Mortgage free by 50…. Hopefully!

Cambs_Chap

First ever forum post so here goes (apologies for the length)……

So, after being a casual MSE visitor over the past several years I happened to recently chance upon the Forums (which I never visited before - hanging my head in shame while writing this).

Reading the various MFW blogs and diaries has inspired me to knuckle down and be mortgage free by the time I’m 50 (currently just turned 40).

Family consists of me, my wife. We have 3 young children all under 6; DD1, DS1, DS2 - what on Earth were we thinking!!!

Our mortgage is roughly (need to edit with exact figures) £170k with a 15.5 year mortgage term left to pay, and with fixed monthly repayments of £1,100. 

To date we haven’t ever made any OP. We’ve talked about making OP occasionally in the the past but never really made a firm commitment to actually do it - crippling childcare costs have not helped either. 

I have compiled (what I think / hope is) a detailed monthly budget planner which includes mortgage repayments, bills, food shop, car repayments, fuel, nursery fees, school wraparound child care and holiday clubs, various kids clubs (ballet, swimming, tots football, etc), TV, phone, dental, contributions to a holidays, Christmas & birthdays pots, and have even factored in the rising energy costs and NI contributions from April. 

We also have a healthy emergency fund that covers the core essential costs (mortgage, household bills, etc) for 6 months so don’t need to build that pot up.

After factoring in all this, we have about £500 ‘disposable’ income left each month which covers any family days out, nights out (few and far between nowadays), takeaways (which we rarely have), treats, clothes, miscellaneous items, etc. - basically the things in life that are a bit more ad hoc rather than known, firm and regular monthly and annual commitments. Also going to track my NSD as well to help out.

I’d love to start putting as much of that £500 towards OP each month but know I’ll obviously be spending some of this each month. 

I have calculated that OP £500 each month should hit the 10 year mortgage free goal cutting 5 years off our mortgage. £500 should hopefully be easily achievable come September when we stop paying nursery fees for DS1 and he starts school.

Anyway, I feel I’m rambling on somewhat but I wanted to give as much detail as possible.

Wish me luck!!

Nurse2047

Good luck, sounds like you have a good plan. My goal is to be MF at age 50 also. Our kids would then be 18&17 in 7 years 😳😳 time flies 😢 bet you have a busy home however the most fun 🤩 

L9XSS

Good luck with your plan. Great target to have reducing your end of mortgage 5 years early. It’s  very achievable and will give you a great sense of satisfaction when you look back at the decision you made. I will follow your progress with interest. 

Cambs_Chap

Thanks both. I think / hope it’s a realistic goal. 

Life is definitely hectic, so much more so than just having two!!

We’re on holiday in Spain this week for half term but staying with my mum and step dad plus we have some Euros left over from our last visit so hopefully our expenditure should be fairly minimal

LadyGnome

Good luck and welcome.  Every little bit helps.  Enjoy your trip.

Mickyh-s

Good luck @Cambs_Chap.  I too live in Cambs and have a shiny new diary, but unfortunately, i'm not in Spain this week!

Cambs_Chap

Thanks @LadyGnome and @Mickyh-s.

Am going to find out exact amount we have left when back from holiday.

have been reading lots of diaries and excited to start our journey.

Cambs_Chap

Finally got round to finding out our mortgage balance. We have £170,122.05 left and 14 years and 7 months term. 

Definitely think we can shave the 4 years and 7 months off this. That’s the minimum target and hopefully more.

We’ve previously only known the outstanding balance once a year when we get our annual mortgage statement through. Sounds terrible really but now we’ve started our MFW journey we definitely need to be more on the ball about this sort of thing.

Counting down the days now until the end of month for our first OP.

Cambs_Chap

Forgot to mention that I embraced the MFW culture yesterday and made a huge batch cook bolognese yesterday. Managed to fill two freezer drawers (over 40 portions which includes some smaller portions for the children).

Worked out that the cost per portion is only £0.51. Once we add pasta or spaghetti to it it’ll probably work out to around £0.60-£0.65 pp so really chuffed with that little effort. 

Mickyh-s

40 portions - WOW! That's pretty impressive.

I am bolognese batch cooking on Sunday as cooking for my sister who is currently having a new kitchen fitted. Will cook extra for the freezer and will turn some of it onto chilli too.

Cambs_Chap

Good decision to turn some into a chilli. Bolognese is my favourite but even I might get a little bored of the amount I’ve cooked!!

Had an expensive day today. Generally because I’m WFH much more we can usually get away with filling up only one car each month. But needed to fill up both today which our new monthly MFW budget hadn’t accounted for. 

Hoping I can shuffle some money around to maximise our first ever OP at the end of the month.