How to become mortgage free on a low income

mirry

Hi , just wondered if anyone had any good tips on how to lower my mortgage whilst on a low income , when I have read storys on here people seem to be able to throw huge amounts of money at their mortgage, but due to poor health this is not the case for me . Any ideas much appreciated.

thanks .

Di-Dough

I have a "Mortgage Pig" which gets change thrown into it and when it starts to feel heavy gets cashed in and thrown at the Mortgage:D

Di

Daft_Pegasus

Have a read through all the other area's on this site as well as this one. There are some great threads for either increasing your income or reducing your expenditure.

• There's some easy money to be made which is detailed in the Gambling Loopholes forum.
• The Quidco thread is useful for cashback for when you do have to buy something.
• There's information on Cashback credit cards
• There's detailed information on Stoozing

All of these, if done correctly and properly, are risk free, but take your time to read through the threads on the forums in question rather than jumping in feet first - it will take some time but you'll learn a lot.

Jonbvn

Although you may struggle to increase your income, you should look at ways to reduce your costs. There are several boards on this website, which offer fantastic advice.

Some issues to consider:

Utilities costs
Telephone & Internet costs.
Food bills.

Have a look over on the DFW board. They currently have a challenge going to live on 4k for a year.

[Deleted User]

So much good advice already - and loads more advice on this website.

What helps me - reduced our costs by doing more cooking and freezing in bulk (we eat a lot of home-made soups, stews and curries); shopping in markets (rather than supermarkets - or when I do use these, have mainly switched to their budget ranges); buy vegetables in season only (always cheaper); grow a few vegetables if you have the space (especially herbs which are horrendously expensive) - even one wigwam of runner beans gives loads of produce; I no longer buy books (use the library) or magazines; we're about to give up running our car; I have a present box for xmas and birthdays and put things in it when I see them reduced, including cards. (This really helped me this xmas).

Do you work part-time or shift work? You can get your hair cut on training days at nice salons for a fraction of the usual price (usually only during the day) or at your local "beauty" college.

Also - don't forget to go through your house and identify items you can sell that you don't need anymore.


However - I would suggest that the FIRST step is to keep a detailed record of your spending over the next month (minimum) then set yourself a new budget. Use the info on this website to work out how you can reduce everything - nothing is sacred, (almost) everything can be reduced!


Keep reading this board; ask for more help if you need it (in any of the various categories).

esthomizzy

If you have any spare rooms you could rent them out and let the lodger pay part of the mortgage.

lunasaver

Hi there

I'm a single mum and I rent out my spare room (dd sleeps with me)
I have just reduced my mortgage term from 21 to 10 yrs:eek: but I feel with help of ebay etc its manageable. There are lots of tips on the make £10 a day in Feb challenge over on the debt board, you really can make a bit with surveys, clicks etc...

Good luck

LS

ecoelle

Hi there. I'm trying to cut down our mortgage on a very low income and have found a piggybank does the trick

We stopped using debit cards and only use cash for weekly spending, we devised a budget using the planner on here and then decided what the weekly spend would be. We setled on 40 for the week for food and smokes. Everything else is direct debit. Then at the end of the week (every sunday) anything left out of the 40 goes in the piggy bank. Have you checked out the mortgage overpayment calculators on here? I found i could cut the mortgage by 7 years just by paying £50 extra a month. Good luck

cupid_s

When we were on quite a low income last year we took in lodgers and this enabled us to overpay the mortgage still. They are still here but this isn't an easy option, and I honestly don't think it was worth it for the amount of extra cash we were getting. But I suppose it depends on how big your house is and if you really have the room for another adult.

During that time I did lots of surveys and bought all my presents with vouchers/money I got. Then what I would have spent on presents I paid in cash off the mortgage.

We really cut down on the amount we were spending on food, and tried to use less gas and electricity as well. We made packed lunches whenever we went to uni, and DH started cycling to uni almost everyday saving quite a bit in train fares. I only went into uni when I absolutely had to, and working at home I spent absolutely nothing.

For me the trick was to think twice before I bought anything. If I didn't need it I didn't buy it (unless I really really really wanted it - my willpower isn't as good as it should be). If I did need it (or really really want it) I tried to get a discount voucher or shop around or get cashback from an internet site.

We also bulk buy things when on offer which saves loads in the long run.

Finally, and this only works if you are really restrained, I buy everything I can on credit card. I pay it off in full each month by direct debit but I have a cashback one and at the end of the year I get £20 or so back. And whilst the money is still in my account it is earning around 5%, so I get another £30 or so a year in current account interest. Also opening an A&L current account and recommending everyone I could think. I got £100 and DH got £50.

I still do all these things even now DH has a good job and hopefully we'll be mortgage free in just under 2 years.

Leighthal

ecoelle wrote: »

Hi there. I'm trying to cut down our mortgage on a very low income and have found a piggybank does the trick

We stopped using debit cards and only use cash for weekly spending, we devised a budget using the planner on here and then decided what the weekly spend would be. We setled on 40 for the week for food and smokes. Everything else is direct debit. Then at the end of the week (every sunday) anything left out of the 40 goes in the piggy bank. Have you checked out the mortgage overpayment calculators on here? I found i could cut the mortgage by 7 years just by paying £50 extra a month. Good luck

I don't want to sound like I'm preaching(being an EX-smoker)but you should knock these on the head and save even more!:money:

DrGUID

Try raising your income, I'm sure it can be done.

I don't know what health problems you have but I myself had some long term health problems which I fixed by reading Dr Sarno's books (see Amazon.co.uk) - it turns out many chronic conditions (backache, rsi, fibromyalgia etc.) are psychological and can be overcome. His books gave me the confidence to massively increase my small business activity and hence slash my mortgage balance. They're the best investment I've ever made.