personal finance

Mortgage free: Homeowners reveal simple lifestyle choices which helped to pay off mortgage


Becoming mortgage free may well be an aim for many, be that due to the ease of mind of not needing to pay off the debt, or the idea of having a significant reduction in outgoings. When taking out a mortgage, a lender is required to check that the borrower can afford the repayments – as well as the interest. However, it seems that being thrifty when it comes to their standard of living has helped some people to pay off their mortgage. A Mumsnet thread has seen a number of its users explaining how these homeowners went about ridding themselves of this debt.

While some have revealed that they have used regular savings to make overpayments, others have revealed that the type of account they chose was of benefit.

In one thread, in February this year, the Mumsnet user “Hecketyheck” also credited a thrifty lifestyle.

They wrote: “We’ve just paid off our mortgage due mainly to DH’s amazing money-management skills and my lack of spending. I’m feeling like I should be delighted with this but more feel like it doesn’t make a huge amount of difference – we now have to focus on a pension or something else equally tedious.

Back in 2007, Mumsnet user “DarthVader” asked how others had become mortgage free.

“Annieshaf” responded, stating that they and their husband had taken out a £115,000 mortgage back in 1999, and had around £5,000 left to pay off.

Although, with plans for an extension in the pipeline, the couple were aware that the money they owe could increase again.

Their top tip? “Generally not increasing our standard of living when we could afford to,” the Mumsnet user wrote.

They also detailed some of the lifestyle choices they had made in order to become fully-fledged mortgage free homeowners.

This included not buying expensive cars and designer clothes, nor splashing out on regular expensive holidays – and avoiding “spending a fortune” on their wedding.

They also used income such as redundancy money, as well as having bought and renovated a house with a family member.

Children also played a part in becoming mortgage free, the Mumsnet user advised, as the couple said they ended up not having offspring “until we were almost there”.

They also opted against spending money on the house as soon as they moved in, and shopped at supermarkets with lower-price points such as Lidl, Aldi, and Netto wherever possible.

The final factor which the couple credited for paying off the mortgage was using a current account mortgage.

“Everytime I got paid I saw my mortgage go down,” they said, explaining it then meant “trying hard not to make it go up again.”

Fellow Mumsnet user “slug” also commented on the thread, who said that they were already mortgage free – and proceeded to list a whole host of ways in which they managed to achieve this.

“Having children late in life,” was one factor, while not owning a car and deciding against taking our loans or getting credit cards were also lifestyle decisions that they made.

Shopping in “reduced to clear” sections of the supermarket, cooking from scratch, and keeping their wedding and honeymoon on the smaller-scale were other ways in which they paid off their mortgage.

“Whenever we got small amounts of extra money (gifts, rebates etc) we put them in a 60 day savings account where we couldn’t easily fritter them away,” they penned, adding: “Generally living below our means.”

Meanwhile, “Elenya Tuesday” explained that their household became mortgage free by opting against stretching themselves to buy a big house, but instead purchasing a smaller property.

In addition to waiting some years before having children, they also chose to cash in their endowment policy, and opted for a very prudent lifestyle.

The final point they credited? The Mumsnet user said it was by “living very, very frugally – right down to not spending money on buying a newspaper!!!”

READ MORE: Expert warns of one thing to ALWAYS do when checking affordability for mortgages



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