JJs Mortgage Free Journey

MFW2024

Well another week gone and in to a new one!

Downloaded the Money hub app after reading a few good reviews and starting to think about bringing everything together in one place, I'm not the most organised person!

 Also thinking about a budget for the family but as I said earlier would be completely new for us as a family and doesn't feel essential, but from everything the "experts" seem to say it's a key tool to getting to your goals. Wonder if anyone else does this?

South_coast

How do you manage your money currently? Do you feel as though there is money for everything you need/want, you don't have any consumer debt and you are achieving your longer-term goals as well? If so, great, and no you don't need a budget. If not, or you feel you could do better, then it's worth looking at. 

Do you set aside money for your longer goals straight after payday, or wait to see what's left before the next one? The best phrase I've heard for summing this up was "Tell your money where to go, instead of asking where it went". A budget is just about setting priorities, it doesn't necessarily need over-thinking 

MFW2024

Thanks for your thoughts . Based on your comment above I probably don't need a budget, I suppose the longer term financial goals we hadn't really finalised and a budget may help us get there quicker / more easily, but might be something I start thinking about as a new year challenge! 

On this note, it's been a long month and definitely felt like an expensive one. We are away at Christmas and paid for a lot of expenses relating to that and also booked a last minute half term break so a big chunk of cash has gone, but hopefully going towards great memories! 

MFW2024

Been a couple of weeks since I last posted. It was half term so we took the children to Dorset, what a lovely coastline !

We also booked our trip for October next year and have 'got ahead' of some chunks so that could be really helpful next year.

On the Mortgage Journey I've decided to increase my payments to £600 overpayment per month and then try and save for a big annual lump sum payment towards it. That way feels like have bit more control and still on our way to being Mortgage Free! All that said,  have been thinking how paying an extra 24k per year feels very daunting, but that saving that amount doesn't feel as daunting! I guess it just feels like it's going somewhere and not ours any more, and just need to change that mindset?

JJ

South_coast

Would it help to reframe it that your home isn't really yours, it mostly belongs to the bank, and by making the payments you are slowly taking over control and making it your own?

LadyWithAPlan

Hi - you asked for some tips - it’s worth reading diaries in here as some great advice - some like @caeler and @Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS actually tracked a lot what they did to get their mortgages paid off - 

Have you thought of drawing a graph based pic of your home divided into squares say of £500 and colour in the square footage or amount you currently own and then as you pay down your mortgage you can colour each square in and do a happy dance with your OH - you get to colour it in monthly with the normal Principal and it’s good for the kids later to see such a huge goal being worked on 

it’s a great visual reminder of a big but doable goal 

think a monthly OP so you feel like you are gaining traction plus saving in a HR acct to then make annual payments and gives freedom - of course you are paying tax on your savings as I am so unless you are wanting to lock the savings into the S&S then OPs can also make sense 
I assume your ISAs and Premium bonds are full 

on the budget m, the app YNAB is game changing for many inc  me for building wealth - I am nearly a year in using it and lucky to live with extra cash and it has really shown me my priorities, stopped excess spending in areas where it feels like a waste and my savings and sense of peace and control re money have really risen - it’s not a budget tracker but a focused way for you to decide then spend then reflect 
You can also add the mortgage in and it will track it, show you what extra payments will do to the finish line etc 


If you try it watch the set up videos - there’s a 34 day trial for free and if you have a referral code it’s another free month off (dm me if you want mine) 

MFW2024

LadyWithAPlan said:

Hi - you asked for some tips - it’s worth reading diaries in here as some great advice - some like @caeler and @Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS actually tracked a lot what they did to get their mortgages paid off - 

Have you thought of drawing a graph based pic of your home divided into squares say of £500 and colour in the square footage or amount you currently own and then as you pay down your mortgage you can colour each square in and do a happy dance with your OH - you get to colour it in monthly with the normal Principal and it’s good for the kids later to see such a huge goal being worked on 

it’s a great visual reminder of a big but doable goal 

think a monthly OP so you feel like you are gaining traction plus saving in a HR acct to then make annual payments and gives freedom - of course you are paying tax on your savings as I am so unless you are wanting to lock the savings into the S&S then OPs can also make sense 
I assume your ISAs and Premium bonds are full 

on the budget m, the app YNAB is game changing for many inc  me for building wealth - I am nearly a year in using it and lucky to live with extra cash and it has really shown me my priorities, stopped excess spending in areas where it feels like a waste and my savings and sense of peace and control re money have really risen - it’s not a budget tracker but a focused way for you to decide then spend then reflect 
You can also add the mortgage in and it will track it, show you what extra payments will do to the finish line etc 


If you try it watch the set up videos - there’s a 34 day trial for free and if you have a referral code it’s another free month off (dm me if you want mine) 

This is great advice thank you. I will certainly start off by giving those 2 diaries a read, then Potentially go with the YNAB or similar app - but as I've said at the moment I'm not sure we can do that in a great way.

What's also dawned on me this week is how our circumstances could change for the better - we have a 2.5 year old with childcare costs and my OH does 3 days a week now - this could be a 1.5k swing at least for us!