Journey to a mortgage free future

New update, I haven’t posted in a while so let’s see what’s new!

1. Major financial change. I finally bought a bloody car! :j Only 3 years after passing my test. I took out a £3,000 loan over 12 months with Zopa, with a low interest rate at 5.9% annually. Which means the total interest over the 12 months is £169, works out at £14 a month interest, which isn’t bad! With the £3k, I bought a reliable cheap to run car for £2,300, insurance was £550, tax was £125, so all in all, £500 under budget. :money: And I still have £900 in my savings that I haven’t touched, this is sat aside ready for next years Service, MOT, Tax and insurance renewal. After all my bills, the loan, £100 overpayment, I still have £170 spare. And this goes into my savings (unless there’s an event I haven’t accounted for or someone’s birthday, I really need to start a ‘rainy day’ pot and a ‘birthday’ pot.)

So after all the drama, I’ve decided that I don’t like driving, I hate it actually. I started around 4 weeks ago and everyone has said you’ll get used to it! Will I? Will I really? I just hate driving and making mistakes so I am currently buying a bus pass for my work commute and only driving on evenings and weekends to build my confidence. 3 years and not driven since passing my test is a long time! Who knows, my next update I might have just sold it


2. My new job is going great! Almost 9 months in and still enjoying it. Always on the look out for something bigger and better though. I need more money if I’m going to crunch this mortgage down! I never did get that £600 increment, work introduced a new pay scale and I feel a little bit robbed! Still got a rise just not as much as I expected, but any little helps :Beer: So new take home pay after Tax, NI and pension is £1,456. Which is great! It allowed me to get the loan for the car over such a short period. This time next year when the loan is gone I’ll see more of my wage which means more over payments which means being a step closer to becoming MF!


3. My DF is now my DH! We finally tied the knot :beer: Very small affair as we’ve always spoke about. Just decided one day let’s just make the arrangements and do it. Booked the ceremony 6 weeks in advance, I bought a non traditional but lovely dress for £80, DH wore a suit he already owned, we took a friend each to the local town hall, I did my own hair, make up and nails, took a few photos on our phones and it was perfect. DH family was supportive, mine were supportive but also didn’t hold back on their disappointment about not being there. I have anxiety and didn’t need the stress and it was such a lovely intimate stress free service. Went to Wales with the Labrador straight after for a long weekend.
I am really enjoying married life and so glad we did it this way. I think we spent in total just over £1,100 in total and almost £800 of that was on the rings alone! :money:


4. Christmas savings are looking healthy, already got £525 in the Christmas pot, this is from our shared £60 monthly contributions, including £25 cashback from joining Shell Energy for our gas and electric, and a £50 amazon voucher from renewing another insurance, can’t remember which one! We’ll probably have more than we need when it gets to Christmas so we’ll either roll it over into next years fund, or we’ll treat ourselves a little bit more


5. The sofa we got on finance when we first moved in is also paid off. 5 years interest free we both opted for 2 years ago but paid it off at the end of April 19, it was just under £600, but that freed up £20 a month in our joint account where our joint bills come from. We signed up to postcode lottery for £10 a month (got to be in it to win it) and the other £10 will balance out as the new mortgage deal came into place and we’re paying an extra £6 a month since June.


6. Nothing to do with my finances, but DH also took out quite a large bank loan for a fancy new car. :eek: :eek: Think he borrowed £9,000 or £10,000 over 3 years and bought a £14,000 car as he had equity in his current. In my opinion it’s not the best financial move but it’s none of my business, it’s his own disposable income, as long as he has money for our bills and can match what I overpay to the mortgage then he can spend his own money as he pleases. And cars are his ‘thing’ and it makes him happy to have a nice car. If his track record is anything to go by, he will be bored in 6 months and trade it in for something cheaper and more efficient.


7. Anyway, the most important news and most relevant to this thread, is that the overpaying is going AMAZING! Honestly I thought we’d have got bored by now and miss the £100 a month each but we have been treating it like another bill and just not even really seeing the money come and go, so far this year alone we have over payed £1,300, tomorrow when DH gets paid we can make this months OP and it will go up to £1,500 total, almost reaching our goal!! :T We’re doing massively better than last year anyway and I’m literally watching the money go down on the app with a big smile on my face, feeling quite proud



8. Also, a good idea for those debating on whether they want to spend all that money to go abroad or just not have one this time round. We were going to go on a last minute holiday in September this year, but when it actually came to it, and totting up how much it would cost for flights, accommodation, new clothes, spending money, insurance, dog boarding it was around £2,300. And to be honest, we hate leaving the dog. So instead we both have next week booked off work, we have hired a hot tub Mon - Sun and have planned some lovely days out in Yorkshire, going to the Zoo, visiting nearby cities, doing activities, eating out, having time to cook together etc. For all this, hot tub rental, food costs, petrol, activities booked in it will cost us £500, that’s £250 each. M a s s i v e savings. A holiday literally from home and we’re so excited. So many things booked in that we wouldn’t usually do on a typical weekend, and a bonus, we come home to our dog every night. Just an idea :cool:

Anyway, that’s all I can update on so far, I say I’ll post an update again soon, but I probably won’t, so maybe again in another few months because I’m terrible at keeping my thread updated.



Things to think about for next time

- Do I really need/want this car? Something to reeeeeallly think about. Financially I’d be better off without, however, location of job is changing and they don’t know where, one potential location is 1 hour 40 minute bus drive, 40 minute car journey, so would need it for that. Must wait for new location revelation before deciding on this.

- Do I really want to start this one day a week college course next month, or am I just bored and need to take the next step with my company?

- Do I really need to be booking a holiday abroad for next year BEFORE paying off this 12 month loan? Especially when I only have £170 a month to play about with.


- Need to do more surveys, need to come up with a way to bring in more money. Must do some research on this, any tips I’d be grateful. Use prolific at the moment but they have problems cashing out to my paypal.


Hope everyone’s enjoying the rest of the great British summer :beer: Hope you are well.


Labradorlove x

Hi Kev

We ended up doing it over the phone I got them to read my options out and explain them, made a note, went away thought about it, compared with what was currently on the market and ending up staying with Santander. A lot more straight forward than I thought it would be.

Congrats with last years OP!

It is great for convenience but not good for my nerves!!

Hi Kev,

We didn't need proof of income or anything, it was pretty much done there and then over the phone, no documents needed! Jus general GDPR questions before they go into details!

Things are going really well, still the £200 month OP, steady away. I have just posted an update.

How are you getting on?