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2008 MFW newbies

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  • I haven't been around this thread much for which I apologise. The reason is that the mortgage over payments haven't been going according to plan (in fact the mortgage balance had increased due to a holiday and new windows).

    Anyway even if it was going bad for me I should have given you guys some support.

    Anyway back on track this month and the total overpayment for the year now stands at £7010. Unlikely to hit the target but that was always very ambitious.

    Will pm you Bells to make it easier for you.
  • cake21
    cake21 Posts: 1,039 Forumite
    Thanks to everyone who posts on the thread, especially bellsbells, :T it's great inspiration and encouragement :j (particularly when people around me seem to keep remortgaging to up to 35 year terms :confused: )
    Huge well done to torbrex and TurnaroundSue! :beer:

    I'm hoping my shiny new number will help motivate me to find the remaining £1,885 to hit my target for 2008 - it's going to be very very hard, more realistically might manage £1,200 plus I haven't bought a single christmas pressie yet nor budgeted for the food! :eek:

    Do the rest of you find a "stretch" target, or a "realistic" target, or an "easy" target, the most motivating??
  • cake21
    cake21 Posts: 1,039 Forumite
    If i pay it off of our mortgage then it reduces the term another 2 years our making us mortgage-free in 8 years. sound good.

    But, whilst the children are still quite little i want to take them to Disneyworld so want to put some money back for that in a few years time.

    I don't have an offset mortgage, but all my overpayments go into an overpayment account unless I specify that I want to pay off capital. If yours is the same maybe you could overpay your mortgage to reduce the interest now AND take the money later to take the children to Disneyworld? :)
  • cake21 wrote: »
    Do the rest of you find a "stretch" target, or a "realistic" target, or an "easy" target, the most motivating??
    Good question. Rule out the Esay target - there's no joy in reaching a target that you knew would be easy when setting it.

    Personally I've gone for a "stretch" target based on de-motivation rather than motivation. Knowing that it's unlikely I'll reach my target is not de-motivating in itself. If I had set a realistic target and then failed I would have found that de-motivating.

    If I achieve my unlikely target then the champagne corks would be flying. I suspect that if I achieved my realistic target then I would be slightly downbeat thinking I might have made it too easy.

    I do know that the 2009 target will not be as high as the 2008 one but will be another "stretch" target for me.
  • cake21 wrote: »
    Do the rest of you find a "stretch" target, or a "realistic" target, or an "easy" target, the most motivating??

    Nice question.

    I tend to opt for realistic, achievable with effort in the medium term. If I succeed I feel happy, if I fail I think my judgement of realistic target was just off , slap hand must try harder.

    I also break it down into a few short term easy targets which are visible progress points that I can tick off on the road to the realistic one.

    A stretch target just seems to be a hard slog. I like time and a little luxury to enjoy life to prevent myself burning out over a few years. I find a few treats prevent any temptation to overspend.
    No longer half of Optimisticpair


  • cake21
    cake21 Posts: 1,039 Forumite
    Thank you for the replies Daft Pegasus and Optimisticpair. Unfortunately you're both convincing :rotfl: but it seems the key is "try hard but don't beat yourself up" :)

    I started off with a "realistic with some effort" monthly target and used that to set an annual target...a few missed months later...stretch target for the year! Before then, I had easy targets, which I didn't even meet because I thought "this is easy, I don't need to make an effort" :o
  • Di-Dough
    Di-Dough Posts: 306 Forumite
    cake21 wrote: »
    Do the rest of you find a "stretch" target, or a "realistic" target, or an "easy" target, the most motivating??

    I think I've definately gone for the "stretch" target and looking at my figures I don't think I will make it but anything is better than nothing if I did not have some kind of target I would still not be overpaying so :beer: to bells bells for this thread.

    Anyway another month is here and another overpayment made:j October is £109.28 taking total for year to £1,520.55 so I'm over half way to my target..... only two more mortgage payments to go before 2009:cool:

    Di
    Sealed Pot Challenge # 007
  • torbrex
    torbrex Posts: 71,340 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Rampant Recycler Hung up my suit!
    Got my settlement figure through today, £5925.36, it will be paid 13 October so 3 days earlier again than the date I set just a couple of weeks ago, it just seems to get earlier every move I make. My lender asked for the change of date so that it would not clash with my regular monthly payment, they did suggest a week later but I had my heart on finishing 9 years early so I brought the date forward instead.

    I still cant believe that I have done it, I just wish that I had got serious about overpaying sooner, who knows how much I would have saved in time and interest.
  • bellsbells
    bellsbells Posts: 743 Forumite
    Hi guys, I haven't forgotten you but the whole family has come down with a bug. We are all feeling pretty rough so the first post update for October might take a couple of days for me to do. I will do it as soon as I am feeling a bit more human!

    Bellsbells

    DFW nerd no = 281 (graduate)

  • bellsbells wrote: »
    Hi guys, I haven't forgotten you but the whole family has come down with a bug. We are all feeling pretty rough so the first post update for October might take a couple of days for me to do. I will do it as soon as I am feeling a bit more human!

    Bellsbells

    Hi Bellsbells,

    Hope you are feeling better soon.

    I have not been around much lately cos we got married over the summer and have been trying to deal with the wedding debts. We are still overpaying but not by as much as we would like to. Oh well every bit helps I suppose.

    Well done everyone else!!

    I'm a bit scared about the mortgage cos our fixed term ends June 2009 and they seem to be going up and up at the moment...think i need to read the mortgage guide soon!!:confused:
    [
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