How to save for a home deposit quicker?

alfred64

CarrieVS wrote: »

I don't drink, smoke, or eat meat. I have next to no social life and I hate clothes shopping and prefer to wear comfy old clothes that I'm used to. Now that I've gotten the junk food under control, my only vice is swearing and that's free.

It's a sad life though.

CarrieVS

alfred64 wrote: »

It's a sad life though.

I'm just weird, and like all those things. Well ok, I do miss meat, but I avoid it for other reasons than money.

chunkytfg

GenRent90 wrote: »

Sorry, by travel I meant transport. The train to work etc

To be honest I thought you meant Holidays

Apologies

cjv

Take a look at a Lifetime ISA, 25% bonus on up to £4000 a year. It has some limitations and conditions but can help boost your savings.

I used the LISA in combination with Shared Ownership, this is also something you could research.

Retireby40

So your spending roughly around £1100 all in.

How much do you take home after tax?

csgohan4

you need to adjust your expectations as well. Who says you need to buy a house in 3 years of graduating or Live a life in the capital in London, I rented for almost 15 years before buying, no shame in that. Still wear the same shirts I had 10 years ago too, they last long if you buy smart.


I moved out of London for those very reasons, cost. For the price of my house. I could only get a rubbish studio in London. There is more to life than London


Unfortunately we get young ambitious people on here from the want it now generation and not having the salary or reality to match them.


You need to be prepared to work hard and continue that and build your career.


Then only then when you look back you life in 10-20 years time and say you've done a decent job with partner/kids e.t.c in tow.

bopsybunny

GenRent90 wrote: »

He works in advertising, in a senior role.

Marriage feels a little extreme (and too soon) at this point if I'm honest

Budget:
Rent - £670/m (4 bed houseshare)
Groceries - £100/m
Socialising - £100-150/m
Transport - £60/m
Utilities (gas/elec/internet) - £80/m
Clothing - £25/m (averaged)
Phone bill - £18/m
Subscriptions - £15/m

The cost of renting in London is always gonna be a problem. My friends who are currently doing that have essentially given up on the idea of saving for a deposit because it would take them 5 or 10 years to be able to buy a small flat on the outskirts! They've chosen the London jobs, and the lifestyle, and sacrificed the idea of being a homeowner.

It sounds like you're already pretty good with your spending. It'd be difficult to reduce your grocery spending much lower than that. When I was saving for my deposit (only purchased in December so this was recent!) we tried really hard to spend no much more than £30 a week (~£120 pm) on groceries for 2 people. Just meant a lot of planning/batch cooking and very little flexibility. We reduced our socialising spending a little by not ordering starters or desserts at restaurants, and asking friends/family to split the bill fairly, not go dutch. I drank less alcohol on nights out to save cash too. We also didn't go on holiday for 2.5 years

Changing your spending habits isn't going to make a huge impact (even if you reduced your grocery/social/subscription spending, that might only add up to another £100 per month). If you want to save more than that, you'll either have to drastically change your lifestyle, or look for a higher paid job/extra income elsewhere.

Help to Buy ISAs or Lifetime ISAs will get you some extra money towards a property purchase - we just got about £2k from the Government in bonuses. Again, not gonna make a huge impact, but it's free money!

lisyloo

Not sure what hours you work, but have you considered an evening/weekend job?

Retireby40

Salaries in London tend to be higher. Now I don't know what your earning because you haven't replied to the question but if your spending £1100 a month and earning £1500 a month it's time to re think your career path or at least where you do it.

If it's £2000 a month you can save £900 a month which is good. In 5 years you can have £50,000 and your other half another £50,000.

That's certainly a good deposit. You need to be patient and just chip away at the savings and maybe get a part-time job. Nothing good in life comes without sacrifice and there's no bigger sacrifice than your time.

user1168934

I can relate to your situation I think. I was living in zone 2-3 border and working in zone 1. I had a pretty decent job. Did that for 5 years, saved like crazy. Absolutely zero holidays, no eating outs, minimum socializing (takes money), spent the bare minimum on clothing etc. After five years, I did save some money but still not enough to buy even a 1 bed flat in zone 2-4 (which is what I was looking for at that time). At that point I decided to move out of London. I started looking for a job, in my case I found a job just outside of london and so I moved there. I was lucky to find accomodation at walking distance. It wasn't a any cheaper than london but saving on commute helped a bit plus a better paying job. Took another three years of saving like crazy same as before and after about 8 years of "no life" I was able to buy a 2 bed flat.
Fast forward another 5 years and I am looking to upgrade to a house. I have looked around and honestly it looks like that if I want something other than a shoebox I will probably have to move up north.


Not sure what I am going to do to be honest but I think I would have been better off if I had moved up north all those years ago.