay mortgage and get the ball rolling!
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 far6 -
A good day today, I made my first overpayment on the mortgage!
I waited until the end of the month after all bills and DDs had been taken out of our wages, so we were able to OP by £1,500. Having made the regular monthly payment of around £1k, this brought the total down from c.£240k down to c.£237.5k. Getting down below the 240 mark has been a real psychological boost, as we now don't look that far away from £235k.
I can see these overpayments becoming addictiveMortgage 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 far7 -
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 20233
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