Saving for a house (deposit)

Smiley87

Well done of the fitbit! I was thinking about putting some unused perfumes on ebay next month. I'll have a look through ebay to see whether it's worth it.

FairyPrincessk

Well done on the fit-bit!

Just wondering if any of you have a way of tracking your progress? A couple of times a year we sit down with the savings calculator on MSE and look at our goals and re-assess how much we're saving and where we want to be and how much longer it will take. We set annual targets and know what we need to save each month to meet them, but in the day to day living I think it is sometimes hard to 'see' what we're doing. I've seen people use grids where each square represents an increment (anything from £5 to £1000 per square) and they color in for each increment, just wondering if anyone has a better idea? I think sometimes if we had a visual reminder of our progress we might be more accountable on the little things.

Smiley87

All we've done is set up a spreadsheet on Google Docs to track our savings. Any money that we save through groceries/bills/direct debits and money that we make through selling items/discount codes goes on the spreadsheet. We're picking a total to aim for each month and sticking with that

Lynplatinum

Hiya All

not sure how to link to another thread but 'Shanghi Jimmy' writes the above thread and he and his missis have a childlike picture of a house on their fridge and colour in one brick per £1000 that they overpay of their mortgage - a very interesting and entertaining thread folks - he adds to his savings by 1) moving money from bank to bank to gain most interest (by direct debit!); 2) opening new accounts to take advantage of their offers 3) e-baying 4) tilly tidying (putting all monies under a pound in accounts into the savings ones 5) having a coin / change pot in the house which is unopenable and is ritually smashed when full (say an old jam jar for example!)

If you can find him I am sure you will be inspired!
Nite all

FairyPrincessk

Thanks for the diary mention Lyn, I've had a look. What an inspiration!

Smiley, we use a spreadsheet for our monthly budget. I've been using it since before we were a couple, so it gives good perspective on what is going up, where we can cut back etc. OH finds spreadsheets stressful though, so I'm not sure it would be great incentive.

I've also seen progress trackers online that involve moving beads or marbles between jars. I think the squares will suit us better so will try to make one today.

Smiley87

Just been offered over £63 for some old textbooks through We Buy Books and Ziffitt (there's promo codes out there for both) - sooooo happy about that because they've been on a shelf doing nothing for years!

Also managed to sell a few of my teaching resources, so all my earnings from that will now go into the house deposit pot.

We'll get there

DWhite

Sorry I've been away for a while, new job has tired me out mentally with so much to take in!
I don't use anything to track my progress yet, I will once everything settles down and I can start throwing money at my savings in earnest.
I'll check out that diary, need all of the motivation/inspiration I can get at the moment. I tried a calculator the other day that told me it would take a year to hit my savings target and that was with me putting a considerable chunk of my income towards it each month :eek:
On a plus side, my petrol usage is cut quite nicely now I'm in my new job, haven't filled up in over a week which is a first for me :j

How's the non smoking going Smiley?

Smiley87

Managed to cut down by half so far, which is a miracle considering what's been going off at work! I'm aiming to reduce what I'm currently smoking by half again next week. My dressing table fund is steadily growing and we've worked out that I'll have enough for the table, mirror and accessories that I want, and maybe a cheeky bottle of perfume, in about two months :T

You found anything else to put on ebay? I'm going to ebay a handbag next week to see how that goes.

LittleOne

We're at a point now where we think we have enough for the deposit, but not the fees. Just currently deciding whether it's worth going to see a recommended financial advisor yet as we can save for the fees whilst we're in the process of applying and looking.


Still haven't had my ebay clearout but as it's a long weekend and I have no plans, I intend to list a load of things!

DWhite

Not had a chance to get to my parents place to sort through my mountains of stuff being stored there, think it may be a job for when I have some time off work as they live 90 miles away and it took a full van load to get it all there :eek:
Taking advantage of a rare bank holiday day off and took my DD to the safari park today, and it was paid for using tesco boost vouchers, should have cost £46 and instead I used £15 of tesco vouchers, very pleased with that, shame they're ending it :T
FIL is doing a roast chicken for dinner so a nice cheap day for me
I know it's not the end of the world, but every time I spend anything now I'm beating myself up and telling myself that it won't help me save or the mortgage people won't like it when I'm trying to get one. Doesn't help that it just seems like there's always something at the moment, such as DD needs a haircut and my phone charger broke, not big expenses but things I'd rather avoid. Am I alone with this?