Cheapskates Lifestyle Slashes Debt in Double Quick Time
After living the Cheapskates way for some time now and clearing all debt except the mortgage and a small personal loan, we decided to put all the regular payments we had been making on the other debt into our remaining debt. We now pay double mortgage and personal loan repayments every week. I still find it hard to believe that we frittered away that much money earlier on.
We now have reduced our remaining debt by half and have a free redraw facility rather than savings. Savings only gave us a 1% - 2% return on our money so we put every spare cent into mortgage offset and with interest rates so low we have 'earned' almost 5% - 6% by reducing our mortgage so quickly.
This offset has become our 'emergency fund' as we can access it whenever we need. Because we watch the mortgage reduce significantly on a monthly basis, it gives us the incentive to avoid using it all costs. We have only had to access it once in a real emergency and then only for the minimum amount as we managed to implement a few more Cheapskates tips and not need the extra.
The satisfaction in knowing that over a 3 year period we have 'saved' $10,000 continues to spur us on to save more each day.
Contributed by Vicki
We now have reduced our remaining debt by half and have a free redraw facility rather than savings. Savings only gave us a 1% - 2% return on our money so we put every spare cent into mortgage offset and with interest rates so low we have 'earned' almost 5% - 6% by reducing our mortgage so quickly.
This offset has become our 'emergency fund' as we can access it whenever we need. Because we watch the mortgage reduce significantly on a monthly basis, it gives us the incentive to avoid using it all costs. We have only had to access it once in a real emergency and then only for the minimum amount as we managed to implement a few more Cheapskates tips and not need the extra.
The satisfaction in knowing that over a 3 year period we have 'saved' $10,000 continues to spur us on to save more each day.
Contributed by Vicki