Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!


Hi everyone!
So... 2049... yes, that’s the current end date for our mortgage and at that point I’ll be (gulp) 61 and my husband Red will be 64! I DO NOT want us still to be paying a mortgage in our 60s and so I’m starting this diary.
I’ve had a diary over on debt free wannabe for the last 8-9 months and it’s been so much fun writing it, but we are debt free now (mortgage and student loan aside) so now it’s time to focus on saving, investing and mortgage overpayments.
It’s a good time for a fresh start as our circumstances have changed quite a bit already in 2021.
On New Year’s Day I was a SAHM with zero intention of working for another 2-3 years - I was loving being at home with my two kids (DS5 and DD2), cooking & baking from scratch, trying with limited success to grow veg, learning skills like sewing and knitting etc.
About ten days later my old manager from my last job, three years ago, called me up totally out of the blue to ask me to apply for a job in her team. After much emotional turmoil I realised this opportunity was too good to pass up - it came with a promotion and the pay is good, I like the work and team, and I’m able to work from home and part time hours (finish at 3 and a Friday off).
I’m really enjoying being back and of course, even with childcare to pay, it’s still resulted in much more free cash for our family each month - we were only getting by before through very careful budgeting and strict frugality. We do hope to keep this up while using most of the increase in income to save and get ahead with our mortgage.
So a few facts about us, if you haven’t been on my old diary:
- we have two kids, Monkey who’s 5 and Bambi who’s 2
- we have three lovely chickens who help keep our egg bill down (though our chicken feed bill cancels that out!)
- we live in Glasgow
- my husband Red fixes and makes things as a hobby, mainly out of wood but he’s partial to using copper too, and he’s trained in gas & electric too through his work - so we are always doing random projects at home
- I LOVE to make endless lists and budgets so if you hang around here you will be subjected to a few!
And about our mortgage:
- as of today we owe £112,843.07
- interest rate 1.89% fixed til Feb 2025
- monthly repayment £421
- we bought the house 6 years ago for £155k (yes, we remortgaged the term up to 30 years again in 2019 which doesn’t sound sensible but we were struggling with the payments on one salary) and I think it’s worth roughly £170-175k now.
I’ll do a rough budget below though I use YNAB, which encourages flexible budgets, so it does vary each month as we move money between categories. This two income budget is new to us too so there will no doubt be some changes!
Lose 21lb: 5/21lb
Original mortgage end date: Dec 2049
Mortgage balance Feb 21: £112,843
Part time working mum to DS5 & DD2, married for 6 years and lover of all things frugal and minimalist
My mortgage free & frugal living diary
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DEBTS
Mortgage debt: £112,843.07
Savings:
Help to save accounts: £300 (we put the maximum £50 a month each into our own, they aren’t long opened)
Stocks & shares LISA: £110 in it currently (DD set up for £50 a month)
We do have workplace pensions with not huge amounts in but we’re in our 30s so hopefully can boost these going forward!
We have one (pretty old) car with no finance on it; Red drives an employer-provided van for work.
Short term savings/sinking funds:
Emergency fund: £340 (aim is to get this to at least £1,000, probably £2k, before starting to overpay the mortgage)
Car bills & repairs/replacement: £259
Gifts & Christmas: £72.81 (it’s Red’s birthday this weekend so have just raided this)
Holiday: £200 (have a local holiday in a lodge in Scotland booked in the summer, hoping it can go ahead)
Rough monthly budget:
INCOME £3,400-£3,600
Red’s salary: £1,900-£2,100
My salary: £1,350
Child benefit: £140 every four weeks
FIXED BILLS £1,577
Mortgage: £421
Childcare: £575
Life ins: £36
Lifetime ISA: £50
Gas & electric: £115
Internet & TV license: £37
Council tax: £153
Help to save: £100
Phones: £90
FLEXIBLE SPENDING £690-820
Food: £300-£350
Household/pet: £60-70
Petrol: £60-70
Kids: £20-30 this is pocket money, any bits I buy them like books, would include activities and outings like soft play but we can’t do that anyway so it will increase when activities open again
Me: £50-£60
Red: £200-250 (he vapes and likes a couple of beers in the evening; also often includes project stuff and clothes for him, random bits he buys for the house and doesn’t reclaim from the joint funds; his account is a bit of a black hole!)
Misc: just catches random bits, I don’t tend to budget in this unless I need to
FUTURE (sinking funds) £620-£670
Gifts: £150
Car: £150 bills like insurance plus money for repairs, also building this up as a replacement fund
House: £50 insurance plus any random maintenance, we tend to save for redecorating or similar as it’s own fund when needed
Garden: £20-40 but don’t usually put anything in during the winter
Holiday: £200
Subscriptions: £20 YNAB, Amazon Prime, Disney+
Health: £10-£20 dentist/optician - haven’t actually funded this yet as it’s a new category
This leaves around £300-700 to budget for goals depending on income and what else is going on that month eg this month I paid for a Scottish Gaelic course I’ve been doing over zoom so that was £60.
Current goals are:
WISHES & GOALS
- Emergency fund
- Mortgage overpayment
- Conservatory
- Then we are aiming to pick one small goal at a time - currently it’s a new bed for my son.
Currently we are prioritising the emergency fund until it gets to be a bigger amount but I hope to start making mortgage overpayments soon!
Lose 21lb: 5/21lb
Original mortgage end date: Dec 2049
Mortgage balance Feb 21: £112,843
Part time working mum to DS5 & DD2, married for 6 years and lover of all things frugal and minimalist
My mortgage free & frugal living diary
Lose 21lb: 5/21lb
Original mortgage end date: Dec 2049
Mortgage balance Feb 21: £112,843
Part time working mum to DS5 & DD2, married for 6 years and lover of all things frugal and minimalist
My mortgage free & frugal living diary
Mortgage end date Dec 2045 - NOT!!!!
Mortgage balance end of January 2021 - $32,800.00
Hope to be mortgage-free by 2023
@LeighofMar hear hear! Definitely want to get it paid off much sooner, hopefully before 50 if not before, and want to be in a position I could retire by 60 if I want to (not 68 which is my current state pension age). Also that’s amazing progress on your mortgage!
Lose 21lb: 5/21lb
Original mortgage end date: Dec 2049
Mortgage balance Feb 21: £112,843
Part time working mum to DS5 & DD2, married for 6 years and lover of all things frugal and minimalist
My mortgage free & frugal living diary
Got the most enormous pile of forms from Bambi’s new nursery to fill in today, yawn. And need to bake Red’s birthday cake for tomorrow and make a card from me/supervise Monkey making one for the kids.
Lose 21lb: 5/21lb
Original mortgage end date: Dec 2049
Mortgage balance Feb 21: £112,843
Part time working mum to DS5 & DD2, married for 6 years and lover of all things frugal and minimalist
My mortgage free & frugal living diary
At least you have the money for the gas and electric.