Smallchanges

smallchanges · 18 March 2017 at 11:44PM

Hi, I am a long time lurker, and I have dreamed of becoming mortgage free for years! I'm in my late 30's, with 3 small children, and a lovely husband.

I owe £200k in a combination of mortgages and homeowner loans, and we have been making overpayments of about £400/month for the last couple of months, but i know that if I'm going to see the benefit of these overpayments anytime soon I need to up my game by quite a lot! If I can reduce the balance by half, I might be able to actually pursue a different career which I think will make me a much easier person to live with. So in a nutshell, this little quest is in pursuit of happiness.

The plan is to sell as much stuff as possible, do as many surveys as possible and put all of the money I make into the mortgage. If anyone has any suggestions for other ways of making extra cash on the side then I am all ears!

The balance is divided into 4 smaller pots (due to house moves etc), so one is being overpaid (due to having a slightly higher interest rate) and the other three are being neglected. I want to put this right by overpaying the smaller of the 3 first (up to 10% of the balance per year to avoid charges), and then focussing on the next and so on.

If I were to overpay the other three balances by 10% this year, then I need to find £15,000. I think that sounds like a challenge...

Kittenkirst · 19 March 2017 at 8:29AM

Hi there, I use cashback sites for utilities and shopping- I got £155 paid out last week in cashback from using these and I sweep that across to the mortgage

Good luck with your journey.

newgirly · 19 March 2017 at 9:49AM

Agreed cashback is great, also I've been known in the last to do regular bank switching for the cash they often give you as an incentive, Halifax do a current account where if you pay in a minimum amount (can't remember how much as I feed our wages through various accounts on payday!) and you get £3 pm credit paid in , we have one each of these.

You can become a neilson shopping scanner, I personally didn't enjoy it as it was a bit time consuming but you get points awarded to receive gifts.

The most lucrative is matched betting, its complicated and you have to be very careful , I've never done it as it was over my head

but many at mse have - there is a matched betting board here to explain further.

Best idea is to keep a diary and read as many as possible to keep your spirits up when you don't feel like it , it's a long journey so best of luck

smallchanges · 19 March 2017 at 10:44PM

Hi there! It is great to see some replies - I posted last night after having had a glass of wine, so this morning I felt quite overwhelmed by the challenge!

My DH is all set for trying out the matched betting. I have already switched accounts this month, so waiting for a little payout from that (not to Halifax, though, so will look into that one further!).

Another thing I'm going to try is E bay. I have listed quite a lot this month which is great, but when stocks run low from our house I may even peruse car boot sales for things. I've been reading some blogs about making decent cash that way.

I've given myself a year to pay £15,000 because I have just re-mortgaged. That means I need to find £1,250 each month and I very much doubt just doing the things I've listed above will bring that much in, so I will definitely be reading other people's posts for inspiration!

kittykatneedscash · 20 March 2017 at 1:58PM

Hi small changes I'm still on my debt free journey but once I'm there and have an emergency fund in place I will look at overpaying my mortgage. I have done surveys, cashback sites, bank switching, a few things on ebay etc but I found the best way is to look at my regular outgoings and see where I can make savings as these are saving every month. So far I have got a better deal on my mortgage, house insurance, cancelled direct debits for things that weren't essential changed my mobile phone provider, got a better deal on my broadband and cancelled my Sky package and a few small changes really all add up. Any savings you make can be allocated each month to overpayments as you won't get used to having the extra cash. I have a spreadsheet for my regular outgoings and constantly look at it see if there is anything else that can be saved why don't you do a SOA and see if there is anything you can get a better deal on? Kitty

smallchanges · 20 March 2017 at 10:53PM

Hi! Thanks for replying! You are right, I need to look at all of my outgoings thoroughly to make savings there. There is no way (as far as I can see) of bringing in £1,250 per month by surveys and ebay alone!

I am definitely feeling daunted by this challenge. I called the new bank today to check I am on the right track to get the cashback for switching and they informed me that actually the direct debits which I set up should have transferred from my old account (the one I am switching from). The problem is, I didn't have any direct debits going from there because DH has been paying all of the bills (since I had my first round of maternity leave). I now have to call the switching team in the morning and beg them to let me have the cashback anyway!

