Hello Dear Reader,
Dearly Beloved has gone back to work and I'm home alone. I've lots of really useful things to do but ended up oggling at quilt designs online and ordering quilt books from the library! I know how to waste time!
I did my usual monthly stock take, read my meters, uploaded the meter readings and checked the accounts and budgets. Everything is in order. I have to phone through to Santander every time I make a capital overpayment so they take it from the balance and not the interest. When I've finished the transaction, I always ask for a final balance to check it against my own figures. I've hit a milestone. Since moving to this house in August 2007, we have reduced our mortgage by £100,000! It feels really significant and although almost half of that was deposit from our previous house sale, it still feels like a milestone.
If you are in the process of just starting to over pay your mortgage, or just starting to pay down your debts, then it might seems like a hopeless task. Well, think of this. I like the way interest works. When you borrow money and have a balance of monies yet unpaid, the interest is added every month. I like the opposite maths when paying down a debt, or paying down a mortgage. The overall interest just melts away. I love THIS website, where you can calculate mortgage payments and how much less you will pay in interest by overpaying. You can use THIS to work out what snowballing your debts will save you. If I were to continue to pay my mortgage at the set rate per month, I would have eighteen years and eight months more to pay. By overpaying, I will save ten years and seven months of payments and £56,476 in interest.
I went out for a walk around my little market town of Liskeard and scooped three men's shirts for £3, a Tupperware cake tub for 50p and a dress pattern for 50p. Total spend since the 20th December has been £4! Keeping my costs down mean I can continue to overpay my mortgage and I'm only three and a half years from knocking another fifty off the mortgage balance!
Sorry that this hasn't been a very exciting post but it has been written by a very excited poster who marvels at giving the big banks less of her money than they were expecting to get. As far as I'm concerned, it's a big victory for the 'little guy'!
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx
Congratulations! That is a major milestone!
ReplyDeleteWe are about a year away from the end of the mortgage. Whoo hoo!
This is our year to get totally out of debt. We are making our budget even tighter and by this time next year we will be done! One good thing is we own our home so that is a big start. I love to read your blog though it really does encourage me
ReplyDeleteMy DH went back to work today, I felt a little lost at first as I didnt know what to do, but it is a no spend day no 2 and that feels pretty good in itself, I did take down the tree, walk the dog watch Hugo and then fall asleep!!! Ohh and I did apply for a new job with more hours but with the same organisation. As I like being there. And my mum can to visit me and we walked the dog together! which was nice. But my day felt dull untill I told you what I had done!!! Allie xxxxx
ReplyDeleteWow...that is what my house cost here in Canada. Houses must be insanely expensive on your side of the world.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40394867.html?premiumA=true
DeleteMy house was expensive, because it is detached and not overlooked. You can see by the house I've shown via the link you can pay a quarter of a million in the UK and neighbours will still be able to watch you shower as you'll be that close together. I paid more for the privacy. BTW - in London, you would pay up to 12 million pounds for a 4 bedroom house in Kensington. It's a small island with 100 million people crowded onto it.
Also, look how small room sizes are here - no wonder there is a epidemic of mental health issues here, we're cooped liked caged animals.
DeleteParts of the States are like that too. We bought a house in New Jersey and one of my requirements is that I want some land. My neighbors are next door, but not close that I can touch them. I never understood how people live like that. Los Angeles is a good example where you can buy a multi million dollar home and your neighbor is just over the fence. No thanks.
DeleteCongratulations on reducing your mortgage by £100,000! That is a terrific feat!!!
ReplyDeleteNot an exciting post ..... £100,000 owed less on your mortgage ... I would call that pretty exciting - WELL DONE.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent milestone.
Sue xx
That is brilliant. Very well done!
ReplyDeleteWow congratulations. I haven't spent any money since December 27th!!
ReplyDeleteIve used your link to calculate the effect snowballing will have on reducing our debt. It makes a huge difference.
Keep up the fantastic work!!
It's really eye opening how fast compound interest works for you when you overpay a mortgage. We changed to a flexible mortgage when we still had a fairly hefty balance and at the time the chap at the bank said that most people repay these within five to ten years. I assumed he meant that they paid them off when moving but, no he meant that they were paid off. I didn't see how it could be possible but it gets addictive trying to get the balance down below another round number each month and we knew that if we needed to we could borrow it back again. Sure enough we paid it back six years early and I can't tell you how much peace of mind that gave us even when DH was made redundant and my job looked iffy.
