We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
Saving, Living, and Ditching the Mortgage


Hey everyone!
Long time lurker. At my lowest I was here reading the SLLM posts hoping one day I will have my own mortgage and staying strong letting money sit and grow. These days I have my own mortgage on a lovely flat in a lovely city, almost half way through my 5yr fix now. Want to tackle the mortgage but hardly have any savings to comfortably kick things off.
My place, although almost exactly what I wanted, wasn't in the best state. I didn’t want to get into too much debt so have been saving and doing the works as I go, occasionally easing the cash flow with a 0% CC, PayPal Pay in Three, etc. I'm good at planning these and paying debt off so no issues. It's a 2 bedroom flat, and so far my wee office room was finished June last year, and just had the guys yesterday doing some final work in my bathroom, so this is now out of the way and I could not be happier. I've had around £10k saved up for the bathroom but topped that up with a credit card (0% until July 2026). In the meantime I've also received circa £1k bill from HMRC for some unpaid tax (I'm PAYE, my previous employer messed up some calculations) so the CC was there to again ease the cash flow on the bathroom reno. Worked out well, most of it is paid by now, have £3.2k left which I'm planning to tackle in the coming months. I'm also in the process of doing second year of my part time MSc degree - first year I've paid in full, this second year I'm paying by semester, still have two to go which is roughly £4k in total.
What I am struggling with is that I want to do it all at once. I want to overpay on the mortgage, do the renovations, save for so many things, top up my pension, get the ISA in shape, tackle student loan, etc etc. A wee holiday wouldn't hurt too but can wait. Last weekend I've read the Total Money Makeover book and what resonated with me is the idea of "diluting efforts" and not seeing the results when you're trying to tackle everything at the same time, and that when you're doing it solo, a job loss is 100% cut in household income. Well..
I know I can do well when I focus so I have decided to take the "go step by step" approach. When I was saving for the deposit, I was only saving for the deposit, main reason I did well. I just threw all the leftover money at the accounts (LISA and some saving account at the time). It wasn't much but it was growing nicely. Now it's just too many things all at the same time, £100 here, £200 there, £100 here, etc and I feel like it's all dragging and I'm getting nowhere. So the diary here is to keep me focused. I have a number of financial goals I want to achieve by the end of this year/early 2026, and hopefully the diary will help me to keep track of what is happening, step by step. Emergency fund takes the priority, while some money also gets funnelled to the MSc fund so I don’t have to touch the CC. I also have a solid budget and monitor my bills/spending in YNAB so I know where the money is going.
Welcome to my world and thank you for reading! Hopefully smooth sailing at least for 2025, wish me luck!
Mortgage: £173,700 Sep 22 £160,920 Apr 25
MF Date: Sep 52 Mar 52
2025 Goals:
1) EF2 #84 £4000/£10000
2) Pay off all your debts by Christmas 2025 #34 £2,400 to go
3) MFW25 #51 £1628.22/£5000
MFiT-T7 #5
Comments
-
To start things off, here is how things are looking right now:
- Current balance: £161,200
- Monthly D/D: £793.10
- Yearly interest: £6061.12
- Monthly interest: £505.10
- Weekly interest: £116.56
- Daily interest: £16.61
Key goals for now. Quite a challenge but let's see how far I can push! Payday next week so the list will be getting updated very soon.
- Save £10k in emergency fund: £4,000
- Get monthly interest under £500 (need balance below £158,000): £161,200
- Get mortgage down to £150,000: £161,200
- Pay off credit card: £3,200
Mortgage: £173,700 Sep 22 £160,920 Apr 25
MF Date: Sep 52 Mar 52
2025 Goals:
1) EF2 #84 £4000/£10000
2) Pay off all your debts by Christmas 2025 #34 £2,400 to go
3) MFW25 #51 £1628.22/£5000
MFiT-T7 #5
3 -
Welcome, and good luck with your efforts 😀! I have definitely decided over the years that I am much happier being a "snowballer" with my money than a "multiple potter" - it's the same amount of money, but psychologically it feels so much better!Mortgage start: £65,495 (March 2016)
Cleared 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️!!! In 5 years, 1 month and 29 days
Total amount repaid: £72,307.03. £1.10 repaid for every £1.00 borrowed
Finally earning interest instead of paying it!!!1 -
Thanks South_Coast! That's a great way to put it really!
