With Hard Saving and Cheapskates We Knocked $42K Off Our Mortgage
I found your website about a year and a half ago and I have instigated a lot of your and other members various suggestions for saving money. We started off by buying some things for our house which we desperately needed but wanted to pay cash for. I then focused all our effort on nailing our credit card debt. All of this took about 6 months of hard saving and a LOTS of sacrifice.
At the start of this year we had a mortgage of $204K. At Christmas last year I made a decision that we were going to make a real effort to pay off $40K from the principle of our mortgage. I told my partner and he thought I was crazy but he was happy to let me try (anything for a quiet life lol). I told my mum and she told me that I was being unrealistic and should not reach for such unrealistic goals because I will just send myself mad at the attempt and get disappointed when I failed. This comment just motivated me even more.
We have gone without a lot so far this year but to be honest I don't feel like we have missed out on anything. I have to give a lot of credit to my partner. He has pulled in extra overtime whenever he could to bring in extra $$ and I have increased my work hours from working a five day fortnight to working full time and also taking on “on call” responsibilities every five weeks for extra $$ so not only is he doing extra hours at work he has had to take on a lot more responsibility with our son and around the house than he had to in the past. When I think about how much money we wasted up until we made this decision I am disappointed that I didn't come to this realisation earlier. My partner's car (second car) is so old but we managed to get it through rego again this year. Eighteen months ago we would have thought nothing about getting finance to buy a big 4x4 which we so don't need for our second run around car.
I am so proud of our effort that I feel like I am going to burst and I just had to tell you and thank you Cath for this great site, and also to all the other members who contribute advice in the forums and other areas of the site. When my determination is wavering I always log on to Cheapskates and it makes me strong again and reassures me that I am doing the right thing.
So far this year (and we still have 4 months to go) we have saved $10K for a new car which is sitting in a high interest account just in case our second car dies. We want to send our four year old to a private school in 2012 and we have saved $2.5K in a high interest account for his school fees. We still have a bit to go there but we will get there. We have an emergency account which is very healthy and the most exciting thing is that we have so far paid a whopping $42K off the principle of our mortgage this year. My partner who started off quite sceptical is now fully converted now that he can see how easy it really is. I can't tell you how much satisfaction I got out of telling my mum about our success. She didn't believe me until I showed her our statement. I am hoping to get it down another $10K by Christmas.
We are really excited about the possibility of owning our home within a few more years and being able to do all the things that we have wanted to do like travel and buy a few investment properties. Who knows what the future will bring but I am sure it will be great and I credit this site and all the wonderful people who contribute to it.
Thanks once again.
Contributed by Kirsty Harris
At the start of this year we had a mortgage of $204K. At Christmas last year I made a decision that we were going to make a real effort to pay off $40K from the principle of our mortgage. I told my partner and he thought I was crazy but he was happy to let me try (anything for a quiet life lol). I told my mum and she told me that I was being unrealistic and should not reach for such unrealistic goals because I will just send myself mad at the attempt and get disappointed when I failed. This comment just motivated me even more.
We have gone without a lot so far this year but to be honest I don't feel like we have missed out on anything. I have to give a lot of credit to my partner. He has pulled in extra overtime whenever he could to bring in extra $$ and I have increased my work hours from working a five day fortnight to working full time and also taking on “on call” responsibilities every five weeks for extra $$ so not only is he doing extra hours at work he has had to take on a lot more responsibility with our son and around the house than he had to in the past. When I think about how much money we wasted up until we made this decision I am disappointed that I didn't come to this realisation earlier. My partner's car (second car) is so old but we managed to get it through rego again this year. Eighteen months ago we would have thought nothing about getting finance to buy a big 4x4 which we so don't need for our second run around car.
I am so proud of our effort that I feel like I am going to burst and I just had to tell you and thank you Cath for this great site, and also to all the other members who contribute advice in the forums and other areas of the site. When my determination is wavering I always log on to Cheapskates and it makes me strong again and reassures me that I am doing the right thing.
So far this year (and we still have 4 months to go) we have saved $10K for a new car which is sitting in a high interest account just in case our second car dies. We want to send our four year old to a private school in 2012 and we have saved $2.5K in a high interest account for his school fees. We still have a bit to go there but we will get there. We have an emergency account which is very healthy and the most exciting thing is that we have so far paid a whopping $42K off the principle of our mortgage this year. My partner who started off quite sceptical is now fully converted now that he can see how easy it really is. I can't tell you how much satisfaction I got out of telling my mum about our success. She didn't believe me until I showed her our statement. I am hoping to get it down another $10K by Christmas.
We are really excited about the possibility of owning our home within a few more years and being able to do all the things that we have wanted to do like travel and buy a few investment properties. Who knows what the future will bring but I am sure it will be great and I credit this site and all the wonderful people who contribute to it.
Thanks once again.
Contributed by Kirsty Harris