The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

shiningfaery

Thought I would stop by and say Hello and I will be starting to save seriously in 2014. I will be aiming for a £30K deposit over 4 years. Looking at the prices of properties in my area that would be more than enough and if we wanted to go out of area would still be sufficient but would mean a bit more of a mortgage...need to see what happens when that time comes.
So will try to aim for £500 per month saving towards the house if we can, might not be achievable right away until finances settle out with increases in childcare and me still working part time hours.

Congrats to those who have recently offered on their houses and those that have achieved their goals, hard work has paid off for you all.
Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year

Becky_Boo

Monthly update from me - I've only added £775 this month what with Christmas being so darn expensive. Bringing new total to £9,555 although I will hopefully have a bit left over to top up at the end of the month.

In good news, I got given a very nice bottle of champagne from a happy client at work yesterday! The MSE side of me was thinking I could sell it (worth about £80!) or use it as a Xmas present (but don't know anyone I like that much!) but I think me and the OH will share it on Christmas Sometimes it's nice to treat yourself and enjoy the finer things in life - especially when they're free!

Happy savings everyone

debrag

Domino9 wrote: »

Don't forget that you will also need savings for solicitors, searches, (maybe) broker, moving costs etc. But so long as you don't go over the 125k you will not be required to pay Stamp duty - a penny more any you will have to pay stamp duty at the lower rate (1%).

Not sure if all this needs to come from the 30k - but even if it does, 20% deposit is still very good and will let you be able to access good rates (at least by todays standards).

Good luck saving.

D9

need to sort out the bad credit history first

shellstar

Hello LittleMissRach. If you think having a goal would help focus you I'd take a look at what houses are selling for in the area you think you want to buy. Then work out how much you'd need to save, and then realistically, how long it would take to save that money. Then you'll have a goal you can hopefully stick to and it will focus your mind.

An update from me:

I’ve been trying to save a minimum of £700 per month which I’ve mostly been managing. Only £625 this month but it is Xmas! I’ve also taken on a lift sharer so I’ll be putting their petrol contribution away each month. I decided I couldn’t be bothered with eBay. That’s the perils of saving money through want and not necessity I guess. I was bored even thinking about it and sale prices on similar things I was looking to sell just didn't seem worth it for me. I have donated some lovely but unwanted items (gifts from the Ex and such) to Oxfam and have used a nectar tag, so I should at least get some nectar points for some of those items.

A couple of months ago I opened a regular saver with Barclays. I’m putting in the max of £250 per month. Since I last updated a couple of months back I’ve saved £1,425.92 into my two regular savers and my instant access savings account– pretty chuffed with that.

The other thing I’ve done is invest in the YNAB software. In the past I’ve always used a spreadsheet on Google Docs but I really like how easy the app is to use, and how I can track all my spending so effortlessly as I go, making notes of cleared payments etc. Even though I’ve budgeted religiously since 2004, I’ve found the software and app have made this even easier and I've had more of a surplus at the end of each month. I’ve had some problems with syncing and it took me while to get to grips with their budgeting method, which was a little different to how I’m used to doing it. Otherwise, I think it’s been a good investment.

I’m starting to get pretty worried about the governments new initiatives to raise house prices. I don’t see any real plans to increase housing stock so the cynical side of me (usually pretty quiet) can’t see how it is anything but a desire to get the bubble going again. My budget is £220K and I won’t be able to get anything but the smallest hole in the roughest part of where I live with that. This means I’ll be buying in a smaller town a bit further out. However, I’ve never lived there before and having owned a house before the break-up, I know all too well the dangers of buying in an area you have limited knowledge of. My plan is to rent somewhere small there for 6 months to a year before I actually buy. My current place is up in September 2014. As I suspect the increase of 95% mortgages will result in house prices rising pretty sharply round here, I worry I’ll be priced out of even in this new area before I’m actually ready to buy. I guess I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Well done to those who've had offers accepted. A very exciting time! You'll find the real work is only just beginning! :rotfl:

J_i_m

littlemissrach wrote: »

My partner and I rented for a number of years but in May 2013 decided to bite the bullet and move back into my Mum and Step Dad's house to concentrate saving for a deposit for our own house (Eep!)

