Chica's gonna get a house! (hopefully)...

StrugglingYouth

Good news all around for you! I especially like that you opted to keep one of the shirts! Saves you buying one!

As im saving for a deposit at the moment too, im interested in your chosen figure + where you live. Is that amount 10% 15%? as a guess. My target might just be 15% in the south east. Or are you saving 15k + your partner the same amount?

ChicaBonita

StrugglingYouth wrote: »

Good news all around for you! I especially like that you opted to keep one of the shirts! Saves you buying one!

As im saving for a deposit at the moment too, im interested in your chosen figure + where you live. Is that amount 10% 15%? as a guess. My target might just be 15% in the south east. Or are you saving 15k + your partner the same amount?

Hello!

Yeah I'm trying to be good with buying clothes at the moment, so definitely was a bonus that I could keep one! I'm wearing it today as a matter of fact (very casual dress code in my workplace haha).

Yeah I am saving 15k and my bf is too, so 30k total. We were looking at 10%, so around 250k for a 2-bed flat here, and then have the remainder to be used for as a buffer for fees etc. The prices are mad round here, and still rising, no way we'd be able to get a house/any more than 10% deposit for the things we want. To give you an idea, we live in a town that's on the new Elizabeth line, Essex direction. We want to get a place before that goes live because it will extortionate then! We've realised we won't get a house, but a flat that isn't the size of a shoebox will still be a lot relative to the rest of the UK!
We went and saw an independant mortgage advisor through bf's work, he got it as a perk and we can use their services free of charge, from advice to getting the mortgage at the end. She told us that 10% deposit should be fine, and when we went through the financials it seemed doable on the whole. Have you looked at seeing anyone like that? We found it so reassuring, we're on decent enough money but buying a place down here is so intimidating!
Are you saving on your own? I would find it so hard if it was just me, money just doesn't stretch far enough in the South

ChicaBonita

Just a quick update....
yesterday I ran 5.95miles in 61 minutes. I could've gone the extra .05 of a mile, but to be honest I was just glad to be at the end of the run...I managed to go the whole way round not stopping or walking once. Today though I can barely walk at all
Posted the dress that sold on eb@y, so that was £2.85 on postage (how cheeky of RM to put the price up 5p! Scandal!)

I've opened up two new savings accounts, one as a health fund, and one as a car fund. The health fund, I know there's appointments I have to do - opticians yearly, dentist yearly, and hygienest every 6 months (this I could skip but I prefer the shiny smooth teeth that come with it), and I also have a prescription that I have to get every 2 months, so I thought it would be beneficial to just put £15/£20 away a month (amount to be decided) and then I won't gasp when I have to pay the money off when it comes round. The car fund, I am paying my savings back £61 a month as I used part of it to pay off my car insurance. BUT, I think I should save each month for next year's lot, so I can get ahead of myself rather than having to pay myself back. Also, I am aware that I have been lucky with my car thus far, and don't want to leave myself short when the inevitable happens. Amount to put away also TBD, I'm thinking maybe £50?

That's me for today I think. Shouldn't be anymore spends, unless I find myself on Amazon again.....

EDITED to add just had a bid on a blazer I've been trying to sell since I started this selling on eb@y thing (in March). Will be glad to be rid of it!

StrugglingYouth

I think we are aiming at getting houses in a similar part of the country, although mines in Kent over Essex area. Just across the water. It is ridiculously expensive you're right. I was saving on my own, now I have found the ying to my yang.

I opened the Help to Buy ISA today, but the bonus is only granted on properties up to £250k outside of London and in the 3 years till I will realistically be able to use it I fear I wont get anything for less than that amount. Still the £400 interest is a lot better than the £83 I got this year. Compounds too!

ChicaBonita

StrugglingYouth wrote: »

I think we are aiming at getting houses in a similar part of the country, although mines in Kent over Essex area. Just across the water. It is ridiculously expensive you're right. I was saving on my own, now I have found the ying to my yang.

I opened the Help to Buy ISA today, but the bonus is only granted on properties up to £250k outside of London and in the 3 years till I will realistically be able to use it I fear I wont get anything for less than that amount. Still the £400 interest is a lot better than the £83 I got this year. Compounds too!

Ah lovely, I have to say I prefer Kent to Essex! Lived in Canterbury for uni. I was talking to friends who are trying to buy round there though and they're having to look at going Dover-way to get anything in their price range. It's good that you have the benefit of two people saving now Very exciting!

I think it's definitely worth having that ISA anyway - as you say, the interest is good, and who knows, maybe the market will dip and we won't have to pay as much!!!:rotfl: (a girl can dream!)

StrugglingYouth

ChicaBonita wrote: »

Ah lovely, I have to say I prefer Kent to Essex! Lived in Canterbury for uni. I was talking to friends who are trying to buy round there though and they're having to look at going Dover-way to get anything in their price range. It's good that you have the benefit of two people saving now Very exciting!

I think it's definitely worth having that ISA anyway - as you say, the interest is good, and who knows, maybe the market will dip and we won't have to pay as much!!!:rotfl: (a girl can dream!)

I went to CCCU 2010-2013 and still live around the local area. Dover isnt a brilliant place to live so im hoping to skip that step and buy somewhere a bit less dramatic.

We can all dream house prices will go down, I've had my fingers crossed for a year now, and no luck!

ChicaBonita

StrugglingYouth wrote: »

I went to CCCU 2010-2013 and still live around the local area. Dover isnt a brilliant place to live so im hoping to skip that step and buy somewhere a bit less dramatic.

We can all dream house prices will go down, I've had my fingers crossed for a year now, and no luck!

Ah cool, I was at UKC for 4 years with a year abroad I miss it to be honest, I always say if Canterbury was closer to London it would be the perfect place for me (as I have too many ties this end to move there for now!)

ChicaBonita

Couple of things to report while I think about it...
I've opened yet another savings account - this time for my fixed outgoings, so when my money comes in each month everything that I know has to go out at some point can be moved across, so it won't get confused with spending money!
This includes:
-rent money (to my mum)
- phone bill
-spotify
-app subscriptions (currently have a subscription to mapmyrun as I'm training for the half marathon, will stop once I've done it)

I now have accounts for:
-everyday spending
-car fund
-health fund
-holiday savings
- fixed outgoings
and ofc my help to buy isa

Think that's enough accounts for now!

I spent £6.99 last night on a foam roller from eb@y. This is a necessary spend as my legs were in bits yesterday, and as I run further and further I will need to treat my body with the car it deserves!

Bit scared though that it is only the 12th of the month and I only have ~£150 to last me the rest of the month....which would be fine but I have an eyebrow appointment, and a haircut this week. I think I will have to put back the haircut for two weeks till I get paid - the eyebrows are the more important thing right now!! (Werewolf springs to mind)...
Think it was where I was overdrawn last month I really don't want to be overdrawn next month, but I don't know if I can last on less than a tenner a day. I have just over a full tank of petrol, and the only food I HAVE to buy is for work. I tend to just buy eggs and I get fruit and veg provided for me.

Oh I'm not sure I can do it

EDIT: I just remembered I already got out the money for my eyebrows, so that won't have to come out of the money I have leftover

Littlebirdie

Hey, great thread! I'm temped to try Swabu3ks! Good Luck

ChicaBonita

Hello Littlebirdie, thanks for reading! Definitely do try sw@gbucks, when I'm consistent with it I can redeem at least a £5 voucher per week for Am@zon, and if you do the sw@gstakes you can win vouchers too sometimes! (I've been lucky enough for that to happen to me once though, think that was my dose of luck for the year :rotfl:)