On the road to freedom..

Swash · 15 March 2017 at 7:42PM

Hello everyone!

I finally did it! After saving up for many years on my own, I finally have my own home. This has been a dream of mine for many many years.

Just 8 years ago I was jobless, miserable, and in debt. I had a lightbulb moment and decided to change my life for the better. I got myself a good job, cleared all of my debts and started to save, with the aim of buying a house and then paying off the mortgage.

At the beginning of this month I completed on my very own home. My first payment came out he bank yesterday and today I made my first overpayment. My plan is to overpay as much as possible every month. I would like to have a more S.M.A.R.T target with regards to overpaying but if I'm honest I can't really figure out the overpayment calculator, or even how to make a chart that I can colour in :rotfl:

My mortgage is £112500 at 2.84% fixed for two years. There is also a fee added on to this of £300. Shall I pay this fee off to make it easier to work out?

Anyway, I'm going to concentrate my efforts on overpaying and keep track of my progress by rambling away on here. Hope I haven't bored you too much. Wish me luck :j

freshcotton · 16 March 2017 at 7:44AM

Well done on the purchase! Homeownership is a great feeling.

mortgage overpayment calculators are pretty straightforward, have you tried the one on the MSE website? Iv spent many hours on that.

edwink · 16 March 2017 at 7:52AM

Well done to you. Wishing you the very best of luck.

We paid off our mortgage bit by bit and being mortgage free is a wonderful feeling because we are no longer having to worry if we make the payments on time etc. We threw every penny we had at it and finally it was gone. Best feeling in the world when you finally get there.

Do you know how much you can overpay per month/year? Some lenders only allow up to 10% of what you owe per year. Might be worth checking if you don't actually know how much you can overpay. Our mortgage was a repayment and wasn't fixed so we could overpay what we could afford.

Keep up the good work. I shall be following you on your mortgage free journey. Good luck

Edwink

Swash · 16 March 2017 at 1:05PM

Thanks Edwink and Freshcotton. I can overpay 10% per year a it is fixed for 2 years. I will have a go at the overpayment calculator. I'm hoping to pay at least £200 per month extra onto my mortgage, but I'm leaving my job at the end of the year so I also need to save some money just in case.

It's a little daunting having triple figures so at the minute my first goal is to get into double figures. Is it sad that I'm excited to start?

freshcotton · 16 March 2017 at 1:39PM

Excited? Wait till you play around with the mortgage calculator and work out the interest saved, that's the real exciting bit.

Swash · 29 March 2017 at 11:27AM

Hello everyone. I haven't posted for a little while because I've been moving into my new home and decorating. I still have a long way to go but I guess I'll have to be patient. As you can imagine, this month has been tight for money due to buying furniture etc.

I'm hoping to overpay £200 next month. I also need to save up a decent emergency fund as I am changing jobs at the end of the year so I need some savings just in case I can't start work straight away. 2 days until pay day!

Swash · 18 April 2017 at 6:16PM

Hey everyone!
So, payday has come and gone, I managed to overpay £200 this month so I'm happy with that. I did get £500 cash back that my solicitor has been hoarding for 6 weeks so I may still pay more towards the mortgage. It's sat in savings at the minute.

I still need to get used to not having as much money in the bank, as my money was my house deposit. So I still feel like I'm skint even though I have quite a bit of savings still in the bank. I guess I'll have to get used to it!

Hope everyone had a great Easter x

Kittenkirst · 18 April 2017 at 6:31PM

Hi Swash, is the house starting to feel like home yet?

£200 is a great start for overpayments, well done!

Have you looked at doing a statement of affairs to look at where you could make savings with your budget? I found that a fab way to understand my income & expenditure

Best of luck with your mortgage free quest!

Swash · 8 May 2017 at 6:22PM

Hi Kittenkirst! It does feel like home but still got loads to do. Going to spend the weekend painting I think. Can't wait to have it finished, it just takes time I suppose.

I would like to do an SOA but I really have no idea how much I spend on anything - I know it's bad. Now you've mentioned it I'm going to try and keep a spending diary so I can start to see what I spend. Also, I'm new to all the bills coming out of my account so hopefully in a few weeks I will have them all in order.

In overpayment news... I have overplayed £400 this month, so that's a total of £623.57 in overpayments in 3 months of having the mortgage. I already feel like I'm getting addicted to overpaying, I just can't wait to get rid of it.

I had a holiday for a few days at the end of last month too so I'm not completely stopping having a life to overpay. I think balance is key.

So, my total mortgage at 23/2/17 was £112,797. Today it stands at £111,130.33. I really need to figure out how to make one of those charts where I can colour in the bricks :rotfl:

Hope everyone has had a great weekend

SuperSecretSquirrel · 10 May 2017 at 8:43AM

You're off to a great start Swash, well done!

LadyGnome · 10 May 2017 at 10:04AM

Great start and well done for starting as soon as you got the house. You will be out of triple figures before you know it.

On the road to freedom..

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