1% MF challenge 28 December 2020 at 3:37PM edited 26 December 2021 at 2:56PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 186 replies 6.3K views

pavlovs_dog

Welcome to the 1% MF challenge.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to try and clear an extra 1% off of your mortgage in 2022.

Why 1%?
When faced with a debt that ends in several 000s, overpayments can feel like a drop in the ocean.  Maybe you've been OPing for a while and feel like there is little left to squeeze out of your budget. Maybe you've lost your mojo with OPing and need a new challenge. Perhaps you feel intimidated by how much others OP on the annual or MFi3 challenges, or are unable to commit to fixed monthly payments.

1% of your mortgage balance is a far less daunting sum to aim towards whilst still chipping away at your debt. It turns the mortgage marathon into a more of a sprint and helps make the impossible feel more achievable.

How do I get involved?
This is a low faff thread!  Just post below to let us know what your 1% goal is.  Remember to drop by and update us periodically with how you are progressing and share the little things you are doing to help you squeeze every penny out of your budget.  Those little things really do add up!

How do I calculate 1% of my mortgage?
To calculate 1%, simply divide your mortgage balance by 100.  For example, if your mortgage balance is £150,000, 1% for you would be £1500.

Let the challenge commence!

Barny1979

£1,750 target for me next year please.

pavlovs_dog

For me personally, this challenge has been a great way to channel my frustrations that our built in OPs aren't reducing our debt fast enough!  Whilst we have made a sizeable dent in our mortgage thanks to OPing over the past 10 years, we still have at least 5 years to go until mortgage freedom.  The 1% challenge has helped me clear an extra £2k off of the mortgage over the past 2 years, simply by making sure I was putting those spare pennies to good use instead of letting them fritter away.  That's almost 6 months worth of 'free' mortgage payments from those small amounts here and there that could easily have been squandered. 

1% for us is £530.  This will come from survey earnings, cashback, tilly tidies, savings on the grocery budget etc.

SpendingPennies

Hello I would love to join this challenge please. Just planning how to attack our mortgage so this would be a great start. 1% is £1815. 

twinklie

I don’t know what my final 2020 figure will be until tomorrow, but I won’t achieve 1%. I might aim for 0.5% though. I don’t think I will actually achieve it, but it might motivate me to funnel off extras into it that I might not otherwise (if that makes sense). 

I’ve put a target of £600 in the MFW2021 challenge but that’s way under 0.5%. 

rara32

Hello, I would love to join this challenge for 2021.  Having lurked on the MFW forum for years I've decided this is the year to come out of hiding! Whilst our focus is on pensions and ISAs at the moment I'd love to see the mortgage go down a bit quicker too and this challenge seems perfect - my 1% target is £2033. 

twinklie

Stupid mortgage account hasn't updated to reflect my new figure...I'm super annoyed. 
I have shifted my payments to come out on 15th Jan and then 10th of the month from then on instead of 30th as it is currently. This way I'll know where I am sooner each month so I can sort my end of the month payment out accordingly. It'll save a bit of interest which is not to be sniffed at when your daily interest is so high. 

Dogs_are_nice

Hi! I'm coming out of long-term lurkery to make some changes as my husband looks to reduce his hours from next year. We've never made a mortgage overpayment so this seems like the ideal way to get started. 
1% for us is £1,042

turtlemoose

My 1% is £1070  - I do already have a fixed monthly OP planned for 2021, but I'd like to see if I can make the extra 1% on top.

pavlovs_dog

great to see faces new and old joining in for 2021 

twinklie

My 0.5% would be £1,067.50, so think I will make that my aim. I’ve said £600 for the MFW challenge which is more realistic at this point, but there’s nothing wrong with aiming high!