Mortgage free wannabe - haven't bought our house yet!

sink_or_swim

We have owned houses before but moved location and are currently renting. We have had an offer accepted on a property and I'm trying to decide on a mortgage term that will help us in our quest to be mortgage free (ideally before my oldest child starts university in 9 years time).
We are borrowing quite a bit less than the maximum allowed so I'm thinking of having a much shorter term to get it all paid off quicker. If we go for a longer term then we will only be able to overpay by 10% and we will probably want to overpay by more than that (but we could always save the extra and pay off a massive chunk at the end of the fixed term - is this more sensible?)
I'm struggling to figure out where the balance lies. I don't want to commit to payments that are too high. Realistically, how much should I build into a budget to allow for increases in household running costs?
Any advice?

here_for_the_tips

Love the plan. Wish I could go bac a decade and do the same. I am very unconventional in my own approach to overpaying the mortgage to get rid of it ASAP after years of failing but for the bills etc question have you got your emergency fund at 100%? 3 to 6 months full expenses covered plus "disaster" fund (hole in the roof / fence blown away etc)? 

sink_or_swim

We are well into our 40s so don’t have the luxury of a massive amount of time until we’d like to retire. Seems like you’re doing amazing at paying it off though!
We will be using most of our money on the purchase but we are keeping some cash in ISAs. We really don’t want to use that but could if there was a massive emergency. We are also keeping 50k of premium bonds back which we’d be happy to cash in if needed as we can always repurchase them.

here_for_the_tips

Thank you. Finding the balance is tricky, I've really had to force myself this year to actually make inroads into the mortgage.

"we could always save the extra and pay off a massive chunk at the end of the fixed term - is this more sensible?" For me yes and I wish I had stuck with this plan years back and maybe next year I'll follow suit. 

Alien to myself, no research into it but at the start of my MFWB journey a fellow forum poster suggested looking at an offset mortgage as well as an option that may suit if you're planning on saving on a regular basis.

Whatever you decide best of luck on the journey and happy new property day when it comes!

sink_or_swim

Offset might be a really good idea for us actually. Thank you!