Wannabe Mortgage Free by Twenty Three (2023 that is!)

maia_evo · 28 August 2017 at 7:59PM

Instead of achieving the dream of owning my home so no one could take it from me (memories of our home being repossessed when I was a child :eek:,) I got caught up in the bigger salary, bigger house and bigger living expenses madness.

I had my wake up call :T when in late 2016 I lost my self employed business income and used my savings to maintain my lifestyle.

I've got myself back to my income matching my reduced living expenses - just. I'm working to build the business revenue up again, but with that I don't want to revert to being frivolous with my income, unconscious about my spending. :T

I'm 47 and want to achieve my life milestone of being mortgage free as soon as I can. A MASSIVE stretch goal with my finances as they are now would be to do this by the time I am 53. I love that this has a ring to it. Mortgage free by 53, and I see someone else has a diary of that name hence the different name, yet still catchy of Wannabe Mortgage Free by Twenty Three (2023 that is)! I'll be 53 in 23 :rotfl:

It is August 2017 and our outstanding mortgage is now £86,342.

maia_evo · 28 August 2017 at 8:01PM

I'm in this mortgage with a significant other. We could be mortgage free now by downsizing and after talking about this, have decided not to for the time being, estimating it would cost us thousands anyway. Our home and its location are good for us. Plus, we both work from home so would then likely need to rent space elsewhere.

I have learned a lot from being a lurker here on MSE for the last month or so and here is what will be completed by the end of this month.

Switch energy suppliers - saving £400 a year
Switch supermarkets. I've done a small shop at A!di and think I can save approx £1200 a year easily.

I have already sold old stuff and raised £400! And I am keeping a detailed spending diary.

This obviously is not going to get £80K plus paid off in 6 years.

My main focus is creating additional income.

I have a business that just pays the bills at the moment (well almost) but has MASSIVE potential for profitable growth. The biggie for me, I can manage this from the decks of cruise ships (most favourite type of holiday and we always pick up a bargain) as I don't have to be in a particular geographical location or put full time hours into it.

So I would like to report on business building activities as well as the many money saving tips that are available within the MSE forums.

A line I heard someone speak in a Financial Independence (FI) podcast recently that hit a chord - A dollar spent today is a dollar not needing to be earned tomorrow. Cool.

Silence101 · 29 August 2017 at 7:13AM

I read a blog once, (sorry can't remember the name of it) where the woman looked at 100 different ways to earn £1000 (or was it 1000 ways to earn £100?) so multiple income streams. And I read another one where they had at least 3 different jobs (mostly freelance) which helped cover quiet times in their main job. I thought it was an interesting idea (but haven't sat down to figure out how to do it myself)

maia_evo · 29 August 2017 at 8:56AM

Thank you for dropping by Silence101. I do work freelance now. I have 3 main clients I work for where I am actually the person needing to do the work. It's quite a good hourly rate but in all honestly my heart is no longer in it.

My head hurts going backwards and forwards between finding more freelance work which pays okay (the people are lovely, I have no real responsibility, I keep my own hours etc but I am bored rigid of the work), and building a business that could provide a great income in years to come and could be sold (but where I have full responsibility for everything and it's hard hard work to get off the ground).

My side business, that I want to make my main income is much more leveraged as it is more online based. Taking "me" out of the service delivery is my idea of heaven. Although at the moment it is an expensive hobby, everything set up for it.

On the plus side, I have also partnered with a friend of mine who is experienced in selling services into businesses.

Today should be an easy NSD.

maia_evo · 29 August 2017 at 9:06AM

Worth a mention that the flexibility of being self employed, working own hours etc is needed more than ever. My mother became ill almost a year ago, and since then I have taken more of a carers role and now look after all my parents household admin etc as well.

I got them moved into an extra care accommodation which is fab, and I am taking the novel approach of selling their old cottage on Gumtree. It's a doer-uper and priced to sell. Good interest so far so fingers crossed with that one

maia_evo · 29 August 2017 at 2:54PM

I've made the switch for energy suppliers. Anticipated saving of £350/year.

I've set up the bill payment to start the over payments, sending a test £1 transfer just to make sure all set up correctly.

