A question about : Mrs Trelfa's Master Plan For Trifle Towers
Hello there,
Yes its another MFW here with a brand new diary out of the packaging placed right at the top of the tread (well until someone else posts something :P). I have been a lurker on here since me and the hubby decided to buy our first house - yes that's right I have been planning how to be mortgage free before I have even found a house let alone bought it.
So first things first an explanation about my title. May 2013 I got married and became Mrs Trelfa and my father who I love dearly who loves the British sitcom Fawlty Towers thought it would be highly amusing to start calling me Mrs Trifle (down to the fact that the hubby has had a lifetime of people not being able to spell his surname and consequently several companies have variation of his name on their systems). As both me and the hubby had gone through university we already have 2*toaster, 2*kettle etc and decided that as house prices are starting to pick back up, we wanted to get onto the property ladder and out of renting which as far as I am concerned is dead money. So we asked our guests for monetary gifts (if they wished) to go towards the deposit of our first home. So as of 18th November 2013 we officially became homeowners of a 3 bed semi detached house 
Since then my dad has decided to call the house Trifle Towers and me Mrs Trifle.
So what is the master plan you ask. Well as far as I am concerned the banks have had enough of my money to screw up the economy with and I do not plan on letting them have any more than is necessary. And as I love this house it is not our dream home (would like something a little more secluded and obviously bigger when we have a family). Soooo the plan is to overpay on this house to save on interest etc and also bring up our equity in it so that when it comes time to sell we will have more money to put into the dream home and therefore achieve a better LTV and interest rate. So although we do not plan to be mortgage free on this place, we will on the next (overpaying will still be important) I hope it is still ok to be here with all you lovely supportive people.
Anywhoo enough of the waffling time to crunch some basic numbers;
Me: age 25, Permanent job with salary of Ј17,000 pa, addicted to Disney and loves listening to cheesy music (currently have spice girls playing).
Hubby: age 24, Permanent job with salary of Ј21,000 pa (just had a Ј3k pay rise lucky sod :P), a gangley nerd who loves his xbox and traveling.
Mortgage: Ј104,400 Santander 5 year fix @ 4.99%, 90% LTV, 31 years 3 Months, repayment of Ј550.19 per month.
Although the plan was to overpay straight away (we are allowed the 'standard' 10% of remaining balance each year), what with moving in November and Christmas we decided January 2014 would be where we start. So last Saturday we popped into the branch we made our fist overpayment of Ј400. This is the amount we want to pay each month while we can - i.e. no little Trelfa's. I even did a little dance in the street when we came out - very sad I know.
This morning Mr Postman bought us bought us a letter from Santander showing that we now have 30 years and 9 months left. So that's 6 months knocked off with 1*first payment of 'half a months interest', 1*normal payment and 1*Ј400 overpayment.... However it hows that our monthly repayments are changing to Ј550.56 and it also shows that the balance was Ј103,767.40 less an overpayment of Ј0.05 leaving Ј103,767.35. I phoned as I was expecting to see Ј400 and the man said that the 5p was what was left over from the overpayment as they can only take off 'whole months' and this will come off our next payment (550.56 will actually be Ј550.51) and the reason for the repayment changing from Ј550.19 to Ј550.56 is because it is the balance over the remaining term. Is this right? or can someone explain it to me?
So after '3' payments we have only reduced the capital by Ј632.65 
So your support, advice, etc. will be much appreciated.
Congratulations if you have made it through my essay 
Best answers:
- Welcome Mrs Trifle I like your dad's sense of humour.
Great to start OP straight away- that's the spirit - Hi just wanted to welcome you and wish you good luck on your journey
I'm not sure about your mortgage figures but I also have a mortgage with Santander but I have been told the minimum OP I can make is Ј500. Although you get different info depending on who you speak to at Santander. - Thanks resilie for the welcome.
ixia trying to find out what I could overpay has been interesting as I have heard about this Ј500 rule. However after checking all my mortgage documents it just says a limit of 10% from outstanding balance at 1st January. The only place where I can see about a Ј500 min payment is here https://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Sate...ACOM_TemplateG and it applies to tracker and lifetime tracker. If I have gone wrong anywhere then please let me know. - Well they say that the universe is in balance and based on the events of the last wee I would have to agree. My coil and leads etc went in my car last Tuesday, took it to the garage and that's Ј110 please Grrr. I know my car is on the way out and I am saving for a new one but I won't have the money until about June so when things go wrong its less that can go in the new car fund. I am convinced that cars are mentally linked to your bank balance and when you are low on finds they decide to go wrong. Anyone else agree.
