Our goal is to achieve Financial Freedom by December 2020; being mortgage free (as soon as possible) is part of that goal and every month I track our progress.

February 1st 2012 Mortgage Stats:

• Original Mortgage: £138,485 (April 2006)
• Original term: 300 months (March 2031)
• Outstanding Balance: £102,283.32
• Reduction from last month: 2,128.42
• Paid off to date: £36,201.68
• Monthly payment: £542.34
• February over payment £1,673.87
• Actual payments left: 221
• Months until goal date: 70 (31st Dec 2020 2017)
• Months until stretch goal date: 46 (31st Dec 2015)
• Original term reduced by: 8 months

Us vs. Bank: 26.14% vs. 73.86%

Mortgage Goals:

• Mortgage neutral (mortgage – savings) by December 2015
• Mortgage fully paid off by December 2017

Stretch Goal:

• Mortgage fully paid off by December 2015

The mortgage snowflakes (£216.21) provided a nice boost to our overpayment this month, and I”ve worked it out that we need to increase the overpayment by about £400 to reach the five figure goal we’re chasing on March 1st. This figure feels like such a milestone and we can’t wait to reach it.

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Mortgage Freedom: February 2012 Report is a post from: Move to Portugal

We’re only four days into the New Year and I’m already thinking of adding an extra goal…..I just can’t seem to help myself!?

At the moment our target for the year is to reduce our mortgage balance below £83k, which we will just about achieve if we continue with our current overpayment schedule…..it works out about £450-£500 short. But because I’m a crazy goal setting woman, I’m thinking of challenging myself to snowflake another £3-£3.5k so reducing our mortgage to £80k. Not a lot more, but enough to make me work for it!

What do you think? Am I crazy?

When I was paying off my consumer debt I used the ‘Snowflake Method’ to accelerate my debt payoff and it kept me constantly motivated. I’m thinking there’s no reason why it won’t work just as well with our mortgage debt.

This post is inspired by saving for travel, a fellow mortgage attacker!

(photo credit)

Mortgage Snowflakes is a post from: Move to Portugal

Our goal is to achieve Financial Freedom by December 2020; being mortgage free (as soon as possible) is part of that goal and every month  I track our progress.

January 1st 2012 Mortgage Stats:

• Original Mortgage: £138,485 (April 2006)
• Original term: 300 months (March 2031)
• Outstanding Balance: £104,411.74
• Reduction from last month: £1,910.60
• Paid off to date: £34,073.26
• Monthly payment: £542.34
• January over payment £1,457.66
• Actual payments left: 222
• Months until goal date: 71 (31st Dec 2020 2017)
• Months until stretch goal date: 47 (31st Dec 2015)
• Original term reduced by: 8 months

Us vs. Bank: 24.6% vs. 75.4%

Mortgage Goals:

• Mortgage neutral (mortgage – savings) by December 2015
• Mortgage fully paid off by December 2017

Stretch Goal:

• Mortgage fully paid off by December 2015

Mortgage Freedom: January 2012 Report is a post from: Move to Portugal

Our goal is to achieve Financial Freedom by December 2020; being mortgage free (as soon as possible) is part of that goal and every month  I track our progress.

Okay first up the stats and then our plan for 2012.

December 1st 2011 Mortgage Stats:

• Original Mortgage: £138,485 (April 2006)
• Original term: 300 months (March 2031)
• Outstanding Balance: £106,322.34
• Reduction from last month: £455.46
• Paid off to date: £32,162.66
• Monthly payment: £542.34
• December over payment £0.00
• Actual payments left: 223
• Months until goal date: 72 (31st Dec 2020 2017)
• Months until stretch goal date: 48 (31st Dec 2015)
• Original term reduced by: 8 months

Us vs. Bank: 23.22% vs. 76.78%

Mortgage Goals:

• Mortgage neutral (mortgage – savings) by December 2015
• Mortgage fully paid off by December 2017

Stretch Goal:

• Mortgage fully paid off by December 2015

No over payment this month as we wanted to add the money to our ‘moving abroad costs fund‘, but in January we’re going ahead with a big bid towards mortgage freedom and increasing our monthly payments to £2k.

Our mortgage debt target figure for December 31st is £83,000, a reduction of £23,322.34 on our current balance. We’ve been working on our budget for next year and think, if we are really frugal in our day to day living, we can do this.  But to keep a balance we have allowed money for travel.

Anyone else attacking their mortgage in 2012? If so, I’d love to hear your plan.

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Mortgage Freedom: December 2011 Report is a post from: Move to Portugal

Sometimes when I think about the size of our mortgage and what it would take to completely pay if off, I break out into a mini sweat.  I mean six figures is a whole lot of debt and eliminating in it a short(ish) amount of time is not going to be easy…..even so we’re willing to have a go.

To take my mind of the size of the task I break down the numbers annually.

This year our goal was to reduce the mortgage by at least £6,000 (so far so good), next year, because we both feel extremely motivated to get this thing gone, we’re setting the target a little higher.

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On our five year plan one of the goals is to reduce the mortgage below £85,ooo by December 31st 2012 however, after crunching the numbers we think we can go a little lower and be sub £83k.

The starting mortgage balance will be around £106k (I’ll have the exact figure after the December payment has gone through), so if all goes to plan budget we’ll reduce the mortgage by £23,000 in 2012…….the key words being: all goes to plan!

I know that a few of you are hoping to pay down your mortgage early – I’d love to know your goal for 2012?

If you’re not currently paying down your mortgage early – is it one of your goals for the future?

(photo credit)

Mortgage Freedom – Breaking Down the Numbers is a post from: Move to Portugal