Mortgage free mayhem

beanielou

Cats are food for the soul. 

LadyWithAPlan

Ooh a new kitten what joy! 

Good going on your goals - have you set a date to get your loan paid off and also get that EF up- having easy access cash for say 3 months essentials does mean when stressful things happen at least you don’t need to worry re the money portion. When one is panicking or stressed as you understandable would be with your dad having surgery that’s when we all make bad short term decisions or have phone problems 

Really helps me sleep at night my EF! 

debtfreewannabe321

Congrats on all the over payments Mathilde you've done an amazing job so far. Very inspiring to someone like me who's yet to make her first overpayment yet!
Happy new kitten & new year! 
Good luck with your monthly goals DFW321

Coffeekup

Good work you've done well in the last few months.
Personally I would slow down take a breather and stop the mortgage overpayment fixation, and stop the overpayments for a few months. Get your loan paid off and have £3-6k in savings again. Because your only paying interest on loan, you may as well be getting interest on an your emergency savings make things work more in your favor. Then crack on with the overpayments.

We've all been there when the savings takes a hit, but that's what they are for.
Years ago I used to have all my savings in one account and felt so demotivated when I dipped into it. It took me a few year's to figure out I needed a number of savings accounts, so if I dipped into them not to get upset as that's what the savings were for.
So now I have a number of savings accounts for..
1. Breakdowns... I.e. a new washing machine.
2. Holidays
3. Christmas and birthdays.
4. Clothing/monthly treats.
5. Savings - which ideally never gets touched.
The first 4 accounts I budget what I anticipate it'll cost for the year and add 10% and then divide by 12 so I know what to pay in each month, anything left then goes into 5. Then if savings in no.5 was at a level I felt comfortable with I would then overpay the mortgage.

I too got fixated on overpaying the mortgage, some months I couldn't manage to pay what I wanted/planned to, it frustrated me no end.
Eventually I learned as I read on the forums... It's not a race it's a marathon.
So I payed £33 for example to bring the total balance owed down to the nearest double or treble zero, on the months I struggled.

I wish you all the best and I'm sure you'll get this payed down... However as another poster said get yourself relaxed with a good savings buffer first, as unexpected things always crop up.

mathilde

Hey, good morning everyone!

Thanks for reading, and for the helpful responses.

My little kitten is settling in. She and my existing cat are now best friends 💓 

The mortgage seemed like such an impossibly huge sum when I first got it. It's exciting to see it go down.

I've been working a lot, taking all the overtime I can plus contract work.

Savings now up to £900.

Still got a £210 overpayment into the mortgage this month.

One thing I really need to address is the *food and treats* overspending. When I've worked a long day, especially travelling, I tell myself, "Oh I need a treat, an emotional support beverage for the train journey". Forgot to make a sandwich so hey, just buy one at Tescos. A protein bar to keep me going.  It really adds up. So, goals for Feb, no particular order:

1. Only buy coffee/sandwich/etc treats on a Friday.
2. Get more cardio in. 
3. Get EF up to £1200
4. Take the stairs at work.

Peace out. X

debtfreewannabe321

I'm working on my EF before hitting the mortgage OP too hard. I have set myself mini goals so I wanted to reach £500 on my EF before end of March and I've already done that 😁. I have used TT and anything I've sold to go in there as well as budgeting a savings amount each month.

For the rest of the month if I have any TT or I sell anything I will send it straight to the mortgage OP instead. 

Then next month I am aiming for £500 more into the EF to take me up to £1000.... hopefully that will only take a couple of months to reach too. Once I have over £1500 in there I will be concentrating more on overpayment of the mortgage. For now though I have £300 set up each month into a high interest savings account for the OP so I have allocated some income there regularly. It's a tricky balance isn't it to make sure we cover ourselves in an emergency and also try and get rid of our biggest debt - the mortgage! Good luck with your Feb goals 

mathilde

Hi everyone! Mortgage now at £76,467.

Ideally it would be good to get it down to £74K by July, then I would have knocked off £10K in one year.

Reviewing goals from last month:
1. I brought my own lunches to work all month. With the coffees I did slip a few times but at least the coconut chai latte is no longer a daily occurrence. 
2. I got more cardio in. Even just 20 min jogging here and there makes a big difference. 
3. EF down to £500, see below.
4. Lift broke at work so I had to take stairs!

My work paid for a course in another country (just a brief three-day course around a special interest of mine). My deal with them was that if they paid for the course I'd get myself there, so I  paid £400 for flights and accommodation.  No regrets--it's an area of the world I've never been to and I'm flying on Monday woop! 

Got a measly £100 overpayment into the mortgage.

Worked a lot over overtime this month at both jobs, so goals for next month:
1. Get EF to £1000
2. Eat a green vegetable at least once a day
3. Try commuting by bus once a week instead of train (50% cheaper than train).

South_coast

mathilde said:

2. I got more cardio in. Even just 20 min jogging here and there makes a big difference. 
4. Lift broke at work so I had to take stairs!

Taking the stairs also excellent cardio!

Now wondering how I can convince my work to send me abroad 🤔!

mathilde

Hi everyone!

Mortgage now at £75889. Got £200 overpayment in. However also had to remortgage because the term ended, so the interest rate has doubled. Yikes.

I had an amazing work/interest trip last month. No regrets. 

Got the EF up to £1000 so that's something.

In terms other goals, I ate green veg and got cardio in, but did I take the bus to work instead of the train?! No, not once! Some sort of anxiety about being late. Train takes 20 min whilst bus takes 45 min. Still, it could be a big savings if I take it even once a week.

So for this coming month:
1. Take bus once a week.
2. Take lunch in to work.
3. Put £500 into mortgage

mathilde

Hi everyone! 

A good month!

I've been loads better about bringing lunch in to work and took the bus nearly once per week.

I wasn't sure how I'd afford an overpayment this month but then by a miracle I got notice from the building management company that some renovations had come in under budget, so I got a service charge refund of £590! I put that straight into the mortgage, plus £100.

So the mortgage is now at £74989.

Goals for the coming month:
1. See if I can get another £500 overpayment in
2. Attend more Pilates classes
3. It sounds silly but I've been working on getting my spilts--so let's see if I can get them by this time next month.