Mortgage Free by 55

VDOT47 · 11 December 2017 at 11:39AM

A reasonably good weekend spending wise, although the heating has been on much more than normal what with the snow and plummeting temperatures, so that will be costly in the long run but it has definitely been needed (especially as DD has a horrible cold).

First mortgage payment at the revised amount of £1200 went out today, so that is an overpayment of approx. £31. Will make my additional monthly overpayment once payday arrives (early this month) and I do the maths to work out what we can spare this month.

VDOT47 · 13 December 2017 at 10:38AM

OH was out last night with friends so, in between having to go upstairs to settle DD who has a horrible cold/cough, I checked the mortgage account online and ran a few figures. Current balance after December's DD is c£262,700. I calculated that, following January's DD the balance would be £261,999 even if no additional overpayments were made in December.

Therefore, I'm hoping to get the balance close to the £261,500 mark by this time next month. Based on the property still being valued at the price we paid (£374,000), although it should be more as we have had a new bathroom installed since moving in, this would give us 30.08% equity in the property (started at 27.81%). So we will very soon be below 70% LTV for the first time!

Can someone please tell me how to do a signature on here?!?!

VDOT47 · 14 December 2017 at 2:11PM

Nationwide account now finally fully open and funded, so that is £2500 of savings earning 5% rather than 0.25%!

michelle09 · 15 December 2017 at 10:41AM

Hey VDOT47, we have a mortgage similar to yours and are keen to get rid of it ASAP so will be following you here.

Well done on the savings, need to start looking at ours when we have some built up.

VDOT47 · 15 December 2017 at 4:04PM

Thanks Michelle. We don't have a huge emergency savings fund, but I was fed up with it sitting there earning diddly squat!

greent · 15 December 2017 at 6:35PM

VDOT47 wrote: »

Can someone please tell me how to do a signature on here?!?!

Click on 'Quick Links' in the top border above (towards the RH side) - under the User Control Panel section in the drop down menu there is a link to click for signature (mine says 'edit signature' - am hoping yours will say that or 'create signature'/ something similar

)

VDOT47 · 18 December 2017 at 11:33AM

Thanks Greent, found it. Have tried to start one (hopefully now showing below) and will update it once today's overpayment is credited to the account.

So, early payday due to Christmas, plus money saved through the month to date meant an overpayment today of £463.17, to add to the £30.xx from the DD being rounded up from this month (of course, this element will increase each month as the interest charged gets lower), so just shy of £500!

shangaijimmy · 18 December 2017 at 11:49AM

Great month. £500 sounds like such a significant sum, and was always a sign of a good OP month to me. As you say its starts to increase steadily once interest starts to reduce.

VDOT47 · 2 January 2018 at 12:44PM

Happy New Year!

Haven't posted on here for a couple of weeks. Not much to report in terms of moneysaving (not so easy around Christmas is it?!), but it is a long term thing this isn't it?

Christmas/New Year was good - very busy though with just one day (yesterday) where we were able to spend the whole day as just the 3 of us. Whilst it is lovely to see family at Christmas, I think we over committed ourselves this year and we are planning to correct that next Christmas!

We have decided to take the plunge with the porch extension this year and have contacted a local architect to get a quote for him to draw up the plans. We intend to have the work carried out in May/June, by which time we should have 10k in the savings pot, which we are really hoping will cover the cost of the extension, new windows at the front and redecorating the living room!

We will then have to work on reimbursing the savings account, so overpayments might be a bit lower for a while. Luckily I have a regular savers account which will mature later this year, and am currently on course for a bonus at work, so would hopefully have the savings pot back up to a reasonable level by the end of the summer.

VDOT47 · 4 January 2018 at 10:56AM

Second Nationwide account now open if OH's name, so that will soon be a home for a further £2500 of savings at 5%.

Cavity wall man came round yesterday to survey the house and confirmed we will qualify for the free insulation, which should be done by the end of January.

Money wise, I am still caught in the endless overpayment vs pension contributions debate in my head! Originally I thought throw everything at the mortgage for the next 5 years to allow us to move to our 'forever' home sooner, and then focus on pension. But the thought of compound interest and tax relief on the pension as a higher rate taxpayer really is nagging at me. Maybe I should split things a little bit and increase pension contributions, even if only by £100 a month?

Mortgage Free by 55

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