The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

GoingOn30

I would add to the above....
Look around at switching current accounts, you can get up to 4 or 5 bonuses a year that can be up to £150 each.
I did have to cut my social life and for more than a few months, but to me getting on the ladder and getting rid of landlords and letting agents was so important that it was worth it.

gwyneth_valiant

Brilliant advice johnny (well done on 55k and good luck with the exchange!) & goingon30, thank you!

I agree - I won't be cutting down much on social life to be very honest with you (mainly because I already have so little of it due to work/travel - so I cherish it when I do get to see my friends!). The majority of my additional savings will come from ceasing to spend on the following categories:

Weekday Coffee (Leon's large skinny lattes)
Take-aways and meals-out (4 times a week)
Gym Membership
Fortnightly Night Out
Clothes & Beauty
Monthly Cinema Ticket

Honestly, the coffees & takeaways are my biggest spend category (I have a fairly stressful job), but hoping that by cutting back on those I'll be able to save $$$$ p.a. I'm not saying I won't have a coffee here and there with a friend or have meals out, but I want those to be 'treats' rather than my 'modus operandi' if that makes sense...I'm also quite fed up with buying clothes and giving them away, so I want to shop much more consciously and from 2nd hand shops (I do love those!) to minimize my eco footprint.

tara747

jonnygee2 wrote: »

Well I'm a little late to this thread, as hopefully I'm about to exchange contracts! 55k saved since 2012. Here's my general advice, from doing it the wrong way and then doing it the right way!

- Don't cut down your social life. Cut down all the stuff you do when you are on your own so you can still go out with friends, without being the person who keeps saying 'I can't afford it...'. You can't sustain a cut in your social life for more than a few months.

- Try to enjoy doing things on the budget you have. Shopping in local markets and second hand stores, and going hiking on holiday can be part of a great lifestyle. Avoid constantly thinking 'if only I had more money I could...'. Don't walk into designer clothes stores or read the menus of expensive restaurants, just get used to walking by them and thinking they are for someone else.

- Be careful with dating. It can be horrendously expensive!

- Do lots of research once a year to make sure your deposit is in the best place possible for interest and take the time to move it around if it isn't. In total over 5 years I've earned about £4500 in interest alone which made the difference on getting the flat I wanted (even though when you have 50k in the bank it feels like your resources are infinite, when it comes to buying suddenly every thousand pounds matters).

Brilliant advice. I couldn't agree more, especially with the bit I've highlighted in red.

I've never been overly materialistic or dazzled by shiny stuff, and I certainly don't feel the need to prove myself to anyone with 'status symbols'. If anything, I realise that those who live simply usually have more financial security than those who flaunt expensive stuff bought on credit.

Re dating, I would say: try to find someone who has the same financial values as you do. It doesn't have to be expensive. I'm in a relationship with a guy who doesn't have expensive tastes. Even in the early stages, our dates were mainly coffee or the cinema rather than dinner or the pub.

Well done on saving £55k

GoingOn30 wrote: »

I would add to the above....
Look around at switching current accounts, you can get up to 4 or 5 bonuses a year that can be up to £150 each.
I did have to cut my social life and for more than a few months, but to me getting on the ladder and getting rid of landlords and letting agents was so important that it was worth it.

Yep - I've probably earned over £2,000 in total just from switching bonuses (I'm a bank account tart)!

emincosi wrote: »

Brilliant advice johnny (well done on 55k and good luck with the exchange!) & goingon30, thank you!

I agree - I won't be cutting down much on social life to be very honest with you (mainly because I already have so little of it due to work/travel - so I cherish it when I do get to see my friends!). The majority of my additional savings will come from ceasing to spend on the following categories:

Weekday Coffee (Leon's large skinny lattes)
Take-aways and meals-out (4 times a week)
Gym Membership
Fortnightly Night Out
Clothes & Beauty
Monthly Cinema Ticket

Honestly, the coffees & takeaways are my biggest spend category (I have a fairly stressful job), but hoping that by cutting back on those I'll be able to save $$$$ p.a. I'm not saying I won't have a coffee here and there with a friend or have meals out, but I want those to be 'treats' rather than my 'modus operandi' if that makes sense...I'm also quite fed up with buying clothes and giving them away, so I want to shop much more consciously and from 2nd hand shops (I do love those!) to minimize my eco footprint.

