The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 5 challenge (MFiT-T5)

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:36AM

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The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 5 challenge (MFiT-T5)

First I must give a huge thank you to Financial Bliss who ran T3, he is a great inspiration to many having reached mortgage free status in T2, I wish to continue this legacy.

This is a the fifth in a series of three year mortgage challenges on this MFW board. Anyone who has joined a previous challenge should be aware of the format and timescales. If not see the next few posts below.

This fifth challenge runs from January 2019 to January 2022 and is open to anyone who wants to devote the next three years to greatly reduce or completely pay off their mortgage, or build up a pot of savings.

Below is a list of the challengers who have signed up and their own challenge:

1 trix-a-belle Reduce my mortgage from £94,347 to £52,500
2 Suffolk lass Completely clear my £59,999 mortgage.
3 icklehelen Completely clear my £27,500 mortgage.
4 Ilselm Reduce my mortgage from £120,200 to £75,000.
5 DiscountDuck Reduce my mortgage from £80,000 to £50,000.
6 Lomcevak Completely clear my £49,907 mortgage.
7 Tara66 Reduce my mortgage from £70,800 to £35,000.
8 shangaijimmy Reduce my mortgage from £86,600 to £63,500.
9 Brodiebobs Reduce my mortgage from £129,720 to £99,999.
10 littlemonkeywolf Completely clear my £32,795 mortgage.
11 Ang4k Completely clear my £35,000 mortgage.
12 Urbanshyne Completely clear my £48,865 mortgage.
13 twinklie Reduce my mortgage from £233,421 to £203,421.
14 LiuhutOz Reduce my mortgage from AUS $560,000 to AUS $440,000.
15 julicorn Reduce my mortgage from £181,700 to £81,700.
16 Unicorn Cottage Reduce my mortgage from £131,000 to £83,000.
17 Radish72 Completely clear my £20,000 mortgage.
18 greent Reduce my mortgage from £54,829 to £34,829.
19 Helibobs Reduce my mortgage from £149,150 to £99,999.
20 Kittenkirst Reduce my mortgage from £152,781 to £119,000.
21 frugal_lass Reduce my mortgage from £63,000 to £50,000.
22 selloptape Build up my savings from £0 to £20,000.
23 mummytummy Reduce my mortgage from AUS $425,167 to AUS $350,000.
24 Maybe_its_because Reduce my mortgage from £161,000 to £120,000.
25 Poppycat1 Reduce my mortgage from £108,000 to £70,000.
26 Miss D Meanour Reduce my mortgage from £94,353 to £40,000.
27 inigma Reduce my mortgage from £78,352.77 to £22,000.
28 lindez Reduce my mortgage from £65,000 to £20,000.
29 pavlovs_dog Reduce my mortgage from £73,500 to £43,500.
30 beth25 Reduce my mortgage from £44,650 to £5,000
31 The frugal fairy Completely clear my £42,219.38 mortgage
31a The frugal fairy Build up my savings from £0 to £20,000.
32 T. x Completely clear my £26,000 mortgage
33 utopiah Completely clear my £11,768.69 mortgage
34 Chutney86 Build up my savings from £5,000 to £20,000.
35 shala_moo Completely clear my £63,000 mortgage.
36 Muppets Reduce my mortgage from €173,232 to €148,032
37 lalamb77 Reduce my mortgage from £79,173.39 to £30,000
38 Avidsaver Completely clear my £84,219 mortgage
39 Anagran Reduce my mortgage from £95,000 to £85,000.
40 EG_MF_LO Reduce my mortgage from £220,000 to £180,000
41 Karona Completely clear my £25,139 mortgage
42 Stoplurking Completely clear my £28,859 mortgage
43 crv1963 Reduce my mortgage from £85,302 to £50,000
44 CathT Reduce my mortgage from £118,973 to £85,973.
45 taka Build up my savings from £0 to £25,000.
46 miss undastood Reduce my mortgage from £200,000 to £140,000.
47 SuperSecretSquirrel Build up my savings from £143,378.17 to £225,000.
48 Needhelpsaving Reduce my mortgage from £141,980 to £136,000.
49 Thriftyknickers Completely clear my £62,000 mortgage.
50 murdayg Reduce my mortgage from £129,328 to £90,000.
51 Lumiona Reduce my mortgage from £95,195 to £54,000.
52 violetblue Completely clear my £19,620 mortgage.
53 Bunty109 Completely clear my £74,860 mortgage.
54 zoot_ze Reduce my mortgage from £180,000 to £160,000.
55 Cheery Daff Reduce my mortgage from £208,134 to £180,000.
56 fruitloop04 Reduce my mortgage from £143,393 to £99,999.
57 Hetta Reduce my mortgage from £275,918 to £235,000.
58 Ellie78 Reduce my mortgage from £33,500 to £20,000.
59 Mortgage Minimiser Reduce my mortgage from £189,189 to £140,000.
60 tattycath Reduce my mortgage from £136,850 to £100,000.
61 glass_half_full Reduce my mortgage from £57,500 to £30,000.
62 KP74 Reduce my mortgage from £31,009 to £20,000.
...
70 ajmoney Reduce my mortgage from £107506.08 to £80,000.
...
99 pinknsparkly Reduce my mortgage from £220,000 to £190,000.
100 longway2go Reduce my mortgage from £165,000 to £130,000.

