Mortgage Free in 5 years?

McCues1234 · 11 November 2011 at 8:22PM

Lixi wrote: »

Thanks McCues! Before our mortgage we cleared a whole lot of credit card and student debt, so I have been in your shoes . Sounds like you have a plan and are doing things the right way round! I don't miss the credit card debt, but there was something satisfying about crossing out an entire liability altogether when you pay one off! Sometimes it feels like a long haul with the mortgage, but I must remember to remind myself of the progress we have made over the last few years. When we took it out we were limited to overpayments equating to 20% of the minimum payments. Now we are on unlimited overpayments. With LOs on the horizon, I am more persuaded to the offset route. I am 32 now. That your ballpark?

I am off the drink at the moment with LOs in mind so we are exactly the same about Friday nights (weekends generally - I don't know what I am going to do on Sundays as Downton Abbey has now finished again!). We got some M&S vouchers in this week (rewards from our credit card spend) so I am off to shop tonight (hopefully pick up something nice for tea and get a gift for my friend whose wife gave birth last week and maybe even a few Christmas pressies (for "free")).

X Factor is a guilty pleasure for me. Mr L despairs (he claims) although he now watches it with me so long as we record it and fast-forward through the ads and junk (you save an hour of your life)!

Have a lovely weekend!

Lx

Fantastic story and gives me a lot of motivation. Glad to hear someone who is doing so well yet has been in my position and came out the other side, cleared their debts and now started overpaying their mortgage, gives me great hope and yeah, i've the plan in my head, so it's just sticking to it now

:)
Sorry what is LOs??? HAHA, I must say i never watched Downtown Abbey although i have heard from the girls in work that it's a fantastic programme.
Great work on the 'freebies' from M&S. Hope you got some lovely gifts and yummy freebie food

Snap, Mr B is the same, 'hates XF and the fact that i MAKE him watch it', uhm.... wasn't too happy that i subjected him to the US version last night, although it's far superior to UK one!
Yip, i sure did guess right, i'm 33 (athough hubbie is a mere 28

Have a great wkend too

xx

Lixi_2 · 26 November 2011 at 10:11AM

Thanks McCues. By LOs, I mean "little ones"

. I am nearly 10 weeks gone now with our first

. Had an appointment with midwife yesterday so just waiting for the dating scan date now. Hopefully that will be way before Christmas! Being preggers is a real money-saver. I was asleep at 9.30 last night. Rock 'n' roll :rotfl:

I topped up my M&S vouchers with £1.98 of my own and ended up with some lovely food, presents for my friends' baby and gift for the MiL. Bargain.

Another £250 has gone into regular saver this week so I will update my signature shortly. Payday next Tuesday and with payments into regular savers and excess from salary this month we are hoping to knock another couple of grand off the mortgage. Not too bad considering Christmas is approaching and we had another bill with the car this month. If one more thing goes wrong with that I will put some steel toe-capped boots on, go outside and literally kick it

Lixi_2 · 26 November 2011 at 10:13AM

Currently:

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_
Current mortgage (Nov 2011): £175,500

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £174,000 :think:
Target term end date: December 2016? :dance:

Now:

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_
Current mortgage (Nov 2011): £175,500

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £173,750 :think:
Target term end date: December 2016? :dance:

If I hit the £170k mark with December's pay packets I will be ecstatic (and that is definitely do-able)! :T

Lixi_2 · 1 December 2011 at 9:56AM

and I can't help but update my signature

Currently:

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_
Current mortgage (Nov 2011): £175,500

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £173,750 :think:
Target term end date: December 2016? :dance:

Now:

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_
Current mortgage (Dec 2011): £173,500

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £171,750 :think:
Target term end date: December 2016? :dance:

Another two grand off the total and still another £500 to go into regular savers later this month so we will be nudging £171k before December payday! Woohoo! Very pleased with that! Will definitely be into the £160ks in the New Year (and given that a couple of years ago, my pre-baby target on the mortgage was sub £190k I am absolutely chuffed to bits). :T

beth111 · 1 December 2011 at 4:37PM

Well done Lixi, you should be very proud of what you have achived.:beer:

Lixi_2 · 11 January 2012 at 10:32AM

Thanks Beth

We were away over Christmas and New Year and straight back to work so I haven't really sat down and decided on financial targets or really any NY's resolutions (apart from looking forward to a hopefully happy and healthy pregnancy). I might do that this week. I want to hit £15k off the mortgage this year (a combination of payments and offset savings).

