What are you doing without to overpay your mortgage?

[coodawoodashooda]

Not a stealth boast. Expecting cms contribution to stop imminently and trying to get rid of as much debt as possible before then. We have enough but it's hard going. Anyone else in the same boat? Please don't be offended. I'm not trying to antagonise anyone. Just looking for moral support.

Why not pay it off at the regular schedule and enjoy your life? You never know what's round the corner, why do you want to be skint when younger, have good health and can enjoy life?

Because the cms money is coming to an end shortly? Like it's literally there in the post.

Anyway OP. I stopped takeaway coffees

I've stopped the coffee thing too. Also cut back on proper meals every night. We are not starving and the kids don't notice but I do.

I'm not sure I understand. You aren't eating properly in order to over pay your mortgage? Are you hoping to have paid it off by the time cms ends? I don't think of my mortgage as a debt exactly - it'd a housing cost. Without it I'd be paying rent anyway.

I read somewhere that you can pay 4 weekly which makes you end up overpaying over the course of the year. Not sure if that would work for you or if that's just something I read online which is wrong?

You need to eat properly. That’s a basic part of looking after yourself.

I don’t believe you can’t afford a plate of pasta or whatever.

If you feel that’s the case, you need to look again at your budget and/ or earn more.

Is the mortgage payment a large % of income? It doesn't make much sense to overpay the mgage at the expense of normal life, unless there's more to the situation?

If you are expecting a drop in income, better to put it in savings where you can use it.

We’ve been overpaying since we got the mortgage so haven’t cut back on anything, just started out small amounts and upped it as we got pay rises and promotions. I’ve never done takeaway coffees during the week or bought lunches at work though as I’ve been prioritising the mortgage. It does make a difference even just a few years of overpaying so is definitely worth it!

What's cms

How would overpaying the mortgage help? Unless you can pay it off really quickly or pay a huge amount it won't reduce the monthly payments by much. Wouldn't you be better off trying to save to give yourself a cushion?

Wouldn’t really say I am doing without
Started overpaying about 5 years ago,small payment originally which I increase every 6 months or so
I just think about it as part of my mortgage payment

I've fluctuated over the years, paid more when we had more and reduced when had less. The overpayment comes from spare funds, and I wouldn't reduce actual meals so I can overpay. I have a food budget I stick to so I can overpay, but that budget allows for normal meals.

If you want to overpay more it comes from your spare cash, so you'd reduce spending on non essential clothes, holidays and trips out etc.

We take the same approach. We currently overpay our mortgage by £300 a month. We have just upped the monthly payments incrementally - it was a good decision as we were able to absorb the interest rate rise when we came off our fixed deal in January. We also make on e off payments if there is money spare - eg we had money saved due to lockdown so used it for some overpayments.

However I would never go without things like food to overpay the mortgage, that is madness.

i'm not in the same situation as you but it sounds like you are planning and being sensible.

overpay by 1k each month. going without new kitchen, not updating car (car is 2004 plate and luckily very efficient/reliable) and rarely going on holiday apart from weekends to stay with family.

being able to overpay month feels worth the sacrifice and means mortgage ends 6 years earlier.

what effect do your overpayments translate to in real terms and is it worth it?

There’s nothing to cut! I haven’t had a takeaway coffee for about 5 years. Thankfully fixed at a low rate last Jan though.

Why aren’t you eating properly? Is it really worth it?

Why is your cms stopping?

Ah OK, I understand. I thought cms = child maintenance. I get it now. Hope someone can come up with some good suggestions op, you need to be eating properly.

It's got to be a balance. What's the point being a slave to your mortgage (that's entirely self inflicted r.e. overpaying) and doing without

It's way too much of a sacrifice.

We overpaid from day 1 but only an amount that didn't impact our plans for other parts of our lives.

I never overpaid regularly, but if I had spare cash at the end of a month, I paid it in. Never went without essentials, but would also never buy a takeaway coffee if I could make one at work or home for free. Overpaying is good if you can afford it

Me too. Is it not?

Overpay by £315 a month. I'm trying to get down to 50/50 LTV by the time I have to remortgage in Sept 25. I'm going without the little holidays that I like to go on and eating out. I feel skint, but know that I need to do it to make sure I can afford the mortgage when I renew.

Over pay by £100 a month from two years ago when I went full time again and DH was promoted. We could actually over pay more but choose more disposable income tbh

I’ve had a mortgage for over 30 years and another 10 years to go. Never over paid. Moved up properties by increasing the mortgage. Divorce didn’t help. But I’ve never missed a payment.

But it will be paid one day so I don’t worry about it. I’ve had some fantastic holidays with my kids. Lovely memories. We eat out twice a month. I see it like rent. I would rather have memories and photos than a paid off mortgage by the age of 50.

Also fall into the 'is it worth it' category. Maybe enjoy life and save what is left each month. Then that can either be paid off the mortgage or used for something nice. X