Please see the posts immediately below for further information. Good luck in your own challenges.
Registration / update form: MFiT-T5 Form

Trix

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:38AM

Questions and Answers...

Q. Why are you doing this/Why should I do this?
I began as part of challenge three (T3) and it has been great to be part of such an encouraging group working towards similar aims, its good to look in the longer term but you need that support so lets keep it going with T5.
As a longer term challenge you can really see the snowball effect mortgage overpayments or regularly saving can have on your balance which aren't necessarily seen over the course of 12 months.

T5 will remain with the three objective options:

Completely clear my mortgage
Reduce my mortgage
Build up my savings

You will need to choose an objective type from the list above and think about what your target is to be.
Its worth trying to push yourself with your end target as its a longer term challenge and things can snowball nicely over a longer period but do think about your individual circumstances. Whether you meet your target or not though we are all rooting for each other

Q. What is different this time?
Things will be as per T4 which seemed to work.

Q. Is this challenge for me?
This is a 3 year challenge. Updates will remain every 3 months, ie 12 updates over the course of the 36 months. If you don't think you can provide periodic mortgage updates over the course of the 3 years, then perhaps this isn’t the challenge for you.

There are regular annual challenges on this board which you can join if you feel a three year challenge is too long for you.

Q. What are the timescales?
The challenge will officially start on 25/1/19 and it will complete on 25/1/22.

Q. How do I join?
I have kept FB's form layout and function for registering / setting and updating your objective and also providing chart updates. You can use this update form to register.

Q. What if I cant clear my mortgage in the 3 year period?
The joy of this challenge is you dont have to pledge to clear your mortgage completely to enter this challenge, you don't even have to have a mortgage. Everyone’s circumstances are going to be different, so look at what you can realistically attain and set your own challenge goal accordingly.

Q. What information do you need about my own challenge?
I will need an estimate of your mortgage or savings balance on 25/1/19, the update form can be used to provide an accurate figure nearer the time.

Also, I will need a figure of where you would like to be by the end of the challenge (25/1/22)), ie a challenge start and end value, eg:

Completely pay off my £125,000 mortgage.
Reduce mortgage from £48,000 to £30,000.
Build my savings from £0 to £30,000.

Q. What happens when I register my challenge objective?
We will allocate you a MFiT-T5 challenger number, add you to post #1 and the progress chart and PM you back with your number.

Q. Why havent you responded to my private message (PM) yet?
I will try to reply to any pm's received but please can I recommend you post to the thread as far as possible with queries as there are many experienced challengers involved who may be able to assist and your question may help others.

Q. I have a mortgage free diary. Can you link to it in post #1?
If you have a mortgage diary, then it's not a problem to link to it in post number 1, please provide the link via your update form to make us aware of your diary.

Q. When can I give a figure for a chart update?
The chart update schedule in post #4 gives the dates each chart will be published, ie on the 25th day of Jan, April, July & Oct. The first chart is due to be published on 25th April 2016. If your mortgage payment is taken on the first of the month, so you may want to report your mortgage as soon as the payment clears when we are in a chart month. That then gives us enough time to gather and publish the data.

Q. What information do you need in a chart update?
Hopefully you have gave an accurate starting mortgage value or savings balance, so updating us with a current mortgage value or savings balance will show the reduction or increase made in each 3 month period. Your forum name, challenger number and current mortgage/savings balance is all we need.

Q. How do I provide information for a chart update?
Follow the link to the registration/updates form on Google Docs and follow the steps, as simple as that then there is a record of all updates.
The pm box size is limited and forum posts can be edited so these are fall backs, if you are having problems with the Google Docs form please let me know via pm so that I can acknowledge and ideally submit a form as soon as you are able.

Q. What about the 25/1/22 chart?
25/1/22 will be the last date in the challenge that you can make a payment / overpayment. Once as many as possible have got back to us with a final mortgage value, we then publish a final chart.

Q. What happens if I become mortgage free during the challenge?
Do tell us as soon as possible when you became mortgage free and we will add you to the list of challengers who became mortgage free during the challenge & celebrate with you!

Q. What if I want to leave this challenge?
While I hope this wont be the case, perhaps a change in circumstances may dictate this, life does happen but remember the challenge is the long game and its not the winning but the taking part and the journey that counts so we can change your targets, commiserate, celebrate, make suggestions or all of the above
If you do still want to leave please let me know and I will retire your challenger number.

Q. How do I bookmark this challenge so I can locate it easily?
You can add the thread to your subscriptions by clicking Thread tools > Add subscription which will flag any new posts in the User Control Panel of your MSE account.

