How to be mortgage free!?

[Whydoireadthis]

Hiya, I was wondering if there’s anybody out there who is mortgage free from overlying their mortgage, who’s done so with children/part time work and a household income of about £40k? I keep reading about it and it interests me but the only stories I come across are of household incomes of about £100k+!! My mortgage is around £700 per month and suppose I’d like some real life experiences and some bigger money saving tips then just ‘cancel unused direct debits’ and ‘taking packed lunches’ because I think I live frugally on most things anyway.
Any tips appreciated 😊
X

@Asgoodasarest

Thank you for starting this thread and all the contributions. I thought I had a bit of a plan, but actually reading this has made me think I should be doing things quite differently. V interesting x

Ha, me too! What was your plan? I’ve surprised myself that I’ve stuck to my ‘no spend January’. I know it’s only ten days in, but I feel confident I can do the month with only food and one gift I have to buy. Might spread it into February! X

Well I have been really focused on getting us into a better financial space, that I became quite fixed on hammering the mortgage down. But I’ve realised that to do it the way I planned would not only sacrifice some of the day to day joy of being able to (eventually, fingers crossed) go on day trips and plan holidays. But also make our retirement provision completely inadequate, bordering on non existent.

So I’m going to make getting pensions etc on track as the first priority and make sure that mortgage overpaying (which I still want to do) also allows some space for living an interesting life and putting money away for the children’s future.
At the moment I’m not working and had hoped to get back into work this year (sahm currently). Obviously current climate may make that more difficult, but I’m going to keep trying and then continue to live on one salary, using the other salary to be divided up between things like pensions, fun, savings and mortgage overpaying. It’s all great in theory, but I’m hopeful I can do some of it!
Just things like the OH up thread who didn’t get the benefit of his parents being able to do more as they were mortgage free, because he was grown up by then, made me think. Whether it’s the pandemic, all the reading of finance forums or soul searching, I kind of concluded I want to do things differently from now on. Good luck with it all.

@Asgoodasarest

Well I have been really focused on getting us into a better financial space, that I became quite fixed on hammering the mortgage down. But I’ve realised that to do it the way I planned would not only sacrifice some of the day to day joy of being able to (eventually, fingers crossed) go on day trips and plan holidays. But also make our retirement provision completely inadequate, bordering on non existent. So I’m going to make getting pensions etc on track as the first priority and make sure that mortgage overpaying (which I still want to do) also allows some space for living an interesting life and putting money away for the children’s future. At the moment I’m not working and had hoped to get back into work this year (sahm currently). Obviously current climate may make that more difficult, but I’m going to keep trying and then continue to live on one salary, using the other salary to be divided up between things like pensions, fun, savings and mortgage overpaying. It’s all great in theory, but I’m hopeful I can do some of it! Just things like the OH up thread who didn’t get the benefit of his parents being able to do more as they were mortgage free, because he was grown up by then, made me think. Whether it’s the pandemic, all the reading of finance forums or soul searching, I kind of concluded I want to do things differently from now on. Good luck with it all.

Pretty much the same as us then! Plans can be changed, I’m definitely going to sort out the pension situation this year. I can’t afford much more at the minute, unless I stop overpaying- and I really don’t want to stop- but I’d like to at least try to prioritise that over some other purchases. Good luck! X

My friends DD and her dp have both just taken takeaway delivery jobs over the weekends to hammer their mortgage down. This will net at least £1200 a month (( these jobs pay really well round here )) plus whatever tips they get. And the lot is being used towards the mortgage. They're paying their mortgage as normal but the extra job money and another 1500 a month is going directly into their savings. The plan being when enough is saved to just clear the balance.

We're lucky to live in the North so they didn't pay a great deal to start and as they're only early 20s have the will to crack on. They plan to clear it within 3 years before starting a family so they won't be juggling the stress of childcare and having to worry about paying for their home when the opportunity to earn more decreases.

So far they've stuck at it, they got their deposit together within a year by working damn hard and taking on extra jobs .......I only wish I'd been as sensible at their ages 😂😂😂

@WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo

My friends DD and her dp have both just taken takeaway delivery jobs over the weekends to hammer their mortgage down. This will net at least £1200 a month (( these jobs pay really well round here )) plus whatever tips they get. And the lot is being used towards the mortgage. They're paying their mortgage as normal but the extra job money and another 1500 a month is going directly into their savings. The plan being when enough is saved to just clear the balance.

We're lucky to live in the North so they didn't pay a great deal to start and as they're only early 20s have the will to crack on. They plan to clear it within 3 years before starting a family so they won't be juggling the stress of childcare and having to worry about paying for their home when the opportunity to earn more decreases.

