Couple saved £180k by paying off their mortgage in just nine years… and here’s how you can too
A SAVVY couple saved £180k in interest charges by paying off their mortgage in just nine years.
Orall Cornelius, 46, and his wife Carla, 43, bought a three-bedroom, semi-detached home with a garden in Walthamstow, East London, for £233,000 in 2006.
The thrifty pair, who will appear in upcoming Channel 4 series How to Be Mortgage Free, hosted by Sarah Beeny, then paid for their home in under a decade by over-paying up to £3,000 a month.
Though it came at a cost - the couple diligently saved every penny they earned and cut costs wherever possible.
Orall and Carla, parents to two school-age kids, pooled their combined income of £40,000 to work out what significant changes needed to be made to their lifestyle in order for them to be able to pay more towards their mortgage.
These included swapping brand name goods for supermarket own brands and weighing their food to make sure they weren't consuming too much.
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They also became strict when it came to energy consumption in their home, turning off lights as soon as they left a room and keeping their kids entertained in the garden rather than with computers and TVs.
Carla, a part-time clothes designer, explained: "You have to prepare for sacrifices. We had to think of different ways to save money and still do fun things.
"Orall was so focused on paying off the mortgage that sometimes he would come in the kitchen and say, 'Why are you using so much rice? Why are you using so much pasta? You need to weigh it!'"
Orall, a consultant for EDF Energy, told how he was determined not to pay back the bank almost double the £210,000 they had borrowed to take out their 25-year mortgage.
He said: "I thought no way am I doing that. I just wanted it to be paid as quickly as possible. I wanted freedom."
Orall made sure he switched his phone, insurance and energy suppliers at least once a year so he could take advantage of new customer discounts.
He added that young people who claim to be struggling to get on the property ladder could learn from his frugal ways.
The couple were able to reduce the time-frame of their mortgage by enrolling in a cheap tracker mortgage, meaning they could make repayments at any time, not just at the end of the month.
When they completely paid off the mortgage in June 2015, the family treated themselves to a trip to New York and bought a new car.
Orall, who has written a book about how to pay off your mortgage, said the key to their success was focus and determination.
He explained: "Let's get real. When you're mortgage free you can buy your take out coffee and have your cake and eat it.
"It’s security, we weren’t high flyers, if we can do it so can anybody else."
Orall added: "People think they are entitled to a high spending lifestyle and think what they are doing is normal.
"You are entitled to that, but you won't get a deposit for your house or you won't make over-payments.
"This applies particularly to the 'poor young people' who can't get on the housing ladder.
"It seems to me that they expect to get on the ladder without sacrifice or discipline.
"It make me cross that people, especially the young, think they should be able to eat out, holiday, not give a second thought to spending and expect to be helped by the government or whoever to buy a home."
How to Be Mortgage Free with Sarah Beeny airs April 19 (Wednesday) on Channel 4.
Last month Nationwide launched a mortgage aimed at parents helping their children to buy a home.
Earlier this year we evaluated whether or not it's a good option to go for a ten-year fixed-rate mortgage.