What's it like to be mortgage free?

[redjumper]

Its looking like we might be able to pay off our mortgage in the next few years by the time we're 40 if we put our minds to it.
I'm just looking for inspiration really from anyone out there who has paid off their mortgage. How does it feel? What do you do with all that money you previously used for your mortgage? How does life change for the better?
Thanks xx

We probably will barely even notice as ours is tiny and the interest virtually non existent. We spend more on food than on the mortgage each month. Benefits of not buying the biggest house in the bestest area we could possibly afford and going for 'just enough' in terms of area and house size instead.

I remember asking my parents how they felt when they paid off their mortgage and they said the same - it was about £50 a month in the 1990s.

We've decided not to pay ours off until the interest rates creep up. Then we can get rid of it at that time.

Its cheap money after all.

I echo the point about having the freedom and luxury to walk away from a job if you're not respected and treated well. I wonder if subliminally you can give out a message "don't mess with me, or I'm outa here" Not having a mortgage means you have choice and dignity at work because you don't need to take shit to survive.

Paid ours off last year aged 44. It feels good, but are redirecting a lot of it into pensions and investments anyway with the ultimate aim to be able to retire at 55. So no flash cars or round the world trips, more long term benefit really.

Its too easy to just spend more, but no, it feels good. It is going to paying off some recent home improvements, then for more home improvements, and then we will start trying to save up enough money to make parentsl contribution to dcs education.

Mine has about 10 years to go and will be clear before I am 40. At nearly £900 a month in the south east I can't wait. The children will be entering adulthood then so the money will help them as they start out.

CPtart, I expect that's exactly what would happen if we paid our off.

Yes, just £500 a month in SE. But we're kinda old and the mortgage was only about £60k when we took it out 20 odd years ago.

As others have said, it is a weight of your shoulders. Our mortgage was small, but all of a sudden you can save for holidays, children or uni, retirement etc ... and also you have options .... i could change job or take redundancy (even though i don't really want to now), and we will always have our home.

In fact, for the first time in life, i feel rich - even i have no more money than before!!

we've been overpaying by thousands / month so should feel good when it ends next month! we will probably do some work on the house at that point

We both instantly went part time.

There is no way we could have this work /life balance with a mortgage. Downsizing our jobs means we don't have actually that much money so we still live frugally and no fancy holidays.

But the family time we have together is far more than most.

And any leftover cash is saved for the kids university fees etc.

I've been mortgage free for a while
but have no employer pension
one child at uni clocking up eye watering debt
and another one going to follow that path
so I spend the same / less than I ever did
and save like crazy

We paid ours off last year when I was 49 due to an inheritance. It feels really good that we now own this house and the bank can't take it away from us. We have upped our holiday budget this year but next year I want to focus a bit more in savings.

It's great. There are redundancies in the air in both mine and Mr R's workplaces at the moment, but I'm not remotely stressed about it.

Great. £500 a month more to do stuff. We just paid ours off at the beginning of the year, so we have bought a new washing machine and a wardrobe, and got the stairs and landing recarpeted. All stuff we just couldn't afford to do before. Will probably have a year of gradually making home improvements before we start to save for a holiday. Also I've just handed in notice at one of my part time jobs so that I can have more time with the family at weekends.

We have been mortgage free for most of our 20yrs married. We could have gone for a bigger house, but decided to stay where we were and extend.

We have had the luxury of knowing that if one of us died or out of work (DH is a Contractor) we could still live here. It has also been nice to know we can buy whatever we like (within reason, we are not overspenders anyway), eat out when we like, go on nice hols.

We have also saved a lot as DH wont have any company pension except one from years ago. So we both have significant ISA savings and money in personal pensions. I also have company pensions.

We are now in the position, at 54 and almost 53, that we can start thinking about maybe retiring at 60, plus if DH was out of work for a while, or I was made redundant, we could last many years on the savings we have, even with a DC at uni and one still in college.

A colleague of mine died suddenly before chistmas, heart attack, just 60. It really brought it home to me how I dont want to work any longer than necessary. A relative was fortunate to survive a heart attack just after Christmas, at almost 64 he would like to retire but has said he needs to go to 65.

Being mortgage free for so many years will hopefully mean we have the means for better life choices as we approach retirement.

We overpaid our first mortgage and were mortgage free in our 30's.
Since then we've used the money to go on some fab holidays and save and get yet another mortgage to move up to a family home, buy rentals and a holiday cottage. Which means we now have another source of income and once our last mortgage is paid off we can save then retire at 55 and help out DC.

What a great post! Just going through our new mortgage application to buy a bigger property so would have 30 years yet but aiming to make overpayments to reduce that term, lovely things to think about.

It feels good. I paid off mine last year after years of overpayment. DH about to pay his off. It's a huge relief as he's not working at the moment so it's a massive pressure off.

I'm putting the money into a savings account and it's a huge difference - £750 a month. I've got real savings for the first time.

We paid it off a few years ago in our late thirties. We now save the amount we were repaying each month - so in terms of our lifestyle it hasn't made a big difference. It is a good feeling totally owning your house!

Our last payment was in January and I said I wanted a year of spending the equivalent before we became serious again.
So far I've bought a new washing machine, a tumble dryer, some good pieces of furniture instead of IKEA for the flat we're doing up.... there's plenty more on the list!

It feels great after 25 years to be mortgage free.

holy macaroni, I pay 3400 a month and still have technically 9+ years on the books However will sell in the next year and market looks like we can clear 200% return and have loved our years of living there.

Can't wait to be mortgage free! Enjoy every minute.

Wowsers SoFarSoGood! That's going to be like a lottery win for you!!!

It allowed us to send our DC to private school.
It definitely allows more choices and a sense of freedom.
Even if you don't alter your spending patterns at Ll once mortgage free and just save the spare cash, in itself that gives a sense of freedom and choice, because one of the freedoms is the freedom of more choice in the future and old age too.
Would heartily recommend it to anyone considering making it a goal and even if it only takes a cohort time of your mortgage paying years, it's all saving interest and gives you a sense of control.

My parents loved it and my dad finally retired.
We have under 15 years to go, hopefully will have it paid off in 10 in time for eldest to hit sixth form and university. Can't wait.

We were paying 8-9k a month at one point so was happy when that was over. Most of the savings we reinvested.