On a brighter note, I have been paid for some market research I did last month, and sold some items on ebay, so I have a current grand total of £67.26 to contribute towards the mortgage. Should I pay it over tomorrow, or wait until the end of the month? What is the etiquette with these things?

smallchanges · 24 March 2017 at 10:49PM

Right, this week I have;
1. Applied to Neilsons shopping scanner (the reply came back saying that they will keep my details for later)
2. Registered for a mother/baby sale which is next month. I have loads of baby stuff to get rid of so I'll spend some time over the coming weeks dusting/ironing etc to make everything more sell-able.
3. Sold some items on Ebay
4. Applied for 2 research projects (I don't think I got on either as they haven't come back to me yet, but I live in hope - they've been known to recruit me the day before due to someone else cancelling).
5. Renewed an insurance through a cash back site, which has confirmed the cashback.
6. Joined Receipt Hog - small changes, I know, but every little helps, and it is so quick and easy to do!

I've decided to hold off on making an overpayment until the end of the month, so that I can tally everything together.

I have also made a list of other things I need to do this year which should bring in a little extra towards the mortgage. These are;
1. tinkering with the food budget. I've stopped doing shopping lists and meal plans so the food bills are rising and the amount we throw away is increasing. I'll head over to the old style board for inspiration in a minute.
2. Allotment - I got an allotment last year (for the pleasure/relaxation/hobby),so this will be my first proper growing year. I think that I could try to use this to my advantage and reduce my food bills, but need to plan carefully, be watchful for the seedling swapping events, and make sure that I actually eat what I grow. I might even plant extra seeds to sell at the car boot sales I'm planning on doing (we have A LOT to clear out!)
3. Car boot sales - enough said.
4. Online surveys - I can see that a lot of people here do these and they look like they pay quite well, so I will research these and join one or two.
5. Match Betting - DH has been doing loads of research into this but seems reluctant to actually give it a go. I'm not the best at this type of thing so this one might never happen. I live in hope though!
6. Switch bank accounts - properly this time!
7. Free postcode lottery.
8. Other selling sites - I need to look into these. I have read someone else's thread who has sold books, and someone else music so this might be worth a look.
9. cancel non-essential direct debits. We've been quite careful here in the past, but it is worth a review.

I'm also going to try to set little milestones, because it looks like others have focused on these to go the distance, and if it works for them...

smallchanges · 2 April 2017 at 9:44PM

So, it is the end of the month (I'm a few days late - blaming DD's birthday party which wiped me out!), and I have a whopping total of £216.76 to OP. Not fantastic, but still not a bad effort considering I started 2 weeks ago.

Over the next month I will;
1. try to switch current account (and do it right this time!!)
2. mother and baby sale
3. ebay
4. try, try, try, to get more survey work
5. convince DH to have a go at match betting.
6. try to reduce the food budget. I think we spent around £350 last month on food which is just silly. there must be savings to be made there. The only problem is that my children are constantly hungry at the moment. I think I have a growth spurt or two on the horizon.
7. reduce Virgin bill - we don't have an aerial so have always been with Virgin, and I can't persuade DH to buy an aerial and go to Freeview. Noticed that the bill has shot up over the last month or two, so am going to try to get them to reduce it again/get DH to agree to invest in an aerial!

smallchanges · 9 April 2017 at 8:27PM

Last week I have;
1. sold 2 things on ebay (gain of a fiver)
2. done a car boot sale (£59)
3. given DH the computer so that he can start on the mb'ing (though a tally of the success of this will be delayed due to all the set up palarva!)
4. logged all receipts on Receipt Hog
This effort is not going to get my mortgage paid off very quickly at all.

greent · 10 April 2017 at 7:42PM

I don't think £350 is that bad for 2 +3. Do you just count food, or do you include all supermarket shopping (so cleaning products, toiletries, nappies if applicable, the odd bit of clothes etc)?
x

Jessy103 · 10 April 2017 at 7:58PM

Hi smallchanges! Good luck with your journey! Try not to be disheartened, you're doing great and knowing what you need to work on is a great start! Have you thought about posting a statement of affairs? I found having other people look at my expenses and telling where I could improve really helped. X

Smallchanges

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