So far they've stuck at it, they got their deposit together within a year by working damn hard and taking on extra jobs .......I only wish I'd been as sensible at their ages 😂😂😂

Oh don’t, hindsight is wonderful isn’t it!? I wish I’d done pretty much everything I’ve done differently 😑 My parents just wanted me to earn my own money but I wished they’d been pushier about perhaps learning a skill or just having something to fall back on!

There’s an interesting podcast called choose FI that might interest you. Also Sarah Beeney has a program called how to be mortgage free it’s on Netflix not sure if it’s anywhere else

We moved 18 months ago and took out a much larger mortgage at the time. We bought a new build so current maintenance costs are low. During our current fix (3.5 years remaining) we have been overpaying each month and then set aside a further pot of money which we review periodically to see whether we need to buy anything or can pay down the mortgage. We hope to shorten our term further when we remortgage in 3.5 years.

We spend our money on the mortgage rather than the house at the moment so we haven't bought any new furniture since we moved in other than a cheap desk for home working and it still looks a bit cold and sterile, as the walls are all white. I'd love to have an Instagram-worthy home but being mortgage free is more important to me.

Every bit helps. £6 here and there still shaves off interest. Don't be afraid to pay little, little amounts of because it all helps. At one point I literally paid off under a tenner a month but it kept me in the habit and adding on extras like savings from bogofs, refunds of items, eBay sales, reducing petrol spend by a pound a week all help.i got there on a single £30k by doing lots of little bits.

It's also worth mentioning that there is no point in paying off your mortgage if you don't have a good financial plan. You would be better off having enough in savings first and some sort of investments. There is no point in paying the bank more on the mortgage which is say 2-3% if you are then going to take out a personal loan at 8% 5 years later. Be your own bank!! 👍

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett

I know some people who are nearly there and who only recently started earning more than you, they've overpaid from the very beginning of their mortgage term - I remember a big discussion during DFriend's mat leave about reducing their overpayments for the year. When they first started it was only a few extra quid a month, but it's paid off, I reckon they're a few years ahead of their peers now and likely to pay off soon.

I also think a lot of people move in their late 40s to one last 'big' house which then puts them further down the mortgage term. So don't trade up may seem obvious but does have a big impact on when you can pay down.

This is us Modest size house Have overpaid anything from £50-£500 pounds every month since we started the mortgage, except when on may pay and other temporary periods of reduced income.
We don’t scrimp, but we don’t have extravagant lifestyles either ie: might get a takeaway twice a year, go abroad once every couple of years? Drink very little alcohol (we might share a bottle of wine between 2 of the course of the weekend), camping holidays etc. This has allowed some big overpayments, but our next largest outgoing is childcare. We’ll be millionaires (ish!) when DD goes to secondary.

I follow the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps plan...on track to be mortgage free in 18 months and then retire early (will be 54) a few months before that. Would have been much sooner if I'd focused on it sooner (hindsight and all that!). Any residual income gets split between my pension and mortgage overpayments...

I'm (We're) trying to pay off mortgage early AND save for a pension AND save to have an emergency fund AND save for our 2 x DC's future AND think about supporting them if they go onto FE/HE.

Also try and save for Christmas, holidays, home maintenance and improvement.

Oh and pay bills, eat, have a little enjoyment in life.

It's so much to think about. Have to spread the effort and finances as best you can.

I want to make sure that the mortgage is paid off a few years before we retire.

@WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo They're paying their mortgage as normal but the extra job money and another 1500 a month is going directly into their savings. The plan being when enough is saved to just clear the balance. why would they do that? If they overpay bit by bit they will save thousands in interest. Interest rates are awful at the moment. Saving it up and then paying off the balance will take a lot longer and cost them more money. Best idea is to ask bank for overpayments to reduce the capital.

@SciFiScream

I'm (We're) trying to pay off mortgage early AND save for a pension AND save to have an emergency fund AND save for our 2 x DC's future AND think about supporting them if they go onto FE/HE.

Also try and save for Christmas, holidays, home maintenance and improvement.

Oh and pay bills, eat, have a little enjoyment in life.

It's so much to think about. Have to spread the effort and finances as best you can.

I want to make sure that the mortgage is paid off a few years before we retire.

I hear ya! If I have spare money that I want to save, I find it hard to decide which pot it goes in sometimes! Currently saving for a new kitchen, then the house will just need ‘touching up’ when necessary, for the next few years. That’s the priority right now. We can afford to save the child benefit for now too which helps x