The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

sarah_elton

Good news: Saved £1000 towards my negative equity. That's from two months salary - started a new job and missed payroll cutoff by days, so got paid today almost two months' money.

Better news: My OH is moving in with me in mid-November and will be chipping in for bills, meaning I can save more each month from December onwards.

Bad news: My aim of saving £10k by middle of next year was based on my flat having fallen in value (price I'll get, not asking) from £125k at the peak to somewhere around £103k. If the market has dropped the total of 25% that's being bandied about, that makes it £93k, so if it drops that far by mid 2009 I'll need about £20k saved rather than £10k and we won't be moving at that point. Now I understand how people felt who were saving for deposits when the market was rocketing up away from them...

Not feeling sorry for myself though. I went for a 100% mortgage to skip the whole deposit saving thing. Now I'm saving at the end of the ownership instead of the start - hasn't made a lot of difference I guess.

Savings balance now about £1,500. I'm focusing on that today.

Ivana_B_Rich

redrabbit29 wrote: »

Has anyone thought about what to do with their deposit when buying a house?

E.g. if you have £20'000 saved up. Do you stick every penny towards the house and fees.

Just thinking about if the house needs something done, e.g. a new carpet, some new furniture, a new bed, or a repair, etc...

I could afford to save for these things now, but not so sure if i had a mortgage.

I was looking before prices started to fall. I judged each property individually and divided my total deposit by deposit, buying fees, moving costs and immediate requirements.

In addition I've also bought things like pans, toaster, towels, kettle and such like in preparation. The loft is getting a bit full now :rolleyes:

I'll probably do the same thing when I start looking to buy again. I don't have a date in mind, I'll just watch the maket

reformed_84

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Flippin eck, you'll be there in no time! My boyfriend and I save £600 a month into our ISAs, and I try to add "top ups" into our normal savings too. Got 12k so far, we've been saving for about 18 months now.

Since you're new to saving, I would keep your target simple. Say 10% of your intended purchase price, ie £12k. That will take you 8.5 months so to make it more of a challenge, perhaps give yourself a target of 12,000 in 7 months. Then review what the market is like and see if you want to keep saving.

I keep a spreadsheet showing how much we've saved, and I made a bar chart that shows our savings going up each month. It's nice to look at

Thanks LittleMissAspie! Thats a great idea!! Been thinking about it all these last few days and with the way the market is anyway, theres absolutely no point buying just yet! Just going to keep putting away every month like a good girl and then when I get to 12k have a look at the market.. It might be that we keep saving for another 24 months to really feel the benefit! Which is fine to wait... there's no rush and if we can save thousands on repayments then what the hey!! )

I'm definitely going to keep a track on our savings. I'm also keeping a track on what money we're actually spending as well! So far this week I've hardly spent a bean! ) got to be thrifty in this game havent ya!! :A

Hows everyone else getting on this week?

I cant wait til pay day!... to bank more cash!! )

rach1982_2

Hi everyone,

I'm new and so impressed with everyone's saving capabilities! I'll try to keep this short - I'm 3 months pregnant and living at my parents with my fiance as we moved back to Scotland after moving away for a year. We thought we'd have all the time in the world to save at least 10% for a place (around 15,000 up here) but now that the baby is due in April, we really need to look for a place in Jan/Feb. I don't think we'll have enough, I should have 7,000 saved by Xmas (would've been 10,500 if it wasn't for the tax man!) and fiance should have about 3,500. I don't know if we'll get a mortgage with that AND we've got to save to cover me when I'm off on maternity leave as I'm contract and don't get paid. I still have 12 weeks max at work after Xmas so could save around 5,000 in that time but I don't know if that'll be enough to cover me. Should we rent instead of buy?? There's no room to stay at my parents with a baby so we have to get out no matter what. Any thoughts please as I'm really stressing about this.

^!£$&

I've Just joined the make £10 a day challenge this week on the dfw board have done pretty well so far with quidco, ebaying & amazon marketplace so am putting all this towards my deposit fund as am already debt free!!

Riq

reformed_84 wrote: »

Hows everyone else getting on this week?

I cant wait til pay day!... to bank more cash!! )

Well, I didn't play 5-a-side this week so saved £5 if that counts!
However I did blow £45 on a Valencia & an Argentina shirt. Name and numbers included. Bargains really. Just for 5-a-side, not for any other time! :eek:

Payday on Monday! Roll on then!

jamtart6

I have saved £12 per haircut by getting a mobile woman in instead of visiting a salon! Approx. £60 per year

Should have a 7.5% deposit by payday

Bone_Idle

Hi everyone! Our DD was born yesterday afternoon so our deposit saving quest has temporarily slipped out of my mind But it gives me a sense of focus, and wanting to edge ever nearer that ultimate total so that we can settle down properly as a family in our own home!

Ivana_B_Rich

Bone_Idle wrote: »

Hi everyone! Our DD was born yesterday afternoon

:T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T

Congratulations

Ivana_B_Rich

rach1982 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm new and so impressed with everyone's saving capabilities! I'll try to keep this short - I'm 3 months pregnant and living at my parents with my fiance as we moved back to Scotland after moving away for a year. We thought we'd have all the time in the world to save at least 10% for a place (around 15,000 up here) but now that the baby is due in April, we really need to look for a place in Jan/Feb. I don't think we'll have enough, I should have 7,000 saved by Xmas (would've been 10,500 if it wasn't for the tax man!) and fiance should have about 3,500. I don't know if we'll get a mortgage with that AND we've got to save to cover me when I'm off on maternity leave as I'm contract and don't get paid. I still have 12 weeks max at work after Xmas so could save around 5,000 in that time but I don't know if that'll be enough to cover me. Should we rent instead of buy?? There's no room to stay at my parents with a baby so we have to get out no matter what. Any thoughts please as I'm really stressing about this.

:hello: Hello and welcome,

I'm not the best person to be giving advice but, I've always thought that the Scottish property market followed the English one. Your prices started to rise a month or two after ours and now ours are falling yours will follow........

I may be wrong but with everything else that's happening I'd suggest renting for a short time and watching the market closely.

HTH