The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

MrDT

Sorry to hear that LIR, what a nightmare!

£800 sounds a lot, might be worth ringing up one or two other garages in your area, describe the problem (and car make and model) and get some quotes from them to do the work. Could be that your MOT garage is trying to pull a swift one?

Bangers can be just as reliable as new cars, provided they're maintained properly - but I appreciate they don't suit everyone (the gf won't drive anything over five years old, I won't pay for anything under five lol!).

On the deposit saving front - got some interest paid today, but the amount has shrunk drastically recently, bit of a pain.

Also I signed up for a gambling site (mecca) through quidco last night, mecca will match my first deposit (takes 24 hours), and I've won a few quid on the roulette table, so that will all be withdrawn and added to the savings tonight - and I'll have an additional £30 from quidco to add to the savings in a month or two too, every little helps

I'm annoyed that my interest payments have dropped so much recently, and am trying to quidco whatever I can to make up the shortfall! I seem to be making more money for other people than myself though haha - gf joined quidco yesterday, she had been paying £10 a month for AA roadside, RAC offer the same level of service for £34 a year, and quidco paid £22 cashback too, so a years cover for slightly over what the monthly cost was witht he AA! Needless to say, she's already addicted... I also told a mate about the american express deal they have on, he got the cashback card and quidco bung, I was declined and got nadda haha (that stumped me initially as my credit rating is way better than his, guess I wouldn't be a 'profitable' customer )

Anyway, that's enough from me, hope everyone is doing well!

PS - three weeks 'til Christmas

lostinrates

MrDT wrote: »

Sorry to hear that LIR, what a nightmare!

£800 sounds a lot, might be worth ringing up one or two other garages in your area, describe the problem (and car make and model) and get some quotes from them to do the work. Could be that your MOT garage is trying to pull a swift one?

Bangers can be just as reliable as new cars, provided they're maintained properly - but I appreciate they don't suit everyone (the gf won't drive anything over five years old, I won't pay for anything under five lol!).

He's been good to me so far (mechanic) I think. I'm not qualified to mak th judgment call. I am angry though, because this is associated with the radiator thing last time and he swor it was good to go now.

I'm not in th least worried about image with age of car (I'v had two cars oldr than me as a teen) but I do find my eyes glaze over at the word maintainance. Oil, air and water are fine: filters? not for me. DH is not particularly boyish about cars either - he only learned to driv rcently, and so the cal on car decisions is usually up to me. (he does the tyres, I do the oil etc: I'm quicker.)

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

I AM ABOUT TO SCREAM.

HAving spent that horrific amount on the car it just went back for its MOT and th head gasket(?) has gone. £800 or a nearly new car???

Goodness knows I wish I was like you guys who are able to reasonably assess a banger: I'm just not, I drive alone a lot and feel that I need reliabilty as a lone female.

AGRH.

I suppose I sorn today (tax due) and make the decision through the week.

awww. Head gaskets are a bar steward. While you think just replace the gasket and torque it down, the trouble is you're not sure if the block has warped, so that needs skimming too. It's the skim that costs the money, I bet the actual gasket's only about £30. But you can never get an answer to "does it NEED skimming", nobody ever knows, so it has to be done. If you take a chance and the head had warped, you'd be looking at a whole new engine.

lostinrates

Its my suspicion it all should hav been down when the car was in for its fortnight stay (lat coupl of pages) Pastures, so while I only half undertand you post (I don't get car-words ) my guess is the worst-est has happened.

Bone_Idle

before_hollywood wrote: »

hey guys, my savings are up to about £10k now, wondering when to take the plunge and start looking at places (as in physically going rather than just looking on rightmove lol)

We went for a wander past a couple of places that we're interested in - although we couldn't find one, and the second didn't have a For Sale board outside! Ah well, still nice to have a look

donkeyshorn

lostinrates wrote: »

I AM ABOUT TO SCREAM.

HAving spent that horrific amount on the car it just went back for its MOT and th head gasket(?) has gone. £800 or a nearly new car???

Goodness knows I wish I was like you guys who are able to reasonably assess a banger: I'm just not, I drive alone a lot and feel that I need reliabilty as a lone female.

AGRH.

I suppose I sorn today (tax due) and make the decision through the week.

My head gasket went on my 54 plate ford fiesta a couple of months back. Cost me £560 and they had to skim it. Maybe in the NW of England the labour is cheaper than where you are?
As Martin Lewis says, loyality doesn't get you the best price!

Woodyrocks

Just have to say that I am seriously impressed with the under 25s' on the thread that have managed to knuckle down and save sizeable deposits.

russet

Decided to join this thread having followed it for a while.
I'm saving for a house deposit and plan to buy within the next 1-2 years. I've saved enough for a 30-35% deposit so far, hoping to increase this to 40% to get the best mortgage deals. Also need to factor in costs for moving etc. I haven't saved much at all in the last few months but hoping to get back on track soon. It's very tempting to start viewing places but I am trying to resist for now and see what happens - still keeping a close eye on rightmove to see what's available.
Hope everyone is doing well - it will be worth it in the end!

ZoeGirl_3

My savings are going well, have almost reached my goal for the year, and have redone my budget in preparation for next year. Made it a bit less strict as have found the end of this year really hard, but will still aim for $20k savings next year.

I wish I could start looking but am not intending to buy in my region and will probably move towards the end of next year and buy elsewhere, so I am just watching the market as usual lol.

sarah_elton

Got nearly £3k saved towards paying off my negative equity and being able to move. Should be around £4k by end of January. Unfortunately the market looks increasingly grim and I think my target is higher than originally planned (probably £15k rather than £10k now).

However, OH moved in a couple of weeks ago. He now gives me money for half the mortgage and bills, so when I get that it goes straight into savings and I'm still paying them. That way I'm not tempted to spend any of it.

Was feeling down about the way my savings are going up at about the same pace as the negative equity. But at the weekend we went for a walk around a place we're thinking of moving to and I loved it - perfect place for a future family. Reminded me of the big picture of why I'm doing this, and also with regard to all the houses I'll live in over my life. I'm 27 and in the long long term, I'll come out even if not a bit up financially from housing. Early losses are not the end of the world, and thankfully don't seem to be end of the world amounts (again over the long term - about to save up more cash than I ever have then throw it all away). If my flat had dropped to £50k or something then I'd be royally screwed. Of course, I'm saying that without having sold it yet. Famous last words and all. :rolleyes: