£200,593 to go

pebbles01

Hopefully the title is self-explanatory.  My mortgage is over 31 years and just fixed at 5.42%.  I'm doing this all alone and there is limited opportunities to overpay due to my salary and lack of chances to increase it.  My house also needs a lot of improvements!

I feel a bit of an imposter here, as it'll be a max of £100 overpayments per month, but as Tesco say...every little helps..

LadyWithAPlan

Welcome
 I am probably more of an imposter than you as I dont have a Mortgage yet to OP - saving the deposit ...
Every little does help and I am sure you will pick up tips here - I certainly have and its a great community to keep going on what does seem like a Goliath task.

auntiemicmic

Hi, I'm new here and in a similar position. Mortgage over 30 years and rate isn't far off yours but I can't remember it exactly without looking. 

Good luck with your journey

debtfreewannabe321

pebbles01 said:

Hopefully the title is self-explanatory.  My mortgage is over 31 years and just fixed at 5.42%.  I'm doing this all alone and there is limited opportunities to overpay due to my salary and lack of chances to increase it.  My house also needs a lot of improvements!

I feel a bit of an imposter here, as it'll be a max of £100 overpayments per month, but as Tesco say...every little helps..

Good luck @pebbles01 I am making slightly larger OP than you, but not by much! If you play around with the mortgage OP calculator even £50 can make a difference! DFW321  

AgathaSquirrel

I love the overpayment calculator. It’s a real motivator to see the difference a small overpayment can make. Keep going, you will start to notice the difference.

hellosupernova

Wishing you well on your journey. Every little helps for sure. 

pebbles01

Thanks everyone for the welcome.  I agree completely with the overpayment calculator - even a small overpayment can make such a difference!  

@LadyWithAPlan - you will get there   Picking up the keys is such a scary feeling.  I remember walking around my home thinking what on earth have I done?  I didn't even notice the shiny silver wallpaper in one bedroom in 2 viewings.  Now, I'm 2 years in...there's still a lot to do, but it's home..

I very much feel it's trying to find a balance.  I still have more to do in terms of improvements, but want to start overpaying.  I think I'll overpay £100 each month and then anything else can go towards improvements.  The first job is wisteria removal, which hopefully I can do next month.  

Sistergold

Oh hello @pebbles01, there are no imposters, every journey begins with a step. I am currently only overpaying by £50 🥳. Will
be cheering you on! 

pebbles01

@Sistergold thank you I wasn't sure if I'd be welcome because I can only make small overpayments!

pebbles01

I'm going to try and keep the diary up to date, but there won't be much to say!  This month is a bit of a weird one.  I've switched mortgage providers and the new one hasn't taken a payment in January, but obviously a much bigger payment due on the 24th February.  Cash flow feels a bit all over the place, even though I've moved the money to a separate account.  

I've got various aims this year...try and increase my easy access savings to £10k...currently £8.5k so should be achievable.   Savings are in premium bonds, so hopefully a few £25 wins will help!

I also need to be realistic about what I can achieve in terms of home improvements.  I need to remember that Rome wasn't built in a day.  

A quiet afternoon planned..l celebrated a friend's birthday a little too much yesterday, so planning on watching some of the FA Cup and trashy TV later!  That's moneysaving at least.  

pebbles01

Well I made a mistake saying there won't be much to say!  I'm now (well my savings) £1,633 poorer, due to the need to replace the dishwasher and oven.  The dishwasher I knew about before Christmas.  I went to use the oven on Monday and that didn't work.  Although I could have got someone out to look at repairing it, I didn't think it was worth it.  I've no idea how old it is, but parts of it didn't work properly when the previous owners moved in, which was in 2015 (they left a list of useful information, and what I needed to do to it in the event of the power cut).  It was clearly really old, so I've bitten the bullet and ordered.  I did go through Topcashback, and promise to put the cashback to the mortgage when it arrives!

I think I'll be living off pasta in February!