ReplyDeletePlease don't apologise- £100k is exciting in anyone's book! After my savings cushion is in place, I too plan to nail my mortgage- well done Froogs x
ReplyDeleteNo s**t Sherlock! That is fantastic news, the sort to give you a total lift on a grey winter day. It's given me a lift and most of all ....HOPE!
ReplyDeleteThanks FQ,
Linda xx
Thats wonderful Froogs, never boring always an inspiration! Im just trying to contact the bank to see if I can overpay my one debt to clear it early, cross your fingers for me. Apparently the bank 24hour phone line is very busy, no doubt all those people who spent ridiculous amounts on Christmas are now panicking - thank goodness we dont fall into that trap.
ReplyDeleteI love those sites where you can check the savings in interest and time when you make extra payments. I can look at them for hours adding an extra dollar every click :)
ReplyDeleteIt's really expensive here... check this link (I live in an inner Darwin unit). All is Australian dollars.
http://www.nt.gov.au/ntt/careers/darwin_really_like.shtml
I have made overpayment no 2 today ! Every little helps :-)
ReplyDeleteWell done Froogs......your an inspiration!!!
ReplyDeleteWell done Froogs, your an inspiration! I ve also done pretty well today (not as big news as yours).....I managed to get a huge ikea bag full of free material from a fellow freecycler and am thinking of what I can make from the material for birthday presents. I love reading your posts, please don't ever give up this blog!
ReplyDeleteOh geez, on the contrary. This post is definetly very exciting. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteWell Done! You must be thrilled and so you should be! I think we should make this the year that we all really show the banks that we mean business too! :-)
ReplyDeleteFroogs that is amazing and trust me I am excited for you. Just shows what can be achieved when you put your mind to it. I am just starting out on my frugal journey. Your posts show that it can be done. I went into bank today to ask how I can make over payments on my bank loan. Apparently if i want to do this on my internet banking I have to ring up, or I can go into bank and make an overpayment. I guess I need to insure that they take the overpayment off the loan and not off the interest. I am going to hit my loan then my mortgage. Massive well done froogs. Xxx ps. I am glad I am not the only one that likes looking on the internet at quilts, beats a night in a noisy pub anytime
ReplyDeleteWell done. Keep your eyes on the prize and celebrating milestones is the way to do that. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWell done Froogs. I am putting my quit smoking towards our mortgage and can knock about 10 years off, plus the obvious health benefits.
ReplyDeleteSarah.
X
Wow!!! Well done that is a lot of money in not a very long period of time!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful acheivement! I love the idea of bankers sitting in their board room muttering "bugger"... :D
ReplyDeleteOnce you get rid of the last of your mortgage you will be truly free! :) Well done!
Well done Froogs. Keep going. There is nothing financially better than achieving a mortgage free home.
ReplyDeleteWell done Froogs, that is amazing and, as always, an inspiration and encouragement.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, DB and pooches, love Arwedd xx
Well judging by the comments before me, everyone else is as excited for you as I am! Well done, that is awesome!!!!
ReplyDeleteJudy xx
Froogs just one question that has been wracking through my tiny mind, if you have left over from your excess, do you carry it over or do you put it back into your mortgage? I was just wondering thats all love and huggs Allie
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to explain this - I don't get what you mean?
DeleteSorry, I will try again, after all that is paid out, you have £77 left to live on for that month, am I right?
Deletewhat I meant to ask was if you still have a left over amount, do you
a] carry it over for the next month.
b] put it in your savings
c] put it in your mortgage.
d] spend it all?
I was tired when I wrote the first one, love and hugs Allie
Some months it is spent on extras such as meat for the freezer or new shoes but that is the exception. It usually goes to our savings. We don't carry it over to the next month as we live on what we have quite easily.
DeleteWow!! That is impressive not at all dull.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty new to being frugal and just love reading all the blogs of the experts. Really am impressed at 100k!!
In my mind, this is almost the most most exciting post you have ever written. We are on the same journey and can spend ages calculating our gains against the bank by the extra payments we make.
ReplyDeleteFantastic effort!! We are all behind you cheering.
Fairy xxx
Wow well done froogs!!!!
ReplyDeleteThats an amazing amount to have paid off in such a short period of time.
Wow!! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThat's am amazing amount of money you've paid off, you both should feel really proud of yourselves!