Great compromise - you can still have coffees, but only when seeing friends, so it becomes a cheap way of socialising. I do this too.

Second hand and charity shops (and eBay) are my source of clothes too, that's when I feel like shopping, which is rare :rotfl: And yes, they save on resources too

*little.squirrel*

We are saving for a deposit too! There is lots of great advice here; thanks for sharing. We are trying to save for a 10% deposit, plus fees and aiming for a house around 250,000. We have some money aside already and we are trying to save 6K this year. This should be achievable but there will be some months when it is harder than others! I've set myself a personal challenge not to buy any brand new clothes or any make up this year. So far that isn't a problem and I'm enjoying having the occasional rummage in the charity shop instead. DH not quite on board for that for himself yet! :rotfl: We are definitely trying to limit our expenses without entirely compromising on having fun too.

gwyneth_valiant

Welcome to the club squirrel!

Tara, absolutely, I'm all about compromising nowadays

tara747

March payday update from me!

I saved £1,005 in March, which makes £3,378 so far in 2018 and £125,111 overall.

:beer:

GoingOn30

Well done everyone.
Emincosi if you've been having 4 meals out/takeaways a week you should be able to save loads and will be a bit healthier for it too.
Great that everyone is thinking about the environment with buying second hand clothes too. The whole idea of "fashion" and buying things only to get rid of them a year later winds me up so much, so much ends up in landfill.

Daybyday

March update! I've over spent this month on going out etc, which I'd a lesson learned. Despite that we've managed to save £1k and have broken the £6k barrier!

Welcome to all of the new posters and we'll dome everybody!

jonnygee2

Honestly, the coffees & takeaways are my biggest spend category (I have a fairly stressful job), but hoping that by cutting back on those I'll be able to save $$$$ p.a.

I work long hours in a fairly high pressure environment too so I completely feel you here.

Have you got, or looked at, one of the more modern current accounts, like Monzo or Starling? You can see everything you spend and it gets instantly categorised, you can set targets too for each category and it will let you know when you are close to going over. Really helps. As soon as you see the size of your 'eating out' category, you'll be much more motivated to fix it!

Cooking everyday has probably been the biggest pain point. I get home, I'm tired, it's late, and I don't want to spend the only 2 hours I have to myself buying stuff, cooking a meal and washing up, even if the result is healthier and tastier than a takeaway or a ready meal.

But no one said it would all be easy. You get used to it over time.

gwyneth_valiant

jonnygee2 wrote: »

I work long hours in a fairly high pressure environment too so I completely feel you here.

Have you got, or looked at, one of the more modern current accounts, like Monzo or Starling? You can see everything you spend and it gets instantly categorised, you can set targets too for each category and it will let you know when you are close to going over. Really helps. As soon as you see the size of your 'eating out' category, you'll be much more motivated to fix it!

Cooking everyday has probably been the biggest pain point. I get home, I'm tired, it's late, and I don't want to spend the only 2 hours I have to myself buying stuff, cooking a meal and washing up, even if the result is healthier and tastier than a takeaway or a ready meal.

But no one said it would all be easy. You get used to it over time.

Yes, got Starling the other day and I'm transferring my 'spend money' monthly to it. Yes, to tired, late & all that - I'm so glad I'm not alone with this (thank you :beer:). I actually got a slow-cooker based on a recommendation by a colleague, and it's helped quite a bit to be honest. I now spend 3h on Sundays going to the farmers market, meal prepping and cooking, so during the week I only have to do quick 'touch ups' or steam up some veg etc.