How to be mortgage free after 8 years

HappySad

pammyj74 wrote: »

I am studying accounts at the moment as I am striving to have a better paid career. I agree that studying and wanting to better yourself is your own doing and those that moan about how much the OP has dont realise how hard it is to gain qualifications to get a good earning like that and are just jealous that it hasnt fallen in their lap (it doesnt work like that!)

My mortgage has just gone sub £80k :j but it was only £90k 2 years ago so not as great as yours SMF2

Yes your right. It goes the same with all sucessful people in every area or work or anything. They may have a talent but they have still had to work and work very hard. I remember as school that some children would not study and did not realise the importance of it. They would not do their homework or when they did they did not put much effort into it. It was only when they realise that they could not leave school with a good job that the penny dropped and they started to work harder at their studying.

I would hard as saving, studying and also my weightloss (see signiture below). Nothing falls into our lap. You have to work at it.

I love hearing about people who are doing much better than me. There is always something to learn from them and this can help me to be better in my life.


pammyj74, you have done well in cutting it down by £10. Keep up the good work.

foxblade

Bumping this for 2011. :j

Just found this thread when searching the site for mortgage OP ideas and wow, it's taken me 2 days to finish and it was worth every minute. Very inspirational and a must read!

Enjoy.

HappySad

foxblade wrote: »

Bumping this for 2011. :j

Just found this thread when searching the site for mortgage OP ideas and wow, it's taken me 2 days to finish and it was worth every minute. Very inspirational and a must read!

Enjoy.

Thanks FoxBlade, I just got reminded about this thread which got activated by your comment. This is great.. I live my life being inspired by people like this who work hard and live well within their means to invite the money saved on what really matters. I am using my saving to put my kids through private school; but if I did not have kids I would clear as much of my mortgage as possible. MSE:money: is a great place to learn all the tips about not spending too much on things. But always remember not to consume unnecessary... if you don't buy the item in the first place you make 100% saving. It is also a greener way to live :j

tyler_d

thaylock wrote: »

Simple, I wouldn't buy a property at TODAY's prices, I would wait 2-3 years for prices to drop by upto 20%. House prices have dropped for the 14th consecutive month, prices are dropping at their fastest rate in 9 years. Ask me this question in 2-3 years time & I will be happy to provide you with a repayment schedule.

I had to laugh at the above quote posted back in 2005. That poster has either finally realised how today’s youth are expected to pay more for less... or they're still waiting :rotfl:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread and many thanks to all those who posted; it was uplifting to read so many success stories. I just can't seem to get any results for myself when I put your excellent advice into action. I don't know what I am doing wrong, I just can't seem to get my mortgage down to an attainable level...I'm starting to wonder if I'm just incompetent when it comes to money

Back in 2007 I was wasting £750 a month on rent when I first met my partner, and long story short, we wanted a better future that we were in control of, and a mortgage was smarter than renting in the long term. I was 27 at the time we moved in together... my dream was to get a two bedroom house, marry my sweetheart and then start our family.

Our mortgage is £250k (To avoid StampDuty ) over 40 years which means we pay just over £950 a month. I really want to overpay so that we can be mortgage free before I'm 67 we just can't seem to do it. I've put into place so much of the advice on this thread; No sky tv, No buying prepared food/lunches, the only time we eat out is on our anniversary, no drinking, I cycle two hours a day to and from work so that we'd only need one car (summer = nice, winter = bad), no clothes shopping (for me at least) I'm still wearing tee-shirts that I bought ten years ago : ), In general not buying anything unless it is essential and there is no free alternative, I even pinch the odd loo roll from work so that's one less thing in our shopping basket lol.

I thought that by doing this, we too could be mortgage free in 8-13 years. However, after the mortgage repayment, food, bills, insurance etc we can only usually overpay by about £500. (Our take home pay combined is just over £2k after our student loans are taken out). That’s not bad and will reduce our mortgage to 20 years

The problem is, we can't wait 20 years to have children, my fianc! is very worried about leaving it even just a few more years as she will then be in he 30s. I don't particularly want to but living on hold for too long either, as having a family has always been a dream of mine... but I just know that once we start our family, children are expensive, and we will struggle to pay off our monthly mortgage repayment alone, yet alone over pay. Me and my fianc! don’t want to give up and resign ourselves to a lifetime mortgage and possibly taking out equity but I'm really struggling to find a solution and tbh, I'm very fatigued by living like this (I feel 20 years older than I should lol) Is anybody else experiencing the same problems? What am I doing wrong, or more likely, what am I not doing?