Major milestone! Congratulations seems to little for such success. Hope this year brings you more success.
ReplyDeletewell done Froogs and DH x
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and what a wonderful way to start 2013!!! Well done! Jan x
ReplyDeleteWell done, Froogs, think of it like this: Those bankers have it coming to them, one day we will call the shots, not them. You are leading the way!
ReplyDeleteJanet
Congratulations and what a wonderful way to start 2013!!! Well done! Jan x
ReplyDeleteAny reduction, big or small, when paying off debt is significant and a milestone.
ReplyDeleteRemember that old Chinese saying - 'Every journey begins with the first step'.
Well done Froogs.
You need a day blithering and wandering and daydreaming around. It is good for the mind. I can waste hours in the library or looking at the catalogue and list all the books I want to read.
ReplyDeleteI love the sites that let you work out overpayments. Thanks for sharing the one you use. It works on my iPad, many don't because they use flash. So now I can enter how much extra I can put on, now I won't be buying any clothes.
Pat yourselves on the back, and raise a glass of wine and toast your success thus far. Wonderful milestone to reach and it must be very satisfying. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThat is a huge amount of money and well worth celebrating. Well done.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a HUGE milestone!
ReplyDeleteAmazing milestone, well done. Love the charity shop finds as well. X
ReplyDeleteHi Froogs, can I ask a quick question? It doesn't relate to the post above but well done on such a milestone. We've been given a slow cooker for Christmas but I don't know what to do with it - I wondered whether you used one and if so, what you did? There's only two of us and it sounds like a good frugal way of cooking cheap meat but I don't know where to start. Thanks!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slowcookerrecipes.org.uk/
Deletehttp://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/favourites/slow-cooker/
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-dishes/slow-cooker
There you go, by the wonder of google xx
Not exciting? I find it awesome, Froogs! Congratulations on such a milestone. It must really give you a boost to know that you are achieving something awesome - owning your home outright in a timely fashion and not sharing it with the bank!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes. :)
thanks for the interesrting post and the links to go with it. we haven't overpaid on our mortgage but i am more than certain we could easily so i'm going to check the links out to see how much i'll save i know it will probably be quite a lot.
ReplyDeletethanks again for your lovely blogg
pippax
Congratulations I know exactly how you feel. We have owned several homes over the years. We have moved often because of the military and/or job relocation. We have managed to pay off most homes early. We never take out more than 15 years on a mortgage and attack it vehemently. We currently have about 1 year left on our current mortgage if we keep paying it off as we have been. This one will be the most exciting for us because it will be our last ever mortgage [that is the plan]. It is just the two of us, now, and we will be downsizing. Any money we make from the sale of this home will determine how much we downsize. We will be building our next home. After all these years we no the "must haves" and "can do withouts". We want a 2 bedroom 1 1/2 bath with a detached guest house to come later. Have you thought about what you will do after your home is paid off and you have the extra income? We will be pursuing our real passion, travel and hopefully grand children.
ReplyDeleteAfter we have paid the mortgage, we have to save into our retirement/pensions as they've been decimated by the current government. We'll need to pay in or live on pensions that won't feed us, plus we'll be working until we're 68.
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic,we are currently saving,after I am happy with the lump sum saved we will start to over pay our mortgage.I am torn whether to over pay some and save some but I like to be prepared,we have three young one's,a couple of properties we rent out and as was proven six weeks ago you need some cash available incase of emergencies.(house not person)My hubby is also self employed and work is erratic.I am always careful and it must be paying off as my older children have started to bargain hunt already. x x
ReplyDeleteThanks again Froog's x x
Who says that's not an exciting post? I find it thrilling!
ReplyDeletefroogs i love your blogg and its really helped me as we are about to put a lump sum (given to us by generous relatives)into paying off some from our mortgage. however i didn't know about putting it to pay off the balance not interest so thankyou for that. i will also be checking out the web address above to see how much we can overpay and how much it will knock off our mortgage . i'm all for being debt free. Some of my friends just keep borrowing again and again into their mortgage by remortgaging and its silly because that is just adding to a debt.
ReplyDeletei'm always grateful to find out new ways of saving. i'd love to come to one of your workshops but unfortunately we are up the other end of the country in Norfolk! bit of a long way to come! however thats the great thing about the internet we can link up to people anywhere who we normally wouldn't be able to . continue with the blogg its great and happy saving!!!!!!!!!!!
pippaxx