I have an offset mortgage and have set the OP up to come off the mortgage balance. Previously I had it where it went into a fund that I could get easy access too. This made it easier for me to use money in the offset bit when financial times were tough for me. I don't want to do that again. I should have gone out and got more business sooner. Live and learn.

At long last, here we go.

maia_evo · 29 August 2017 at 10:05PM

Had a NSD. When I was out I realised I had not even taken my bag!

I put my parents old cottage on Gumtree to sell (cost £9.99) instead of paying £1000 agency fees.
Sold it within a week. Cash buyer so should be through in a month or so. Fingers crossed for smooth process.

Now, if I can focus on improving my own finances...

Also added a tab to the spreadsheet I keep for my business expenses. Why on earth I didn't do this years ago is beyond me. Something really comforting about seeing your finances laid out week by week. Spend money that's not accounted for and immediately see its impact down the road.

wishingthemortgaheaway · 29 August 2017 at 10:37PM

Welcome Maia, interesting approach to the house sale, I did have to reread your post as I initially thought you had sold the house for £9.99 and wondered why anybody wouldn't be a cash buyer at that price oops!!!

I love the rhythm of you mantra Mortgage free and 53 in 23. Keep saying it over and over.

Good luck with your journey. Will subscribe.

Wish.

maia_evo · 30 August 2017 at 4:35PM

Thank you so much for stopping by and subscribing.

It is helping already to know people are reading.

The house is ripe for refurbishment to flip or keep for rental portfolio so guessed that all an estate agent would do would be to call the small builders already in their network.

maia_evo · 30 August 2017 at 4:56PM

I had no idea this would be so rewarding. I've never before kept a diary and I am loving the excitement
I feel to at long last be taking take care of my money.

Significant other has always been good with money and does wonders with a modest income. Me, not so much

Today was another NSD. Honestly I have no idea where my money used to go!

Instructions are now set up for both over payments and mortgage account where I am saving the emergency fund. We have an offset mortgage so I thought its "earning" interest in there and can be accessed same day in case of emergency.

Mortgage due out tomorrow so will look at the outstanding balance to see how much the mortgage has reduced by, the figure the account is showing today is £86,470.68

Just had email from Virgin to say our package is going up by £3.99 - well we will see about that. Off to look on some other boards for suggestions on better deals with TV, phone and internet packages. We currently pay circa £47 each month.

maia_evo · 31 August 2017 at 8:49PM

First OP today :j Its a start and better than nothing.

Haven't got the energy to face calling Virgin media to start my cancellation process in order to get a better deal. I really don't like using the telephone. Would much rather email or call into a shop! So, going to put it on a to do list for when it feels good (maybe after a glass of vino :beer:)

This is also a time in my diary writing when I feel safe enough to face reality. Although my MF journey is linked with my significant other - we go 50:50 on all the bills, and the OP's and EF is for both of us.

Well, my personal finances are not in a great state from when my business fell off a cliff when I suddenly spent majority of my time and energy caring for my parents after my mother had a major stroke last year.

I did consider starting a debt free diary but decided on this one as my major focus as our mortgage debt is much bigger than my personal debts, and the good practices I am picking up here will pay off when implemented in my personal finances too.

For instance today I had a look at the interest I am being charged on my now one and only credit card (£83 a month - £102 min repayment :eek:). I had maxed it out when I had no income coming in and as money for myself is still really tight, I have just been paying the minimum payments. Because of a shot credit file at the moment, I wouldn't apply for another card to transfer to as it would definitely be turned down.

So, I going to bite the bullet as they say. I am on a mission to sort personal finances to get this paid off as soon as possible with now every spare penny of mine (literally) going to go towards its repayment. It will take a while, but that's much better than it never being paid down.

Spreadsheet has been updated to reflect this.

September is going to be all about marketing. More money into the bank is a priority.

PS: NSD today again. I think that is 4 in a row! :money: I need to pick up some groceries tomorrow though, get a birthday card, put some diesel in the car.

To do in September:
Get better deal from virgin media (currently paying £48 with £4 increase due soon)
Have 12 NSD's

Wannabe Mortgage Free by Twenty Three (2023 that is!)

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