Thursday, April 22, 2010

Step two: My journey

My journey as a single parent began in March 2007. I purchased our home in August 2007 after alot of looking. Looking at homes I couldn't afford, some I wouldn't live in no matter what and others that just weren't quite right. I had in my head $200k was the most I could afford to spend even though the banks were offering me more. I am so glad I followed my gut instinct about how much was too much.

With big smiles we left the rental lifestyle behind and moved into our own home again. Fortunately after years of hard work and saving I had a decent deposit to get us started but I still needed a mortgage of $190k on a very fixed income. Interest rates were high at the time - my fixed loan was 9.10% and at it's worst my floating rate got to 10.49%.

For the first 6 months I stumbled along just making the minimum 25 year repayments and spending any surplus. To begin with spending was on stuff we needed after splitting most of our possessions in half. Then the shopping began just to make myself feel better. I constantly worried the boys then 3 and 5 were missing out on things as a result of coming from a single parent family.

One day I woke up and realised there had to be a better way. I've always budgeted but never actually had a fixed plan for the surplus. I had been receiving emails for months from a website called Simple Savings - www.simplesavings.co.nz and finally decided to give it a go. They offer a money back deal so if you are not happy within a year they will fully refund you. No questions asked.

This site literally changed my way of thinking and started me on my journey. I've always been frugal and environmentally friendly - the two often go hand in hand - but this was a whole new perspective.

I am proud to say that 2.5 years into my debt free home challenge I have managed to pay $33,529 of my mortgage on top of the interest repayments. How have I done it so far and how do I plan on continuing? Follow me and I'll show you one day at a time.

2 comments:

  1. Great blog, cant wait to find out more!
    Tania from SS

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Tan - great to have you join me on my journey.

    ReplyDelete