Also need to be very consicous of where your money is going and what is coming in. DH did a budget for us and my first reaction was 'Where has all our money gone?'. But he had allowed for an extra $5 a day for childcare, assumed that the tenants moved out of the investment property so we were still paying the mortgage but not getting any money from them, he assumed that the government would cancel the CCTR too, assumed no tax returns etc.

So we had an amount set aside for the budget that we could afford to pay back each month. We allowed for an extra 2% interest rate rises for how much we borrowed too. Any extra money we get (tax returns, CCTR, rent) we try and funnel straight into the mortgage so we are paying more than the minimum each month.

Also depends on what your lifestyle is like - do you eat out a lot, go on holidays etc? If so, do you really think you can give up on that for the mortgage.

The most important thing I think is to have a few years at the beginning where you try and put a lot extra off your loan to try and reduce the principal and knock some time off at the end.

Fiona - I would assume that the 30% would be for takehome pay as you never get to see the rest of it.