Mortgage: £173,700 Sep 22 £160,920 Apr 25
MF Date: Sep 52 Mar 52
2025 Goals:
1) EF2 #84 £4000/£10000
2) Pay off all your debts by Christmas 2025 #34 £2,400 to go
3) MFW25 #51 £1628.22/£5000
MFiT-T7 #5
1 -
Happy shiny new diary.I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.
Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.1 -
Had my performance review this week - I'm told I'm doing great so I assume my job is safe for now. We've been through a restructure this quarter so I'm on a cautious side, especially as I have been made redundant few years ago, just at the start of pandemic. It was a horrible time, I was still fairly junior just 2-3 years into a new career path. Learned a lot from it though, I don't think I will ever feel fully secure in a job again. CV is always ready!
To "celebrate" this positive review and outlook for the next few months, I have sent £1,000 towards Mortgage (£280) and CC (£720). D/Ds are taken on the 1st so will be glad to see it going a bit down again soon. Considering getting the mortgage below £160k when next month's salary lands, even if it's just by a penny. I will also be spending around £2k end of this month on my studies, thankfully all saved up already in a separate pot. I need to start saving now for the final payment in July. £2k every 3 months, I absolutely cannot wait until all the payments are out of the way, this will free up so much money per month! Will be worth it though.
Progress:- Save £10k in emergency fund: £4,000
- Get monthly interest under £500 (need balance below £158,000): £161,200 £160,920
- Get mortgage down to £150,000: £161,200 £160,920
- Pay off credit card: £3,200 £2,480
Monthly interest now down to £504.22, reduction of £0.87...Eye watering but it is what it is!
Hope everyone has a fantastic Easter Holiday break! xx
Mortgage: £173,700 Sep 22 £160,920 Apr 25
MF Date: Sep 52 Mar 52
2025 Goals:
1) EF2 #84 £4000/£10000
2) Pay off all your debts by Christmas 2025 #34 £2,400 to go
3) MFW25 #51 £1628.22/£5000
MFiT-T7 #5
3 -
Go below the £160k, seeing a different number in the ten thousand column was a real boost for me this year. Best of luck with the journey.MFWB 2025 #35: £5,110 / £10,000
Prolific 2025 £187.50 / £500
Mortgage 1 Jan 2025: £63,215.87
Mortgage 1 Feb 2025: £61,655.16
Mortgage 1 Mar 2025: £60,635.55
Mortgage 1 Apr 2025: £59,422.35
Mortgage 1 May 2025: £58,164.352 -
Wowser redlipstick I am soo excited to be signed up to your diary and journey, it sounds like you have a lot of resources coming in, and a lot going out. Is it worth doing a SOA by any chance to see if anyone has ideas to save a bit more, subscriptions and grocery expenditure etc. It is not for everyone!
As you probably know from my diary I have halved my grocery expenditure out of neccessity which in time is a big saving lets calulate usually I spend £100 per two weeks that is £2600, half of this is £1300, meaning cha ching £1300 added to your pocket!
Anyhow I look forward to seeing you tackle all that you are facing and getting that lovely flat in shape - on that topic I svaed a bit doing DIY, I have recently redecorated my hallway, not only did I complete it to a good standard I saved quite a bit.
Good Luck, wishing good things for youXX
I am trying to raise £300 by 30.06.25 from Prolific and other sources, I am up to £113.45/£300 which is 37%1 -
Hi @RedLipstick, it's great to see you here and with a diary! I hope you find it helpful. I relate to never feeling quite fully safe in a job, especially when you are a one-income household. I appreciate you sharing this as it makes me feel less alone in how I feel too. One thing that makes me feel more assured with this, is keeping my skill setup, regularly keeping on top of CPD, keeping an eye out for new jobs, doing some volunteering on the side, seeing what's going on in the industry etc. This makes me feel more flexible and confident that I would, and could, earn money in a different industry if I needed to look further afield.I hear you on having multiple goals and wanting to do everything at once!! It sounds like you're at a life stage where a lot of competing financial goals have come together. Well done on narrowing it down to a key few.One thing that helps me is allocating a percentage to each pot depending on it's priority. So for example, if I have some extra money, 50% goes towards mortgage OP, 25% goes towards holidays/days out, 25% goes towards home improvements. This helps me in two ways: 1) When I get any extra money, I'm not dithering about how to spend it, the decision is already made. 2) The percentage reflects the priority (i.e. mortgage is the main), but I'm still acknowledging my need to have fun and to improve my home too.It's inspiring to hear your journey from reading SLLM on here and holding tight letting your funds grow, to having your own mortgage on your own place. A huge well done to you on this, it's no mean feat. When things feel a little overwhelming, and you're out of breathe from the financial treadmill of life - pause and remember just how far you've come already.
