Saving Diary of a First Time Buyer

Lokolo_2

TooClumsy wrote: »

Holy C*w! you have done so so so well! You are a couple of years younger than me and have managed to save £105k? that is amazing!

Our earnings are pretty much the same-we pay £150 a month for rent/contributions living with inlaws. We have a whole host of other things (eating out, recreation etc)..are you doing any of these things? It would be great to see your SOA-even if you want to message me privately.

How exciting to be nearly there-your deposit is double mine and you have £15k to go, which you will reach by the end of this year How many years have you been saving?

Wish I had a savings angel on my shoulder when I was 16 lol :A

I have always said-its not about how much you earn-its about how much you save. Some people earn a lot more than we do and have hardly any savings, so you're definitely in a great position!

Thank you TooClumsy

The way I managed to save so much is to start saving right away when I started working at 17, I don't eat out but I do get one takeaway every week as a treat, and I love my food so I spend about £20 just on myself for that! My recreational activities only involve train trips and hotel stays in the UK when I go away on day trips to places or a few nights away, I probably spend about £500 a year on that but it's my guilty pleasure as I like going to new places and seeing new things!

Also about £5k of my savings is contributions from my Grandma and presents from my parents, I'm still not sure how I managed to save so much as nearly all my friends and work colleagues don't seem to save at all and always go out drinking, it's a lifestyle choice I guess!

Unfortunately I don't plan to hit my target this year as I am expecting to have to spend on repairs to my car (maybe £1k) later this year when it has its MOT in september, but early next year is likely! What has helped me save is that the majority of my savings are in Fixed term bonds, so I cannot access them and they are earning reasonable interest. However my latest one doesn't mature for another 3 years so my house buying will have to wait! :cool:

Lokolo_2

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 6.9
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 2
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 9
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 45
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 457.9


Assets
Cash.................................... 105000
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 109000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 457.9
Available for debt repayments........... 942.1
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 942.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 109,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 109,000

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Here is my SOA, although it shows under £1k spare per month, I have not included interest from savings and the rare occasions when I get paid for working overtime!

ebs1980

TooClumsy wrote: »

Our combined income is £39k

So targets are:

Year 1: £9798
Year 2: £17638
Year 3: £17638
Year 4: £17638
Total Target: £62712 :eek:

Good luck on your savings, but just wondered how you are going to save £17K a year when your combined salary is only £39K before taxes etc..

TooClumsy

ebs1980 wrote: »

Good luck on your savings, but just wondered how you are going to save £17K a year when your combined salary is only £39K before taxes etc..

Hi! Hubbie puts in £750 and I will be putting in £700, total of £1450 a month and a years worth of savings is £17,400.

TooClumsy

Lokolo_2 wrote: »

Thank you TooClumsy

The way I managed to save so much is to start saving right away when I started working at 17, I don't eat out but I do get one takeaway every week as a treat, and I love my food so I spend about £20 just on myself for that! My recreational activities only involve train trips and hotel stays in the UK when I go away on day trips to places or a few nights away, I probably spend about £500 a year on that but it's my guilty pleasure as I like going to new places and seeing new things!

Also about £5k of my savings is contributions from my Grandma and presents from my parents, I'm still not sure how I managed to save so much as nearly all my friends and work colleagues don't seem to save at all and always go out drinking, it's a lifestyle choice I guess!

Unfortunately I don't plan to hit my target this year as I am expecting to have to spend on repairs to my car (maybe £1k) later this year when it has its MOT in september, but early next year is likely! What has helped me save is that the majority of my savings are in Fixed term bonds, so I cannot access them and they are earning reasonable interest. However my latest one doesn't mature for another 3 years so my house buying will have to wait! :cool:

You're awesome-I can't wait to tell hubbie about you..I always mention people from MSE when we are discussing ££ and you've just given us a massive KICK up the b*m.

On another note, had a cheeky doner last night and so had to get lunch today and didnt realise that I'm meeting sister in law for dinner today. Expensive day and half :(

TooClumsy

So-have been slacking and not updating the diary! I guess life got into the way of live

We have some good friends of hubby and I-they are also saving up for a house, but they never disclose the amount they have saved or what their target is (we don't insist on knowing and its only noticeable, because they skirt about the subject in a strange manner). They invite hubby and I to go out occasionally and it always ends up being a massive ££ spending eve.

I like to plan dinners out/nights out at least the month before, so we hit our savings target for that specific month. These fairly sporadic evenings out-we would like to see them obviously-but do not want to go drinking/dining out with them if it is not in the budget. How do we do this? If I were to say that we are saving money (and they know we are saving money) then they will say they will buy the first round etc. We don't want to do that, as we believe you should not do this unless it is your own money!

Dilemma!

Went up north this last weekend (was budgeted for last month) and spent less than what we budgeted! (£190 cash-includes fuel to get there and back) I'm not counting the cost of the hotel room (cheap deal)!

looking forward to having thurs and fri off!

TooClumsy

Have just had a look at our savings spreadsheet-we should be at £2.5k at the end of this month, this is 5% of our total target of £50k and almost 9% of our annual target this year.

Cant wait for the time to go by-it is such a great feeling watching the savings pot grow! Once hubbies Santander account is set up and the DDs and £500 min is sorted-we will transfer the savings into there so we can take advantage of the 3% interest!

On another note-just paid off my HSBC credit card-which was my first one EVER and I've had it for 8 years-had the lowest amount owed on it, but just shows the vicious cycle of minimum payments I was in. No more I tell you!!:T

Buckle up, 2014 is going to be great!

jimjames

TooClumsy wrote: »

Hello!

I am currently in debt from my rebellious and frivolous student days from a couple (coughs;)) years ago. I would only pay the minimums and to say the least-the debt is still here, hanging over my head. Flashback to Eeyore and a rain cloud above him

Hubbie has no debt, but worryingly has received around 3 letters asking for money for a contract or something-that he never had. He has always called them to explain and we haven't had to pay anything out. Have signed him up to Experian so we can have a butchers and see if anything dodgy shows up on there, although waiting for the PIN in the post is a pain!

Good luck with your saving. Couple of things I noticed.

1) You mention you are saving but also have credit card bills. If they're not on 0% then it would make much more sense to clear them first before saving. Otherwise you're just giving 20% of your money away to the bank when you're only earning 2% or so on your savings.

2) If you've taken out Experian trial and find you have some fraud under your name then you may get a free payout on their identity insurance. When I did the free trial they found some fake applications that had been done in my name and the insurance paid out even though I'd not paid for it.

It was only £50 but quite a good MSE way to have that in my account rather than the banks when I wasn't expecting it!

TooClumsy

Hi Jimjames,

Thanks for posting! I am using all spare cash and throwing it at the credit cards and will be debt free by this time next year! Unfortunately they aren't 0% balance transfer cards so yup am paying interest- hubbie is saving his spare cash so we can watch or small deposit grow over the course of this year and then it will grow quicker once I am debt free.

The thought of not having any savings does freak me out-even though I understand that it costs me more to have the debt than the £ interest earned.

The snowball calculator has helped me out loads and given me direction and it is such a boost watching the debt come down. Will probably be the most excited once the overdraft goes, because I 'see' this the most-alas it will be the last thing to go!