However on the flip side another overpayment of Ј500 this time I even did a little dance when we came out of the bank - how sad am I?! - Hi Mrs T, best of luck but do be careful with regards to your online persona and likeness to your real name. Floppy x
- Got the paperwork from Santander showing that we have knocked 4 months off the mortgage and will be mortgage free in may 2044. It seems so far away though...
We have gone a tad over our food budget this month which is annoying but we bulk bought some fish which will last us ages so I am trying not to worry about it.
Had some great news from my line manager which is that the yearly bonus is being doubled. So I will effectively be getting double pay this month. - Congratulations on your bonus news, I wanted to say your doing well on your mission.
Lgp - Hi Mrs RT, well done on your bonus! Fab news. Just wanted to wish you good luck on your MF mission
Crumpets x - Good luck! I'm a newbie when it comes to the MFW journey too, so I shall follow your diary with interest.
- Good luck on your journey. It's very addictive.
- Good luck on your journey
- Hi littlegreenpeas, crumpets, If in doubt do sums, yukkibear and hurdler, thanks for stopping by.
It's already becoming addictive...I cannot wait until the first of the month rolls around so I can do another overpayment..think I'm loosing the plot.
Had some good news in the post - annual pay rise of 1.5% has been agreed. Not much i know but as my dad always says 'It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick'.
Although the money saving side of me wants to put most of my bonus as an overpayment, I am trying to remember that this is a long term thing and something that I (and hopefully the hubby) will want to do throughout the mortgage and I do not want to throw everything into the mortgage, be MF but realise that most of our lives have gone to this and not living. Hubby mentioned about going to Thailand for holiday and although this is not a MSE thing to do I have reminded myself that once we start a family going on holiday's and seeing the world is going to become more difficult and since the news of the bonus and the pay rise as a sign that we should do it. Don't get me wrong we will be shopping around and haggling so it will not be all spend spend.
I think that this diary will be something to remind myself of the mantra that we still need to have a life and do the things we want to and not be a slave to the penny pinching as you only live once. - Thank you skint_spice.
Well yesterday was ment to be a NSD like most days but my best friend came over and we all went out fo food, drinks and a good old catch up. Ended up spending aprox Ј30 for 2 mains, 2 deserts, a bottle of wine and 2 pints which is not too bad? I am trying not to think of it as falling off the waggon.
Going to write up a list of all our outgoings this weekend and hope that you lovely people can advise. - Try not to feel bad about spending money on life Mrs RT, the thing is to make sure your money works for you, shop around, haggle and save money where you can but remember to make memories too. A holiday to Thailand sounds fantastic! Once you have kids it's so difficult to go where you want when you want so definitely make the most of it now
- Promise that isn't falling off the log or waggon. You need to stay in touch with friends as its what makes life fun and meaningful.
Lgp - Thank you crumpets and littlegreebpeas I guess I am still finding the balance between being frugal with the truffle towers challenge and also still living life.
So I am heading back to see my mum and sisters and nephew this weekend as I have not seen them since Christmas. Mum heard about my bonus and has decided that I need to take her out for a meal - oh dear. - Evening all,
Appologies for not posting the other weekend. I ended up spending Sunday afternoon with my sister and nephew, having at catch up with my sister and teaching my 3 year old nephew how to do roli-polies which he thought were amazing so after the 3 hour drive back it was late.
Hope you all have been enjoying the glorious weather we had last weekend?
Saturday - Ј400 overpayment WHOOP WHOOP - another dance was done when we came out (think I might make it my thing? is that sad?) HOWEVER the hubby made me go and gt my eyes tested and I found out that I need glasses for driving Although the eye test was free and I just went for a Ј15 pair of frames as I will only be needing them for driving so I don't think that is too bad considering that there were some for Ј125 that they wanted me to buy.
Sunday me and the hubby went to the English Heritage Beeston Castle and enjoyed the day in the sun and the fantastic views and the old castle and caves. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we got a refund on the admission and bought a years membership and got 15 months for the price of 12 and it pays for itself in 5 visits or so. Thinking if we take packed lunches and visit places and its cheap days out. - We are massive fans of eh passes. I kept a tally of cost vs use and we were over Ј100 up over the year. Kids go free so you can take nephews and nieces for free.
Enjoy. X
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