Here’s a simple money saving tip that I really need to listen to myself. Instead of buying lunch at work each day (which costs me in the region on £3), prepare sandwiches to take to work.
I reckon I personally could easily halve that £3 to £1.50 spent on lunch a day by taking my own, multiply that amount by 22 to get an average monthly lunch spend of £33. Now, spend that money overpaying on your mortgage instead, and on a 20 year mortgage of £100,000, at an interest rate of 5.5%, the overpayment would reduce the total amount you pay by £5868, and reduce the term by 1.6 years!
As the saying goes, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, and it’s these kinds of small savings that all add up, especially when put to good use, such as overpaying your mortgage. Use the Money Watch mortgage overpayment calculator to see how other savings can affect the total you pay and the term.
This post forms part of the Money Saving March series.