All the best for the diary, I will be cheering you on from the virtual sidelines (my sofa, with a hot chocolate).Debt = £8017/£8017 (100% paid - cleared 26th August 2020) Boiler Fund = £2500/£2500 (100% saved - 26th August 2021)Emergency fund = £5000/£5000 (100% saved - 5th Jan 2025) | Mortgage = £113,431/£132,469 (14% paid)Goal for 2025:1) MFW £2062/£30003 -
Hi @CrazyBee787 and @seventh88, thank you for your thoughtful and kind comments, and some great suggestions.I've been busy for the past few weeks and my sister was over for around 4 weeks, what a fun time we've had. We only meet few times a year, she lives abroad with her family and leads a pretty busy life as well so it was so good to finally spend some time just the two of us catching up over G&T!
Things never go to plan, do they?! Not long after posting about my amazing plans I got a hefty annual factoring bill for the 25/26. This year I'm trying to limit amount of direct debits and start paying annually so that's circa £1.7k gone. When my sister was over we also did a light touch reno, got rid of the wallpaper in the hall and repainted the walls, removed ugly old carpet and put a cheap laminate on the floor. Spend some money but saved loads on the two of us doing the work (mostly her though, she's much more handy than me, I was there as emotional support lol!). Looks good, just need to fit skirting boards and will look brand new. I am planning to get an electrician too to get my chunky sockets replaced and move them up. They currently sit maybe 5 cm above the floor.
I have managed to send some leftover money to my CC debt though so at least some movement towards 0 debt.I have checked the uni invoice and I think I can pay it in full. I'm going to save all I can from this month's pay and pay the outstanding MSc balance next month.
@seventh88I'm trying to incorporate the % split to my income too now, after reading yet another book. Just need to get rid of the uni payment so the budget will get back on track. I initially thought to put uni on a CC and then follow the budget but trying my best to minimise amount of debt this year and hoping to pay the uni from salary next month, I'm now only £1k short (and don't want to touch the emergency fund).
@CrazyBee787 SOA is a great idea. I think I will wait until the uni payment is out of the way (fingers crossed for the end of June) as it's really messing up my budgeting, and post uni SOA will reflect the money better. Dreading working through one though haha, there are so many random bits and pieces I spend on, Wickes and B&Q should have it's own category
Right, down to my latest numbers.
Progress:- Save £10k in emergency fund: £4,000 (no change)
- Get monthly interest under £500 (need balance below £158,000): £160,920 £160,600
- Get mortgage down to £150,000: £160,920 £160,600
- Pay off credit card: £2,480 £2,000
Thanks again all for your kind support, really appreciate! xxMortgage: £173,700 Sep 22 £160,920 Apr 25
MF Date: Sep 52 Mar 52
2025 Goals:
1) EF2 #84 £4000/£10000
2) Pay off all your debts by Christmas 2025 #34 £2,400 to go
3) MFW25 #51 £1628.22/£5000
MFiT-T7 #5
3 -
What's the interest rate on the student loan? If it's higher than the mortgage then I would definitely think about going for it - I know I hated mine with a passion!Mortgage start: £65,495 (March 2016)
Cleared 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️!!! In 5 years, 1 month and 29 days
Total amount repaid: £72,307.03. £1.10 repaid for every £1.00 borrowed
Finally earning interest instead of paying it!!!1
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.1K Spending & Discounts
- 243K Work, Benefits & Business
- 597.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.5K Life & Family
- 256K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards