More Effort Required - the next 5 years

SandyShores · 5 June at 6:22AM

Thank you @beanielou and @KajiKita I took the plunge and made the first overpayment and have now officially passed the 50% equity mark. Just letting that sink in when we purchased with a 5% deposit just 6 years ago. It will knock at least 6 months off the mortgage end date :)

Planning to make the next one next week if things go to plan. xx

Merlin's_Beard · 5 June at 10:19AM

That's an incredible amount of progress in a short amount of time!

SandyShores · 6 June at 8:10AM

Thank you @Merlin's_Beard :). I wish I'd kept a list of our overpayments to see how we did it. The old mortgage account seems to have disappeared from my current account but I'm sure we didn't make as many OPs as we wanted to. MrShores helped massively by taking a tax free sum from his pension, and not forgetting the value of our house rose about £60k helping the LTV. All these things happen that you don't plan for - good and bad I guess.

I remember we were close to 40% equity on the approach to remortgage time and were pushing through so we could get the best rate possible. That's why I'm now going to try my hardest to get this paid off by the end of our fixed rate in 4 years time! £48k a year feels an impossible task, but I've learned that the closer you get to target the easier it is to try hard for that last bit.

Yikes!! Aiming high though!!

AgathaSquirrel · 7 June at 8:56AM

Inspiring!

SandyShores · 11 June at 11:53AM

Done it, another £10k OPs made so we are now at £182k. Scary as our emergency fund is down to £1k, but should be back up again next month :)

SandyShores · 12 June at 6:28AM

Very pleased to see the mortgage come down in chunks. Another 'chunk' should arrive next month, although it might be paid off monthly, we will be able to OP the full 10% allowed. We're still in the fixed term, but will be keeping the same monthly payments.

Just looking at my last post and the scary feeling to 'only' have £1k EF. I remember when I started the baby steps in 2014 and was building up a £1k EF. We had about £20k+ of credit card debt plus a couple of car loans, big bills, no other equity and precarious employment - now that was scary! We've come a long way in 12 years, hard going much of the time but it was worth it.

Merlin's_Beard · 12 June at 10:33AM

amazing to look at how far you've come and what sort of payoff that has had!

SandyShores · 14 June at 8:21PM

Thank you Merlin's Beard. There was a time when I thought I'd been too frugal, but the more I pay off the debt mountain (well just the mortgage now) the more choices I seem to have - and that is an amazing reward.

We've been out in the garden today. We were thinking of paying a landscaper/gardener to do the work, but instead have decided to take our time and do it ourselves. There is still some hard work ahead (we need to get a load of decorative stone and some wood for a couple of areas) but its almost done and we must have saved hundreds of £££s. Plus its very satisfying to do it yourself. I love youtube videos for advice on pruning and planting too. We should be able to enjoy the rest of the summer soon.

SandyShores · 20 June at 9:02PM

Hoping to get a day in the garden tomorrow, to clear the area for the decorative stone and start laying down the weed control fabric. I'll then be able to measure the area more accurately to order the stone. Feels like slow work as we are doing it all in stages, but I'm excited to get this done and get the seating in place. I ordered a cushion for my new bench last month but it looks like it won't arrive until mid-July now, oh well c'est la vie :). I'm looking forward to being able to take a book into the garden and read in a quiet spot (weather depending of course).