Saving for our 1st house - help appreciated :)

Blackdog

Doris,
You are doing so well, fantastic progress. Have a great weekend.
Blackdog

Seano23

Ive been reading your diary Doris and you're doing great. a real inspiration!

Me and my grilfriend have just moved in together and have started to save to buy our first house, currently we just rent. Initially We tried to squirrel everything possible away, but aside from getting some money in the bank it started to make us actually quite miserable. we started out with the same outlook as someone earlier in the thread of not having "our money" and it just wasnt for us. Im 29 and my OH is 32 and having to ask each other for permission to buy things got really annoying really fast. it felt like being kids again. It made us feel pretty bad so we decided to go down the route of having "our money" and it was a great decision. We dont go mad but atleast now we have something to look forward to each month other then savings (which i do view as important by the way) and it helps us get through some tough months

We budget for everything, to a military standard, and in the last 2 months ive managed to reduce our outgoings by around £150 by halving the price i pay for sky, halving our monthly mobile bills with a bit of haggling, cancelling an old gym membership i never use and getting rid of some pointless insurance policys and a PPI that im currently trying to claim back. i split this into the our money pot and the savings pot now

Blackdog

Seano23, You have a really sensible approach to saving - cut down on expenditure but also live a little. I am sure you will inspire others to sort out their finances.
Good luck to everyone saving up for their first house, don't give up!
Blackdog