The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

compbren

I've not posted here in such a long time.  But I have now saved £46,000 + £3,000 Help To Buy Bonus.  I've seen a mortgage advisor a few weeks ago and I'm scheduling in a few house viewings over the next week.  One in particular I have my eye on but it's already got a lot of viewings booked already.  I think personally, now is the right time for me to buy so hoping it turns out all ok.

Betharooni

Wow @compbren, that’s a brilliant amount of savings, you must be so proud of yourself for saving so much. How long have you been saving for? Whereabouts are you looking to buy?

B x

compbren

Betharooni said:

Wow @compbren, that’s a brilliant amount of savings, you must be so proud of yourself for saving so much. How long have you been saving for? Whereabouts are you looking to buy?

B x

Thank you, I've been saving for about 7 years,  I'm single and work full time, just earning above the Living Wage.   I'm in the East Midlands, so prices around here aren't too bad,  with some houses, I could put less of a deposit down and still have some left over for safety.  I'm ready to start the process, but a bit nervous to be doing it on my own.  Good luck!

tara747

Betharooni said:

Hi

Lifetime ISA balance £3,108.52, First Home Saver balance £810.87

Am still saving slowly but should start seeing a decent increase from next month onwards. I have a pay rise from next month and it’s backdated to April so should be able to add a nice amount next month, and will be able to start saving a really decent amount each month from October onwards. Am hoping to have more than £5,000 in my Lifetime ISA and more than £1,000 in my First Home Saver by the end of the year. At that point I’ll be more than 10% of the way there and will feel like I’m starting to get somewhere with it.

I still want to sit down and list some items over the next few weeks, I listed and sold a few DVDs last month but have got loads more bits that I want to get rid of. I have a week off later this month so will see what I can do then.

@Tara747 I’m blown away by how much you’ve saved, both overall and this year alone. Do you have any hints and tips for a relative newbie?

B x

Hi Betharooni
I've been saving for over 10 years so don't feel discouraged! This year it's been easier to save if you still have an income, and my savings have been boosted by e.g. interest on maturing bonds.
My main tips would be:
1. Have a vision! Know what you're saving for. This will make it easy to make spending/saving decisions. You might fancy a magazine, takeaway coffee or new perfume, but is it more important than getting to your goal sooner?
2. Break it down into smaller chunks e.g. if you're saving for a house and you'd love a particular piece of furniture for it, or a shed, try to figure out how much it would cost. Then, when you forego something like an expensive new phone, you can say 'I've saved half the cost of my shed by doing that'.
3. Look after the pennies. Lots of small things add up. Cook from scratch, use up leftovers, take your own tea/coffee to work, use a slow cooker rather than the oven, make your own lemonade, cycle rather than drive etc.
4. But also, you have to live a little. This is where prioritising comes in. Travelling matters to me, so I spend money on that (not at the moment, obviously!). Fancy clothes don't, so I buy all my clothes etc in charity shops - and try to buy as little as possible in general.

Good luck

tara747

Hello everyone
I haven't updated in 3 months, oops.
My August to October 2020 totals are:

August £10,590 (inc a small inheritance)
September £1,975
October £1,619

So far in 2020 I’ve saved £28,958.
My new grand savings total is £190,915  Heading for the £200k mark!

nat21luv

Hi guys!

@tara747 you’ve been inspiring me for 10 odd years, congratulations on your total so far! Absolutely incredible!

I had to have private surgery, this took me into debt and saw me see in the new year -£14k. As of May 2020 I became debt free and I plan on ending 2020 with £20k in the bank. Currently have £17k.

My partner moves in next month (currently I live with my two children) so having someone to help with the rent will be great- I will then have £1500 disposable income so I plan of saving as much as possible! Partner has £12k of debt (was £23k Jan 1st!) but has £5k sale pending and plans to be debt free by the end of the year. He also has £6k in savings. 

We’re aiming for £40k deposit plus £5k H2B bonus, that should see us get a £300k house. Also need to save £5k for fees and £5k for furniture (probably won’t be used so will go towards our celebratory holiday!) Aiming for July 2021 when house prices have crashed and my DD starts secondary school. 

Looking forward to your updates!

greensalad

New here! I didn't realise this thread existed.

I'm actually not saving for a deposit right now as I literally halted it yesterday when we filled our LISAs for 20/21. Unfortunately we have a tax bill to pay that will now take precedent on our savings for a few months, but we'll get back on the house savings in the Spring.

We are aiming to have £42,500 saved by the end of December 2021. We have just over £10k now, not quite 25% so far! We've been saving since April.

delta13

I've now got a grand total of £23893 - this includes money set aside for solicitor fees etc but not the bonus I'll receive from my HTB ISA. 
My savings have slowed the last couple of months due to reduced overtime, but I've looked back and this time last year I had £12.5k put aside for a house deposit, so to almost double it in 12 months is super inspiring!

Aiming to finish 2020 with £25k total saved.

diggingdude

I miss being part of this thread. Well done everyone on saving in 2020

GoingOn30

Very excited seeing you all make progress. Vuying our first place was one of the best things we ever did. The feeling of not handing over rent to a landlord is amazing! 
At least with more lockdowns on the way it shouldn't be hard to save hard for those with a stable income.