Saving for our 1st house - help appreciated :)

HisDoris

First payday going towards the savings for our home ... £65 straight into the pot - havent been paid as much as expected though so I havent been left with alot for anything else and this weekend I have a hot air balloon ride tonight (dependant on weather!) then I have a full day in London tomorrow for shopping and then a photoshoot with the OH on Sunday which as of yet we have no clue as to how much the photos will cost - going to have to be careful as to how much I spend tomorrow .. maybe a more 'window shopping' day than actually spending!

7.1% of the way to our final target seems so far away but atleast at the end of this month we'll be closer to the 10% mark which wont seem so bad as its only the first month after all!

Hope everyone has a brill weekend! I'll let you know how I get on with the spending on the weekend! First time in London so hoping its nice

iamana1ias

HisDoris wrote: »

First payday going towards the savings for our home ... £65 straight into the pot - havent been paid as much as expected though so I havent been left with alot for anything else and this weekend I have a hot air balloon ride tonight (dependant on weather!) then I have a full day in London tomorrow for shopping and then a photoshoot with the OH on Sunday which as of yet we have no clue as to how much the photos will cost - going to have to be careful as to how much I spend tomorrow .. maybe a more 'window shopping' day than actually spending!

The usual photoshoot/make over type places charge around £100 per 7x5 photograph. :eek:

If you have Virgin why does your OH need a £35 a month broadband dongle??

HisDoris

He's in the Army so travels alot meaning he doesnt have the internet everywhere he goes so he needs a dongle for this - hes got his new posting now though so if they have the internet there then we are going to try and cancel the dongle which means more money into savings! .

Fortunately we're getting our photos done by OH's aunt as she is a qualified photographer - she will still expect to be paid though - hopefully she'll just put all our photos onto DVD then we can take them somewhere to get them put onto canvas'. I'm expecting she will charge us less than her usual rate but we felt uncomfortable asking her so we'll just have to hope she takes pity on us due to our saving and does the photoshoot for a small fee - heres to hoping!

kidmugsy

Have a look at the ns&i Index-LInked Savings Certificates. Their full term is 5 years - too long for you - but the penalty for cashing them in early is light as long as you've kept them for more than one year. For a year and a month, say, you'd get tax-free the rate of increase in RPI plus (from memory) 0.3% per annum. If inflation stays steady for that period, that adds up to 5.6% per annum. Very nice. And if your plans change, you can keep them for longer.

jimjames

HisDoris wrote: »

Fortunately we're getting our photos done by OH's aunt as she is a qualified photographer - she will still expect to be paid though - hopefully she'll just put all our photos onto DVD then we can take them somewhere to get them put onto canvas'. I'm expecting she will charge us less than her usual rate but we felt uncomfortable asking her so we'll just have to hope she takes pity on us due to our saving and does the photoshoot for a small fee - heres to hoping!

I'm always very wary about not knowing prices in advance. Does she have a website that shows the usual prices so at least you'll have an idea of the going rate? I have fixed prices for my shoots but that is quite unusual amongst local photographers; most expect to make at least £300 from a shoot even if it is billed as "free" to start with.

HisDoris

Hi all!

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend!

I spent my Saturday in London with my friend for her birthday and managed to keep my spending down to £35 and still had an amazing day! I will definately be going back there as soon as I have my target in savings!

Me and OH got our photos done last night and we're paying £50 for them to be put onto a DVD - we'll then try and find the cheapest way to get them processed - originally we wanted them on canvas but after realising how much that costs we have thought more about just buying some nice frames unless something comes up on groupon or living social soon!

I put some things on ebay last night and have some more things that i'm going to put on tonight - i'm trying to put everything on that I dont need in order to raise as much as I can in savings - i'm aiming for about £80 in ebay sales by the end of this month so need to get digging and get as much on as possible!

Thanks for the advice on the savings front Kidmugsy! I'll definately look into that as that is great rates!

I will keep posting progress on here for anyone that is interested and so that I have something to look back on when i'm struggling hopefully to see how far i'm come with the svaings! :-)

HisDoris

Another pay day - this week I have put £70 into savings so I have now upped my savings by £5 a week which is an extra £260 a year .

I'm at Leeds tonight for a comedy gig which is all booked and paid for so 'my money' will be spent this weekend on a few drinks tonight! There is plenty of food in the flat and I have my travel pass paid for the next 4 weeks so I will be trying to have a non spend week next week!

Already I seem to be looking forward to pay day just so that I can put some more money into savings - that saving bug has once again bitten deep into my skin! Not complaining though ... we should have that deposit for our own home in no time at all .

Saints2011

Good luck im excited for you.

Similar situation here, 20 saving 445pcm into a ISA at the moment from May too. Just had a little bonus from work so tucked that away in the ISA, exciting stuff though looking to get a property in about three years time is my goal. The bug has bitten me too !

HisDoris

Counted the 'copper jars' we had over the weekend and found another £79 towards savings! Very happy with that!

Think I may be getting a little strict on saving at the moment - the OH keeps telling me to calm down on the savings! lol.

Good Luck to you also then Kirbybirch! You'll have to keep me updated on how your getting on ... we could help each other get a little bit of motivation ontop of that little savings bug pinching at us!

Blackdog

Well done with the savings you have put away so far. How is the giving up smoking going? Now you have the DVD of your photo's how about asking friends or relatives to give you framed prints from the DVD instead of birthday and christmas presents (thats if you get presents!), or you could give them to each other. You are doing the right thing by saving in an ISA, when you have filled both ISA's I would def look at NS&I Index Linked Certificates as Kidmugsy suggested as they are tax free and you can cash them in early.
Good luck!