The Case of the Overwhelming Mortgage

AgathaSquirrel

Different ways. I have a longstanding bond that I used to put £20 a month in when I was working part-time and my husband was a student. That’s worth around £5000 now and has a few more years left to run. I have £6000 in a 4.5% fixed bond and current savings are in a 6.5% savings account (max £200 a month savings allowed). I’ve also kept a small amount in premium bonds to give me my monthly hit of maybe I’ll be a millionaire this month. 

AgathaSquirrel

Playing with the mortgage overpayment calculator. Another £50 a month would knock off 5 months. Tempting.

AgathaSquirrel

Getting unexpected £50 from Nationwide.

Had also forgotten I’ve given youngest £200 to put into her savings in the hope she is eligible for the Nationwide Fairer Payment (if it happens) so I actually have £200 more in savings for health related item than I realised. 2 more months and hopefully pay that off. I’d then like to save for a phone. I like photography and my current phone is rubbish. Also having to increase the text size and would probably manage better with a newer phone.

savingholmes

A decent phone camera is a huge win. Mine brings me so much delight.

How lovely to drop your mortgage by close to a third despite the circumstances of the gift that enabled your latest OP. You are doing well on Uni savings. I wish I'd been that organised. But then I don't have a wedding pot for my young adult kids either... It's difficult juggling all of the competing life goals. You seem to be doing well.

AgathaSquirrel

Having a bit of a rethink at the moment. Various expensive house jobs are required; small extension, new kitchen, garden landscaping, decorating. We might save our mortgage overpayments to get some of these jobs completed. The sooner we do them, the longer we enjoy them.

glass_half_full

Are you intending to stay in the house for the long term? If so I think it can make sense to do that. We neglected house maintenance and improvement to prioritise paying off the mortgage. Once we had paid it off we needed to spend money on those things. Had we done the improvements sooner we probably would have paid it all off at the roughly the same time but enjoyed the house for longer as you say 🙂.

AgathaSquirrel

I think we’ll be here for a while. My mindset was the same as yours in that I wanted the mortgage gone. Now we’re down to £44000, compared to £140,000 it seems more manageable and all the house things are looming. It would be nice if the teens could enjoy the improvements as well. I will probably start saving the overpayments and make a decision next year whether to overpay the mortgage or make home improvements. I might keep some small overpayments going… it’s quite addictive watching the numbers drop. Not sure I’m ready to give up the habit.

LadyWithAPlan

I am sure those who left you the inheritance would have loved that you used it so wisely. I think at present its hard to juggle spending vs OP's. Maybe you can do 50/50 and prioritise one project at a time that would give you and your kids the most value in terms of enjoyment?

debtfreewannabe321

We've got the same juggles going on and decided to just get on with getting the extension done now. That way the kids get to enjoy it. If I wait until the mortgage is paid off it will only be just my DP and myself and we won't need it. Right here and right now we need a new kitchen as it's falling apart and would love some more space downstairs including a downstairs loo....it's hard to prioritise though when so many things are screaming for money at once. Well done on getting the mortgage so low, without any OPs how long does it have left to run now? 

AgathaSquirrel

It will definitely be one project at a time. I will also need a new car in the next few years just to add that into the mix.

The mortgage term is long, another 12 years come September. I’ve always kept the term long and payments low to allow us to pay it on one wage if ever required. We will have paid it off before then though. I’m not still paying a mortgage into my 60s. Some form of balance is required. Smaller overpayments and bigger savings. Need to factor university costs into all of this as well. Plan A had the mortgage paid off while teen 2 was at university. I think we’ll be ok though. I’ll just need to go through the maths again.