The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

J_i_m

That's a good decision though

I did similar to ease up monthly out goings and also to save a bit of cash on the interest of the debt.

SG27

Probi wrote: »

Quick question for everyone on here..

Do you do anything to help increase the amount you can save? e.g. what do you cut back on or do you get some extra income from somewhere?

Just interested In any ideas of how to get my deposit together a bit sooner!

Cheers

I spend literally nothing that isn't essential. Living with patents helps massively as my rent includes food etc so after my rent my outgoings are about £20 per month. (excluding car tax/insurance) I also have a second job which covers all my petrol costs. We rarely go out and when we do we use vouchers to make it cheaper, also we do surveys with valued opinions which gets around £5/£10 per month each which in vouchers we use for buying essentials. Everything is budgeted to the penny, I already know where my is allocated for the month ahead so if something unexpected arises it really annoys me!

It's a very boring existence though!! But all this hardship now means that we will be relatively well off once we buy as our mortgage will be much more affordable. We can even keep up a decent rate of savings even after allowing for holidays and luxuries so it will be worth it in the end!!

Kittenkirst

We do quite a bit to increase savings such as:
•use Quidco for online purchases
•meal plan for the week & shop accordingly
•cook from scratch
•attempt to take packed lunches to work daily
•flask of hot water to work also for coffees
• heating off, hot water switched on only when needed- blankets & slippers worn if chilly
•fruit & veg market, lidl & aldi for special offers
• trying to reduce 'nights out' and increase having friends over instead
•overtime
•free work minibus to work daily; means getting up 45 mins earlier & getting home 45 mins later than if used car, but not using our petrol

hope this gives you some ideas :-)

We're hoping to be at 44% of our target on payday (Friday!) whooop!

ruby_eskimo

Hi everyone! I've just discovered this thread and think I really need to join! I currently live at home with my parents while my DF lives in a different town for work. We're hoping to get married next year and buy our first house the year after. At the moment I am the only one saving as DF's outgoings are equal to his income due to high rent prices where he lives.

I currently put £500 a month away in the house savings funds and am currently at 25% of our £20,000 target. All extra money is pushed towards the wedding fund at the moment but I would like to top up the deposit fund too.

Mad_with_money

Hi Guys
Mind if we join in?? We haven't 'officially' started saving as clearing debts, just one overdraft to go which should be cleared if not this month definately next! That said we have just put £1140 into a new ISA to start us off. We are aiming for £35000 which will be £25,000 on house and £10000 rainy day/car died etc money!! We are probably looking at 3-4 years saving but hoping to do what we can to get it nearer to two years!
Happy saving everyone!
Mad
x

Alizarin

I've finished the end of March money shuffle ... and am ecstatic to report that I've finally hit the half way mark! :j

I'm so chuffed and actually feel for the first time that me buying a house is going to be a reality one day My target for the end of 2012 is now £19k.

beckythemadcow

We are cracking out the Champagne tonight! We hit £40k today.

(We didn't buy it, we are far too stingy! It's a gift from our wedding!)

:j :beer: :j

Nichelette

beckythemadcow wrote: »

We are cracking out the Champagne tonight! We hit £40k today.

(We didn't buy it, we are far too stingy! It's a gift from our wedding!)

:j :beer: :j

That's amazing! Well done

beckythemadcow

Thanks

Every £10k has felt like such a huge amount at the time. It's such a great feeling, and if we were ready to buy a place, we could do it now with that deposit, but going to keep saving, to make the size of the mortgage as small as possible.

MARKMAKAVELI

Blue Elephant, don't despair!
I'm in a similar situation with regards to friends all having partners and bank of mum & dad.

Minimum deposit is usually 10% although 15% will get you a lower rate. There are 95% mortgages out there but again, you will feel it on the high rate you pay back.

I'm just saving as much as I can, living with parents paying minimal rent. Even at the end of it, will struggle to get 70k place. Just gotta keep plodding on, circumstances might change etc.

I'll finish by saying there is no quick route. You need to save a deposit and it could take you years. I remember reading posts when I started saving, thinking i'll never get that much. I'm only on about 5k now, but 5k more than when I started! Just gotta keep plodding away. Seeing people with a million pound gifted deposits make me jelous though! haha