Knocking years off the mortgage…that’s the goal!

Sammie_1985

Good morning! 

So thought it was time I started a diary so I can keep track of progress we have made. Bought our home in 2019 with a £240000 mortgage. Consistently overpaid £100 a month for the last 4 years and now starting to tackle the mortgage seriously, we are able to overpay around £600 a month so we are clearing 2 months every month! Woohoo. 

I also aim to round the mortgage down to a nice even number at the end of the month before mortgage payment comes out on the 1st again. We have 22 years and 1 month left and are currently on 3.89% for the next 3 1/2 years (feel very lucky we got such a good deal at the time!) 
mortgage is now sitting at £192,800 and if we continue to pay £600 a month in overpayments we can clear our mortgage in 12 years which is 10 years early!! I’ll be 50 and hubby will be 55 by then. Obviously life isn’t always as easy as that and we may not always be able to throw extra money at the mortgage but having a plan and goal is helping me. Sometimes I go through phases of feeling ‘meh’ about how much we still have left to pay, so thought if I start a diary I can look back and see the progress we’ve made. A few years ago I would’ve loved to have seen the figures we are at now so I need to remind myself slow and steady wins the race. 

Current mortgage - £192,800
Mortgage OP in Oct - £637.80
Current LTV - 52.82% 

edinburgher

All the best - 2 months every month is fantastic!

Sammie_1985

edinburgher said:

All the best - 2 months every month is fantastic!

Thank you! 

Kicking myself we didn’t start overpaying more earlier when we were on a lower % but we were lucky enough to be able to spend the extra money on doing the house up. We’ve upgraded our kitchen, bathroom, ensuite, new carpets, garden, fence, front door and had shutters fitted. Only ‘big’ job we are planning for next year is to change all internal doors, this will come from our savings. Luckily hubby is in the trade industry so saved thousands by doing a lot himself. His mate is a carpenter so he will be fitting the internal doors. Very lucky! 

Another plan for next year is to get our savings back up. We lent DS2 some money to buy a new (to him) car earlier this year but he’s paying us back each month so that is transferred back into our saving each time. 

We’ve also had a Gousto box delivered weekly for the last 2 months, I’ve found its saving us money as I’m not ‘popping’ to the shop and spending £30 each time! And it’s also got me back into cooking which I’m really enjoying. 

Didn’t think it would work out cost effective for us but it actually has and we have hardly any food waste at the end of each week which is a big bonus. 

Quiet day in today as it’s half term, older 2 both working but have youngest at home. Need to catch up on some ironing and the never ending washing which will then create more ironing! 

Sammie_1985

Managed a NSD today…yay! 

Caught up with washing and ironing. Looking forward to a nice one pot chicken thigh meal tonight which is currently bubbling away in the oven. 

Youngest has holiday club tomorrow at his school from 8.30-4.30 so I’ll pop to the shops for some last minute Halloween bits for dinner on Friday and a few top up bits, hoping to spend under £50 but with today’s food prices who knows! Haha. 

Transferred £16 from my Vinted account into bank account, usually I leave the balance in there but we’ve got all our autumn/winter bits now so rather it was in my bank. 

Sammie_1985

Spent £60.66 on shopping. Grabbed some cat food that was on offer so that saves me getting it next week as we were running low, pushed me a bit over the £50 I wanted to spend but not too bad. 

Youngest is now at holiday club for the day and it’s raining down south so going to pop the shopping away and start the daily cleaning jobs. Hoping to read a bit more on my kindle before I pick him up later. 

Off to London on Monday with hubby for a few nights whilst youngest is on a school trip but spending money has been transferred over to our monzo card so hopefully a few LSD’s before we go. 

Sammie_1985

Just checked my online mortgage account for this time last year and realised we have paid £11,288.47 off the capital in a year 🙌🏼 and that was with only 8 months of being strict with overpayments. 

Should have 24 years and 9 months left on mortgage currently at 22 years and 1 month. Roll on Monday when it brings us down another 2 months with the overpayment. 

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary. You are doing well. 

Sammie_1985

beanielou said:

Happy shiny new diary. You are doing well. 

Thank you. 

Plodding along slowly but we will get there! 

Sammie_1985

Youngest at holiday club for the morning again so just got home from dropping him off. Feel like I need a bit of a declutter before Christmas arrives so may try and work out a plan for that. Luckily we don’t have ‘loads’ to sort so shouldn’t take too long…..famous last words! 

Planning a LSD today, I didn’t realise we needed milk yesterday so I’ll grab some whilst I pick youngest up. Need to try his wellies on today and if they don’t fit I’ll order the next size up from Am@zon. School trip on Monday so need to make sure I do this today! 

Sammie_1985

£1.75 spent on milk today so a very LSD 😀 
tried youngest’s wellies on and they fit…yay! 

Need to do my am@zon stock up this weekend on dishwasher tablets, shampoo and conditioner. Oh and I need a new eyebrow pencil! 

Having another Gousto meal tonight but looking forward to our Halloween picky tea tomorrow. Oldest 2 will probably be out at the pub but youngest will hopefully enjoy it. He’s 13 but has autism so he’s very young at heart! ❤️ hopefully he decides he wants to go trick or treating so we can take him out for a bit in the evening. 

Philliggi

Good morning Sammie. Just thought id pop in to say have you considered investments?

£600 is a fair chunk of money. I, like you have always believed in overpaying and while not being anywhere near able to afford £600,  I am currently sat at £6500 over paid. 

Ive made the decision to take all that out of overpayments and invest it into an ETF with a potential growth of 12%. If it underperforms i can probably expect 6% return. 

Of course there will be ups and down, and investments are probably a little more stressful than overpayments, but even with a pooly performing investment it outperforms returns on overpayments. 

Think of your overpayments as an investment returning 3.89%. That's basically the interest you are saving having paid that proportion of the loan back. 

So if you overpay £100, your gaining £3.89.
However if you invest that £100 your potentially earning between £6 and £12.

Don't think of it as playing the stock market. Im talking long term 10/15/20 year investments in ETF's. Im in a vanguard global isa (tax free) but another portfolio may work better for you. 

Just something to consider. Its work goggling, or asking AI to explain.