360 Months to go? 28 August 2020 at 3:44PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 41 replies 1.8K views

Grabs39

Hi all, I’m a bit of a lurker here, so thought I’d start a diary.  We moved in late May, having sold our first home, and bought our “forever home”.  We’ve taken a 30 year mortgage, but the goal is to pay if off in 22 years, before we’re 50, with a view to retiring early at 60 (in 2052!).  Borrowed 95% on a 5 year fix.  

To break it up a bit I’m looking at the next five years.  Assuming the house value remains the same, we will be at 85% with normal payments in 2025 so paying off another 5% in that time should secure us a better rate at the 80% mark.  That’s a target of £9k in 5 years.

We also need a new bathroom for the new house, so that’s a big expense next month, and aim to have our cash savings back up to £10K by the end of next year, so we will be tightening our belts.

First drop in the ocean; a family wedding has been cancelled, so I’ve got a refund for £70 into the pot.

2025 Running total: £70/£9000

longway2go

Lots of luck to you both

FtbDreaming

Good luck with your journey

jenni_fer

Happy new diary! Good luck!

Grabs39

Last month we managed to drop our debit card spending from around £500 to £250 so we had a bit left over in the current account this month.  Plenty of Aldi beans eaten!  Half’s gone to the savings and half toward the mortgage.

The new bathroom is now in (except the cabinet that’s delayed by the builders merchant) so our savings is now officially down by £5k.  Hopefully it will serve us well over the years though.

Running MFW five year target - £195/£9000

Grabs39

Unfortunately it's been a bit of an expensive month so nothing really further saved.  Managed to get £50 in the NatWest rewards account (I'm not sure why but I'm not complaining!) so I've split it between Savings and Mortgage.  Up to £220/£9000 with 54 months to go.

rugbymadfamily

Good luck with the diary and hope that the new bathroom looks great! I'm new on here too and find it helpful for making me think about mortgage overpayments etc. Breakin it down into smaller chunks is great, makes it seem more achievable!

Grabs39

Thanks.  The Bathroom is looking great.  It was a lot to have to fork out after moving but hopefully it’ll not need doing again for another 10/15 years!

Grabs39

Just a quick update.  I hadn't planned to pay anything extra in December as it's generally an expensive month.

Unfortuantely on Christmas Eve the back bedroom ceiling sprang a leak.  Turns out the felt flat roof above the upstairs windows was old and cracked.  The roofers replaced the lot on Sunday, though it was £700 it wasn't as expensive as I'd feared.  It also looks like our fence needs replacing - first quote came in today for £550.

So in short - nothing to add to the overpayments!  Feb and March are the "free" council tax months so I'm determined that our normal council tax amount will go into the pot next month!

The first Mortgage Statement came today.  We've paid just under £5k since we bought the house, but £3k was interest.

FiveMoreYears

Good luck with your journey towards becoming mortgage-free, Grabs39.

The interest figures can often look daunting at first, but it's a good reason for getting into the habit of over-payments right from the start. It WILL come down.

Good luck!

Grabs39

FiveMoreYears said:

Good luck with your journey towards becoming mortgage-free, Grabs39.

The interest figures can often look daunting at first, but it's a good reason for getting into the habit of over-payments right from the start. It WILL come down.

Good luck!

Thanks, yes I’m trying to use it as motivation!