Saving for a house (deposit)

Smiley87

Hi,

Been busy for a while so finally catching up with all the posts. We have another house viewing this weekend so fingers crossed!

Everything that I save from not smoking goes straight in to the savings pot. Managed to completely stop now - the app that shows me how much I'm saving is fab!

The other half has packed in his week day evening beer too and is just saving himself for a cheeky weekend pint watching the football - we've saved almost £200 so far by us both doing this and it's only been a few weeks!

Getting back on with my clear out too. Found a designer bag that I have never used so that's got to go next.

Happy saving everyone!

groovy_chick

Hello

Can I join you in sharing the highs and lows of deposit saving ?!?

I'm not a first time buyer - I bought my first flat at 24 years old, however I had to sell our beautiful 4 bed detached family home 10 years ago when my husband left and I have been renting ever since.

This year is the year that I pay off the debts my husband left me with (see my signature) and start saving for a home for me and my two children. It is a race against time, as at 44 years old now I am going to be struggling to convince a bank that I can still pay my mortgage in my late 60's.

My target is to have £15k by the end of 2017. The bank of Mum and Dad have offered to lend me another £15k, so I will have about £30k for deposit and costs - I'm hoping to get a new build on a government help to buy "they pay up to 20%" scheme.

Let's do this !!

gc x

FairyPrincessk

I can't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to join in Groovy_Chick.

We've had some minor set-backs this month and gone a bit over budget. We'll be tightening our belts next month to make up for it. The actual house fund isn't affected, but it means we won't be able to save more than our minimum goal next month. Fortunately our gas and leccy bills will be at their lowest this time of year, and I can also make some cuts on the food shop front given work should be a bit slower next month. I'm going to draw up a list of cheap meals today that I can choose from next month to make it a bit easier. We'll be eating the last of a big batch of soup today for lunch, so I'll also need to replenish the freezer's soup supply.

Natashadesouza14

Can anyone offer me some advice?
I opened up a help to buy ISA with Santander. However the Bank advisor failed to mention that you can only have one cash ISA open in one financial year. So my help to buy ISA was closed down yesterday. He misinformed me as he personally in branch moved my current Cash ISA funds into my new help to buy ISA account. Does anyone know if I can take this further? I have spoken to complaints and they as a good will gesture compensated me with £50. But I feel that with everything currently happening in the UK economically this has made me extremely worried about my money. Especially when you book an appointment with a bank advisor specifically to open a help to buy ISA you would assume you would get right service when you go into such a well established bank.


Any advice?

Thanks Natasha

FairyPrincessk

Natashadesouza14, welcome! That sounds like a frustrating situation, but I don't have any advice. Someone else on this board may know more, but you will probably get more specific advice if you post on the ISA and Tax Free savings board here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18


It isn't as busy as the Old Style board so it may take longer to get a response, but you'll get more specialized information there. Now, if you want to know how to save money by planning menus or mending clothes etc. so you have more to add to your savings this is the place to be.

Lynplatinum

Hi Natashadesouza14

See my title - check out you gov site as well and drop an e-mail to Citizen's Advice. this is disgraceful!!!!

E-mail the team at MSE towers!!!

you put your trust in an 'Advisor' and they made you do something which is actually illegal (as I understand it). Dont let them get away with it - name names!
The £50 is peanuts!
Hope it goes well

Kittenkirst

Hi all, I've not long paid my deposit to buy my first home with my gf, and am frantically saving for buying all the essentials for moving in (completion date should be Sept/Oct)

My key things have been

1. ebaying....it's amazing the amount of stuff that sells (battered Primark pumps for more than I paid for!)
2. car boot sales for anything to bulky for eBay/ or if listed 3x and still not sold
3. cutting out non-essentials (coffee at work for me from the canteen at £1.10 a go),
4. packing lunches and trying to use up random things in the cupboard etc

I also did budgets to look at what could be cut, and also thought about what I'm spending on and how to maximize (e.g my gym membership is only £18 so I'm ensuring I go 5x a week to get the most out of it. Also the bonus is I'm then not shopping/eating out as much!)

FairyPrincessk

Hi Kittenkisrt--Congratulations!

Would you mind sharing if there were any fees or expenses along the way that you weren't expecting or that were higher than you expected? We've done some very basic calculations on scrap paper based on what we've read, but we aren't sure if we've budgeted enough in our savings goals! It is also interesting that you have several months where you can save up some more for moving in expenses. We hadn't really thought of it that way, other than we can still save while we are looking.

Smiley87

Hi all!

We've found THE house and are now in the process of buying it - unexpected car repairs have made me panic a bit about money though!

Need a few more ideas to boost our income/save the pennies to make sure that we're not struggling. My other half is working every bit of over time that he can. I'm off work for the summer so I'm trying to do what I can with ebay/valued opinions and saving the pennies in the home - looking for some more ideas/inspiration though.

So far we've paid a deposit for the property (new build) to the builders which we didn't account for. I'm happy to keep everyone involved in the process so you know the costs of buying in return for your wonderful money saving knowledge (still a newbie at all of this).

Hope you all have a great day!

DottyBearP

My husband and I have talked about saving for a house for a few years but are not getting more serious about it as both of us are working full time and we're heading into family planning mode! I hadn't heard about the help to buy ISA's so I've forwarded him a link to see if he agrees that they're a good idea.

We need to get rid of our debt first (~£14000) so we are aiming to buy in 5 years which will coincide with OH's defaults being removed from his credit account. We live in an expensive are and are moving in a few months and saving £300 a month and getting a bigger house with a garden out of it! That's a big bump towards our debts/saving plan.