Any advice greatly appreciated. And thanks again for the very useful thread.

HappySad

tyler_d wrote: »

I had to laugh at the above quote posted back in 2005. That poster has either finally realised how today’s youth are expected to pay more for less... or they're still waiting :rotfl:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread and many thanks to all those who posted; it was uplifting to read so many success stories. I just can't seem to get any results for myself when I put your excellent advice into action. I don't know what I am doing wrong, I just can't seem to get my mortgage down to an attainable level...I'm starting to wonder if I'm just incompetent when it comes to money

Back in 2007 I was wasting £750 a month on rent when I first met my partner, and long story short, we wanted a better future that we were in control of, and a mortgage was smarter than renting in the long term. I was 27 at the time we moved in together... my dream was to get a two bedroom house, marry my sweetheart and then start our family.

Our mortgage is £250k (To avoid StampDuty ) over 40 years which means we pay just over £950 a month. I really want to overpay so that we can be mortgage free before I'm 67 we just can't seem to do it. I've put into place so much of the advice on this thread; No sky tv, No buying prepared food/lunches, the only time we eat out is on our anniversary, no drinking, I cycle two hours a day to and from work so that we'd only need one car (summer = nice, winter = bad), no clothes shopping (for me at least) I'm still wearing tee-shirts that I bought ten years ago : ), In general not buying anything unless it is essential and there is no free alternative, I even pinch the odd loo roll from work so that's one less thing in our shopping basket lol.

I thought that by doing this, we too could be mortgage free in 8-13 years. However, after the mortgage repayment, food, bills, insurance etc we can only usually overpay by about £500. (Our take home pay combined is just over £2k after our student loans are taken out). That’s not bad and will reduce our mortgage to 20 years

The problem is, we can't wait 20 years to have children, my fianc! is very worried about leaving it even just a few more years as she will then be in he 30s. I don't particularly want to but living on hold for too long either, as having a family has always been a dream of mine... but I just know that once we start our family, children are expensive, and we will struggle to pay off our monthly mortgage repayment alone, yet alone over pay. Me and my fianc! don’t want to give up and resign ourselves to a lifetime mortgage and possibly taking out equity but I'm really struggling to find a solution and tbh, I'm very fatigued by living like this (I feel 20 years older than I should lol) Is anybody else experiencing the same problems? What am I doing wrong, or more likely, what am I not doing?

Any advice greatly appreciated. And thanks again for the very useful thread.

Hi tyler. You are doing very well by living without all that excess of modern life and you sound like you are OK about this. You have done extremely well in cutting morgage from 40 years to 20years.

You have cut out most spending and I feel that you need to look at everything left that you do spend on and make it your mission to not accept the current price you pay for anything. Call every insurance company, supplier and haggle..see MSE on haggle article. Tell them you will move or leave unless you get a better deal. I do this once a year and I always get one of two companies reducing their price. As time goes by and with the attitude that you will always pay less than you already do for things.. new ideas will come up.. Like for me I always complain when ever a service is not as stated and get money vouchers or discounts.

With kids I would say go for it and don't wait.... I have 2 boys. People can spend as much or as little as they want on their children. MOthercare will make you think you need to spend loads on babies with must needed items but one you have your first you realise how much you have waisted on them with items that had no use. There is a which? guide to baby products book you can get from library that covers all this. With a new baby the only thing you need to purchase new is a car seat & cot mattress & reusuable/washable face and bum wipes & washable wrap nappies. After that you can get just about everything else from family and friends with older children for free or presents. I purchase my son's entire clothes once a year from a mum I meet in a local forum £70! including coats. I purchase underwear & one pair of shoes & one welly new and that's it.

Have you rented a room in your house? £4250 rent tax free!!! We have had a lodgers before and after our children were born. It really helps with payments of stuff. If you have a 3 bedroom house then you def have space for a lodger. Get rid of all that stuff on ebay and make room for some money from a lodger. We turned one of our downstairs rooms into a bedroom.

LesleyKD

Hi funky

Thought you'd provided some good advice here. No way can I afford to pay back what you are paying but Ive made a start on a smaller scale. I find it heartening that you started off with a really massive mortgage and you've reduced it.

That's general good sense, no matter what your salary is. Reduced debt = increased cash flow

Sepa74

Don't worry about getting the mortgage down much further before having kids. You need to live your life, and having a family is a very important part of it.

You will find that you're not alone on here - there are lots of people with young families who may only pay off a couple of £s a month.... which of course is still better than nothing.

Just make sure you have a decent amount of savings as an emergency fund and to cover maternity leave, and then just do it