Or you bookmark it in your web browser. You don't actually need to be logged in to the MSE forums in order to view the challenge you can just bookmark it in your browser (usually a star somewhere near the address bar)..

Q. Where can I find the first four challenges?
Each of the previous challenges have their own threads and can be found here.

Original MFiT challenge:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=435291

Second installment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T2:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1402631

Third installment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T3:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4152769

Fourth installment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T4:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5375506

Q. I have a question that you haven’t covered.
Hopefully the challenge is simple enough. If you do have a question, please PM myself or post in this thread and we will try to help / add the question and answer to this list.

Best of luck everyone.

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:39AM

Announcements.

Intending to use this post for any announcements relating to this challenge, please do check back here regularly.

- Challenge is open for registrations. Feel free to register and post in this thread...

now we are past the half way point of this challenge I think i'll close it for new joiners but please get involved and join us for T6 when it comes around
& please let me know if there are any edits that i've missed in these first posts

MFiT-T5 Form

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:40AM

Chart update schedule.

As this is a three year challenge, I am maintaining the 3 monthly updates but on the 25th of the month.

Each chart is 8.33% of the challenge. On each chart is a percentage complete column for each questee. If you're on track, then your entry will be green. If you're slightly behind schedule, then your entry will be yellow. If you're further behind schedule, then your entry will be red. See the table below for details:

link to schedule

Note: As charts will be published on the 25th of each chart month - if you could have your updates in by the 24th of a chart month at the latest, that would be ideal.

The preferred method of updating your mortgage balance is via the Google Docs chart update form, I am unable to take updates from thread posts due to the number of posts that there will be over the duration.

Registration / updates form.
The form below can be used to register for and provide updates for the challenge

MFiT-T5 Form

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:41AM

This post will always be used to enable you to locate the current chart, the chart summary and links to each of the previous charts and analysis for each chart.

Current chart.
The current chart is Chart 12, which was published on 25th January 2022.

Current chart:
Chart 12

Previous charts.
Chart 1
Chart 2
Chart 3
Chart 4
Chart 5
Chart 6
Chart 7
Chart 8
Chart 9
Chart 10
Chart 11

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:43AM

MFiT-T5 mortgage free roll of honour.

This post lists challengers who have become mortgage free during this mortgage free challenge. Also please post on the mortgage free role of honour thread (linked below) to obtain your mortgage free forum badge.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=493240

Radish72
IckleHelen
crv1963
Lomcevak
The Frugal Fairy
Suffolk Lass
UrbanShyne
trix-a-belle
greent
violetblue
shala_moo
stoplurking
ThriftyKnickers

trix-a-belle · 4 January 2019 at 1:44AM

Ok, that's the formal stuff out of the way. What's the deal then?

In a nutshell, register and set an objective. This objective is divided by 12 with there being 12 charts and you provide 12 updates during the challenge.

Providing you're on track to hit your goal, your chart progress colour will be green. If you're a little off your objective your chart progress colour will be yellow and if you're a little further behind, you're in the red zone :eek: but never fear it is the long game we are playing here!

Keep an eye on these first few posts in this challenge thread as they will be updated with links to charts and further information in the coming weeks and months.

So get your calculator out, set an objective and register.
For reference in T3 £4million was paid off mortgages or into savings with an average of £24,000 per person & T4 **stat** but its obviously very much down to personal circumstances.

T5 stats;

Enjoy,
Trix

ilselm · 4 January 2019 at 3:38AM

Having read through some diaries and the impressive progress made by others on the T4 challenge, I have just signed up. Nothing like a new longer term challenge to (continually) focus the mind. Mine is to Reduce mortgage from £120,200 to £75,000. Thanks,

Lomcevak · 4 January 2019 at 8:04AM

Yay! I'm in - goal is to completely clear my £49,907 mortgage

Don't mind about the number, no need to keep the old one.

L.

Maybe_its_because · 4 January 2019 at 9:04AM

Hi,
We’re definitely in! Thanks Trix for setting it all back up again. Those 3 years have flown by.

Can we post an objective of reducing our mortgage from £161,000 to £120,000 for #24

No idea how we’re going to achieve that but I thought we’d have zero chance of achieving our MFiT4 target and we smashed it!

Will post a registration form ASAP.

Thanks and good luck everyone
MIB x

Mortgage_Minimiser · 4 January 2019 at 9:16AM

Morning

Ive just registered for this thread. I didn't think I would get to my previous target but I more than smashed it, reducing from 234,787 to 189,188.

So have set my target to reduce the mortgage from 189,188 to 140,000. More than last time but the interest has reduce quite a lot with the remortgage in December... nothing like a challenge. I figure if I don't hit it I shall still be a long way further forward than if I haven't tried at all!

Started with a £670 OP on Jan 1st.... :j

Bring it on!

MM
x

The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 5 challenge (MFiT-T5)

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