The Fun Starts Here.....

Thanks Jellibeanz

I'm really eager to get started paying the mortgage off. We completed on the 27th March, and waiting for the first payment to come out on 25th April seems to be taking forever! I must say I find watching the interest increase every day in my online bank a bit alarming!

I skimmed my bank accounts today, just a few small amounts but it's adding up. With that and cash back I've got £264 saved so far towards the 1% overpayment - looking at the overpayment calculator, just paying 1% will take 2 months off the mortgage, so definitely worth doing, as well as the regular overpayment we'll be making each month.

I'm planning to sell some CDs, DVDs and books on Amazon, as I've had some success with that before. I might branch out into selling on ebay, though that seems a bit more daunting! I'm looking at maybe doing some part time work myself too, as it would really help us to pay the mortgage down more quickly. I'm planning on reducing our grocery spend too, I'm sure there's room for improvement there.

Lots to be thinking about!

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Hi AMOT looking forward to cheering you on throughout your mortgage free wannabe journey

Have you completed a statement of affairs template out? I found that fab for working out incomings & outgoings and also for where savings can be made,

Thanks, Kittenkirst. I haven't done a statement of affairs yet.... not sure where the template is?

Aahh.. just editing to say I found it. Will do that, thanks!

Thanks for the welcome, all.

We're getting ready to go on holiday Friday and also to decorate the living room as soon as we get back, so life at the moment seems a hectic round of packing and moving furniture upstairs. The entire house is a muddle.

I tried to do a statement of affairs, but some of the categories differ from the way I organise my budget usually, and although the budget I have works out, I couldn't make it agree with the SOA version and after three hours I gave up. I'll try again when I've not got so much going on and maybe I'll be able to think straight!

We have around £13,000 as emergency funds. £11,000 of this is for dire situations such as Mr AMOT being made redundant, so don't intend to touch it, hopefully. The remaining £2,000 is for appliance breakdown, phone replacement etc and I hope we can add to this each month, £50-£100. I'm planning to save the emergency money in several current accounts and move money between them to satisfy the direct debit requirements, which was suggested to me on another board. I still have to get the logistics worked out.

Our house needs a lot of renovation, complete redecoration as well as a new kitchen and new windows and doors, so this will be ongoing for a long time. My parents have offered to lend us money for these projects, but even though it would be interest-free, I would rather not have any debt besides the mortgage. It will take us a loonng time to save up the necessary funds ourselves, though....and I am absolutely determined to overpay the mortgage to knock 4 years off the term, at least. I might think again about borrowing from the parents, I'll see how it goes.

So I'll be looking to see where I can reduce expenses. One area is definitely food, I'm spending about £100 a week for two adults. I know we can do better than that! My mission when we return from holiday will be to reduce our grocery spend. I also want to keep a spending diary for a month or two to see exactly where it all goes!

This seems to have been a bit of a brain dump of all the things whirling round in my brain at the moment! Hope you're still awake!