Another £500 has gone into the savers since my last post, I have £2k saved this month (I have to find a good saver to put that into - task for the weekend) and I have had a mortgage payment go out, so I can now update my signature too...! With the offset, we have broken the £170k mark. Very exciting!! Starting the New Year off well already! :T

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_
Current mortgage (Jan 2012): £172,800

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £168,300 :think:
Target term end date: December 2016? :dance:

earthgirl · 11 January 2012 at 4:34PM

Congratulations on the baby news! Its challenging to still op when you have a lo to sort out as well, but you sound so focused! Good luck x

Lixi_2 · 11 January 2012 at 7:54PM

Thanks earthy and fingers crossed for you too ;-)

I like your approach to things and positive outlook and will be hoping I do as well as you over the next year or so xx

Lixi_2 · 27 January 2012 at 7:42PM

So another £250 has gone into the savers since my last post, but otherwise, not much progress this month so I am not going to update my signature until next week after pay day and mortgage payment goes out.

Found out today I am having a boy and all appears healthy :T so I will let myself buy a few things from now on. Going to try and not go too mad at all. Everything seems so expensive! Luckily we already have quite a few hand-me-downs from family and friends and promise of a couple of other things so it isn't all bad. People are so generous where babies are concerned!

Mr L decided to splurge £2k on a track bike for me this week which (one might say given my current condition) is not the most sensible thing an expectant father has ever done. He thinks he will unlock about £2k all in all from selling my existing road bike and keeping the "new to me" one instead. I can see the logic after the explanation, but my initial reaction wasn't the most ecstatic as I had just decided to transfer all our extra cash this month into an ISA and pay off our 0% credit card. I then had to extend the overdraft so we can pay for it and pick the bike up this week (I don't get paid until next week). I really resent paying interest on overdrafts as well and whilst it is only going to be a couple of pounds, it still winds me up (I could have stoozed on the credit card and not paid any at all). Still, he was well intentioned and is a cutie for doing it so I forgive him

Even though I won't be able to ride it for quite a while, now is the best time to get a good deal on bikes if you are in the market to buy, as not many other people are and there isn't much competition! We did get a bargain. A lot of my friends have been quite surprised though saying things like "I thought you would be getting rid of your bikes now" (as we are getting sprogged up etc). The answer to which has of course been, no, I have just bought a faster one

. I don't believe having a child will change my approach to life and I don't consider the sort of riding we do unduly risky either, but time will tell won't it?!

Lixi_2 · 8 March 2012 at 3:04PM

So it has been a while since I logged in to update my signature... a bit overdue me thinks!

Currently:

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_
Current mortgage (Jan 2012): £172,800

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £168,300 :think:
Target total for end 2012: £155,000?
Target term end date: December 2016? :dance:

And will now be:

Mortgage at largest: £250,000 _pale_ (March 2006)
Current mortgage (March 2012): £171,400

Current term end date: April 2031 :eek:
Current mortgage offset vs savings: £160,850 (but plus stoozing cc = £166k) :think:
Target mortgage offset savings by end 2012: £148,000 :dance:

Feb wasn't the best month as we had to pay for "my" new bike that Mr L bought (and no doubt will be using before I do given my current condition). We will be looking at selling my old one in a month or two when prices pick up so that should remedy the position and release some cash back!

We also had a lovely last minute babymoon holiday in France so spends in Feb where higher than normal. All back on track now though. Quite a few no spend days this month already :T

I decided to ditch my target end date for the mortgage as realistically this isn't going to be December 2016 anymore. Big change this year with LO on the way and there will be a drop in household income as I will be taking maternity leave. All very exciting stuff though. I think we will be able to put quite a bit of money away even so.

My cash ISA has been maxed out this tax year and next month we should have enough to max out MR L's cash ISA too. That is what I am aiming for anyway! I should have planned a little bit earlier to do that, but I didn't and continued overpaying on the mortgage in 2011.

Now the capital on the mortgage has been reduced to a level that we could cope with repayments on one salary, however, it is all about the savings/offset plan. Last month and this month we only paid the minimum off our credit cards to stooze and max out Mr L's ISA. We will max that out next payday and then pay off the credit card by May pay day and then be wholly on track again (and saving towards the next year's ISA allowances).

I am still thinking about the savings pot as overpayments on the mortgage (which at the very least is motivating and keeps me focused!

). With our rate being what it is, as we are comfortable with our repayments, it does make much more sense to invest the overpayment money elsewhere for now. I am convinced base rate is going to stay as it is for at least 18 months/2 years. Perhaps next year we might look at buying a second property for rental if we get a big enough pot for a decent deposit (I may only be 32, but I am well aware our defined contribution pensions aren't going to be an adequate source of retirement income on their own and that worries me sometimes!). In the meantime, the savings/mortgage pot is a good cushion for emergencies/unknown (who knows what is going to happen after the birth of LO!

).

At the moment though, the current challenge is to have a money-saving pregnancy/maternity period as possible. Recon pram and cat seat already purchased (i.e. new - shop returns from e bay seller), nursery furniture purchased (Argos bargain - Mr L find) with cot and mattress separately, some great second hand baby clothes from e bay, gifts from friends already. All good.

Lx

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