Quest for (mortgage) freedom

eat_that_frog

It's my 9th NSD in a row today, so I'm nearly halfway to my target now. There actually was a bit of temptation to buy a takeaway yesterday evening (even though we live in the middle of nowhere there is a local farm cafe 1 mile away that started doing takeaways under the March lockdown to keep their business going - and they're doing really well I'm pleased to say). But we had plenty of food in the fridge so we successfully talked ourselves out of it 

I wish the weather would improve, I don't mind the cold but it's rained pretty much non-stop since 18.01 last Friday when lockdown began. It's hard to enjoy a decent walk when you're sodden through. Apparently it'll be a bit nicer next week, I really hope so because we definitely prefer being outdoors.

joshiesaunt

You are doing so well @eat_that_frog.  I'm interested in your diary as we have a slightly higher income and one child also but can't seem to make that level of  over payments so it is interesting to see what you are doing!  Unfortunately we live in London so there are lots of temptations re; shops, take aways etc.  I have an EF which i might stop contributing to soon and plough those payments off the mortgage.  Psychologically, i'd feel better if it was 4 x my salary alone so that is going to be the goal for me (another £100K to go).

eat_that_frog

@joshiesaunt thanks! Honestly I feel like living in the country is the big money saver for me. We've been here for about 20 months now, previously we were in a city, absolutely surrounded by distraction (cinemas, theatres etc) and foodie temptation. Where we live now, we have to drive to get anywhere or to get anything, and I've never enjoyed internet shopping, so that reduces a lot of the temptation to spend money ad-hoc. I can imagine that living in London you are absolutely surrounded by distractions, even in lockdown.

caeler

eat_that_frog said:

@joshiesaunt thanks! Honestly I feel like living in the country is the big money saver for me. 

I spent years living somewhere very rural and nobody would deliver takeaways!  Now even though I live somewhere you can receive deliveries I never bother!  Probably saved a fortune that way!

eat_that_frog

It's been a while since I've posted, time flies! 

We're all ready for Xmas, all presents and the vast majority of food shopping is now done. So I'm in a position to make an overpayment of £3.5k on the mortgage.

That takes my overpayments since July (when I made a mid-year resolution to overpay the mortgage!) to a total of £8k. I was aiming for £10k but to be honest I am delighted with £8k over the 6 months, especially as prior to July this year I hadn't even thought of overpaying the mortgage. It's shortened my mortgage term by around 9 months. At first when I calculated this I was disappointed and thought that 9 months didn't feel that much of an improvement, especially taken over the full 25 year term. But looking at it another way, if I can carry on with the same level of overpayments over the next 3 years (as I originally fixed it for 5 years, and I'm nearly 2 years in) it will eventually add up and should hopefully put me in a good position when we come to remortgage.

It's also given me the impetus to plan for 2021. If I can overpay by £8k in 6 months this year without overstretching, I can repeat that next year and so should be able to afford £16k over the next 12 months. But I will set a goal of £18k so that I try and stretch myself.

We're going back into lockdown shortly in Wales, immediately after Xmas is over. It's a shame but I think it'll make for a cheap month in January.

ruby_eskimo

8k in 6 months is an amazing achievement!  I'm sure you'll be able to meet your goals barring any more global catastrophes next year.  

We're going into Tier 3 on Saturday and I think there is going to be the need for another national lockdown in January - I don't see the point in making a lot of areas subject to stricter rules when 4 days later all rules are off because of Christmas.  At least as you said, it will make for a cheap January!

powerspowers

Well done on your progress frog! In just five months you have made a nine month dent in your mortgage 🥳 all the best for 2021

eat_that_frog

Thanks @powerspowers and @ruby_eskimo! Very happy to have got this far this year. Just making the decision to start overpaying felt like a big step to be honest.

SandyShores

Must be a good feeling to have paid over £11k off the mortgage in less than a year.  I've made a few small overpayments, but we are building up the EF and planning to make some bigger overpayments when we've built that up by June next year.  I've just managed to get online access to the mortgage account and that's given me the push to make a few more overpayments in the meantime

eat_that_frog

That's great that you've got online access to your mortgage account @SandyShores. Unfortunately my mortgage company don't have that facility, so when I phone them to overpay I have to ask them to tell me the new balance each time, and keep track of it that way. Feels a bit outdated in 2020 but hey ho. Good luck building your EF!