I wanna be mortgage free!

twinklie

Right, after some long conversations we have looked at our finances and decided that we will wait till December to start trying. This will mean that we have moved house (hopefully) and will have bought all the major things we might need. Will have the opportunity to get the house organised and functional, enjoy a little time in a finished house just the two of us (no real stress).

And then come December we can start trying - it we get pregnant quick it'll be a september time baby (perfect for school). If we don't well, we can have plenty of fun trying in a lovely home with no pressures. We will know where we stand with the mortgage etc and all our finances.

Fortunately I'm still the right side of 30 and so we have a bit of time left if we end up having problems (fingers crossed we don't). Also gives me time to become more familiar with my cycle etc.

Right time to get myself organised for the day. Get my equipment orders for the week I get back sorted I reckon.

twinklie

Right, here goes nothing....I'm going to attempt to upgrade my phone and reduce my tariff at the same time. I've read through some of the O2 thread...but I'm so rubbish at pushing these things.

I did ask to get my insurance taken off but they never did...do you think I could use this as some sort of leverage?? Probably not.....

twinklie

Right I have this new deal (and the insurance has been cancelled).

Samsung G600
400 mins
1000 texts
O2 to O2 free calls
£20 cash back
£15 per month for 18 months.

And I get what I haven't used of this months sim only tariff refunded. Wow....much much cheaper.

I would dearly love a swankier phone like an Iphone...however I know the moment it went to school it would go missing. Therefore I think an older model and more mid range is less appealing to light fingers.

I always leave it in my coat pocket at school which stays in the workroom. However, a certain staff member does let kids access that room without supervision on occasion which worries me. So I think this is the safer option. Plus I won't be scared using this one out in public - unlike the Iphone (which I couldn't afford anyway and want purely for the gadget factor....lol).

I'm pleased with a £10 per month saving anyhoo.

twinklie

More good news....OH getting an extra £30 for tonights work. Woop woop.

StuartGMC

twinklie wrote: »

Right I have this new deal (and the insurance has been cancelled).

Samsung G600
400 mins
1000 texts
O2 to O2 free calls
£20 cash back
£15 per month for 18 months.

And I get what I haven't used of this months sim only tariff refunded. Wow....much much cheaper.[snip].

I'm pleased with a £10 per month saving anyhoo.

That looks like good value. I opted for the O2 xda Ignito once OH accidentally washed her mobile; she is PAYG so we have for some time handed down my contract phone each time I've upgraded. I have unlimited web browsing, 600mins and 1500 texts (I think) so tarrif is more than you but the access to news etc is something I actually use, unlike the bleeding texts 50 per month would be fine for my use as I still mainly use a phone for voicecalls and internet not sms.... For me the nice thing was getting the package with no phone cost then O2 withdrew it and released it again but on this occasion a month later they wanted £90 or so for the phone on the same deal

I need to do a bit more "smartly" with the phone now, Google maps is good, but there may be reason to add on a satnav software package (it has GPS built-in) but the screen would be quite small for use in a car.... yeh, my weak spot is a bit of tech!

Best wishes with finally resolving the house move.

twinklie

Updated my signature to account for the car debt now. Which has got me thinking as to whether I should move back to the debt free board. Realistically, until that debts paid off we are unlikely to start overpaying on the mortgage anyhoo. And then if we are starting to think of having a family.....

So now I'm thinking my thread is in the wrong place. Doh! All the best intentions and all that.

What do you guys think?

StuartGMC

Twinklie
I see no reason you should leave the board; credit card is coming down and looks just like a normal month to me (but we offset so cc runs a thousand or two each month), and you have a car loan plus the mortgage. If you won't save any money by paying back the car loan early then you may as well look at saving plus OP on the mortgage?

twinklie

Awww....thanks Stuart. Was just starting to wonder if I was a fraud by being on here. I've been talking about OP for so long now that it's starting to feel like something I just say!

It's just been one thing after another though, and I really do want to start OPing. I guess I just have to save until we know where we stand with the house. Don't wanna risk OPing if we are going to need the money to hand.

We do intend to pay back the car loan early too...but it's over 60 months so we just thought we'd wait until we know more where we stand with the mortgage etc before we even think of tying our money up in the car.

Plus when we do move we will need to by a fridge, freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, and a whole new kitchen and bathroom. As well as all the decorating. So wanna make sure we have some cash floating around for that if there are any good deals about. Can knock a fair bit off if you pay cash sometimes.

twinklie

OOOOh we've come up with an OP plan. We might be able to start paying £100 per month extra on mortgage.

My mum and dad are paying me back for a policy I had that matured when I was 18 that they spent and some money that my mum stole from me (long story). However, I never include it in the budget....only just realised! Doh!!

So, it's kinda like extra money as it doesn't get counted anywhere. Soooo....if we chuck it at the mortgage it all helps and we CAN actually start OPing. So I'm going to go onto a mortgage calculator later (when I dig out exactly what rate we are currently on) and figure out how £100 per month would affect the mortgage. I'm very excited!

Also the extra money we are saving to pay of the car loan is going into a high interest account because it doesn't save us any extra money paying extra each month. So would rather save that until we have the lump to pay it off. That way we'll have that (which is also extra money for emergencies) and be OPing the mortgage! Woo hoo....I knew holidays were good for something! :j

Now if only my new phone would arrive....

I also went to the dentists today and they said "teeth are fine and I've looked after them well". :T Another appointment in 6 months though! Boo.

twinklie

Ok so I've had a look over the figures and simply OP £100 per month would knock 5 years + off our mortgage term. It's only a 17 year term as it is....so that would bring it down to 12 years. I'm sure I could OP more in a year or two so that would hopefully bring it down further.

I also think that seeing it reduce quick would encourage the OH to join in with it and get it down even quicker.

Extra update
Showed OH the spreadsheet for OPing and he got excited about it too. :j So he's agreed that once the credit card is paid off he will continue to pay off £200 per month on the mortgage as though we are still paying off the credit card. OOOOOhhhhh soooooo exciting. I'm feeling like I have a right to post here again!

Going to make first OP on Thursday when we go to town for our opticians appointments.