I employed a similar tactic, in moving out of rented accommodation and back in with the parents. I understand that it's increasingly common.

[As I don't know exactly when I would need the money I don't really have the option of locking it away long term for the joys of higher insterest rates but could possibly do 12 months? Also not too sure exactly if I should be putting anything into an ISA (new to these as well) or how that would work if I needed the money half way through a financial year.

I bank with First Direct, and I take advantage of both the Cash ISA and Regular Saver accounts which are available to people who have a current account with them.

The ISA doesn't have the most competitive interest rate as far as ISAs go. But it's flexibility is (almost) as good as any standard savings account. Your money isn't locked away for any period and you can withdraw funds if you wish to do so as easily as you can from a current account.

The main thing to understand about the ISA is that there is a set limit to how much you can deposit each financial year and that any withdrawal is not deducted from your deposits. So for example if you deposited the maximum amount in one go, you wouldn't be able to deposit anymore until the new financial year even if you took money out in the meantime.

The First Direct regular saver is a market leader in that it's interest rate of 6% is as high as any regular saver (and higher than most). You can deposit as much as £300 per month for a year, after which the accrued funds plus interest are converted to a standard savings account. After which you can then start a new regular saver. (You can't have two regular savers at the same time).

From my income I tend to save £600-800 per month. And my method is to first prioritize my regular saver by ensuring that I deposit the maximum amount permitted amount each month and putting the surplus into my ISA (assuming that I haven't used up the yearly allocation).

This allows me to earn the maximum amount of interest possible from the 6% regular saver. Once it has matured I deposit the balance to my ISA (making sure I don't exceed the yearly allocation) because after all.. the more money you have in the ISA the more interest it will be earning.

There are ISAs available with higher interest rates than First Direct's.. and if you were minded to do so you could transfer your ISA balance to a more competitive package on a yearly (or set periodical) basis. But this is when you are more likely to encounter more restrictive conditions, including longer locked in saving periods and no option to withdraw money. And this is why I choose to stick with my First Direct ISA, because although it doesn't offer a competitive ISA interest rate it does provide the flexibility to be treated (almost) like a normal basic savings account.

tara747

(copied from the other thread)

I've been paid early so I'm declaring for the year.

I managed to save £1,030 in December, so that brings my yearly total to £11,927 - and my overall savings total to £74,127.

I'm disappointed that I didn't save the full £12,000 that I'd aimed for, but hey - I did ok!
Merry Christmas and here's to a super-saving 2014. :beer:

Zoology_Dragon

End of the year puts us at £6775 and we'll starting the New Year by moving into cheaper rented accommodation so that'll be an additional £350 per month saved on top of what we already manage.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone, hope you all managed to save what you hoped for this year and here's to a savings-tastic 2014!

xmillyx

End of year I'm at 10,200! Very happy with that Started the year with just half that... well done everybody!

Simon11

I've managed to hit my target and save over £2k for the last month Looks like I'm paying for a wee small ski trip, so can't see myself hitting it next month. 12 months of hard saving to go

amiehall

Hi guys, I'm still a full time uni student although I'm graduating in the summer. I've just been offered a graduate job up in sunny Manchester so, having been thinking I would have to head to London for work, this seems like a much more affordable place to buy.

I've already managed to save just under £10k which is a good chunk of what I'm going to need I think. I reckon if I can get the same together again, I'll be about ready to go.

I'm trying to work out how much i'm going to need for things other than the deposit: solicitors, surveys etc. does anyone have a good site that gives a good indication of how much you should need? I find it easier to save when I have a clear target. i might try and save up enough for these "other" costs by the summer.