The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

[Deleted User]

Another night of babysitting has added £11.50 to my house saving fund
Hopefully come 1st March I will have a fixed rate savings account opened for my 1st installment from my salary to into!

The_Saver_2

Hi everyone :-)

I've been lurking over the last few days and thought I would join in. It's my OH's big birthday this year (won't say how old!) so I'm saving to take him on a lovely holiday but we're also saving to buy our own place. I've read everyone's post and it's interesting to see all the different goals - and achievements. We have 50% of our deposit saved and working hard on keeping up the momentum.
Can I ask what is everyone doing to help them save? Here are my main ones:-
I've started meal planning and sticking to a budget for our groceries (I keep meaning to officially join the Grocery Challenge)
I use cashback sites
I check interest rates on my accounts regularly and switch them if I see better ones
I have 2 regular saver accounts
I use cashback credit cards

butterfly72

Hi welcome to the thread!

The_Saver wrote: »

Hi everyone :-)
Can I ask what is everyone doing to help them save? Here are my main ones:-

I've started meal planning and sticking to a budget for our groceries (I keep meaning to officially join the Grocery Challenge)
I use cashback sites
I check interest rates on my accounts regularly and switch them if I see better ones
I have 2 regular saver accounts
I use cashback credit cards

I do all of the above plus:
I've just finished stoozing but thats made me a few hundred pounds over the years.
I'm selling my old vinyl, cds and books on amazon and in fact just this morning I've sold an LP for £16.
I do one carboot every year.. selling my clutter and odds and ends collected throughout the year. I normally make around £100!!
Sell big items we don't need/use - sofa, electric guitar, music equipment, massage bed, suitcases. I use Gumtree as its free.
I also do the odd extra shift at work.. but am hopefully going part time soon.
OH works very hard and gets bonuses and promotions.(did! times have changed)
I'm doing courses paid for by work. Hopefully I can go up a band soon!
I grew my own veg and herbs last year and that saved a small amount (esp the herbs as they are really expensive).
Take a packed lunch to work and if we are going out for the day.
Read the forum and do any of the loop hole offers.. like incentives to join banks etc.
I fixed a large chunk of my savings at 7% and 6.5% which should mature around the time we'll be looking for a house.
I'm learning to sew so I can alter and revamp my clothes and make gifts!
We stay in a bit more nowadays... actually most days!! We won't be going out for valentines day. We'll just make each other a card or meal or write a poem.
Claimed back tax that I've been overpaying since 2002. Still waiting for that!
Attempted to get our rented flat rebanded but failed! (got £700 for last place!)
Just one of us has a contract mobile and we use that phones free minutes for calls. I have a PAYG which I hardly top up.

I'm sure theres more but can't think!
hope these help

mouche

Wow butterfly...that's really impressive. Can I ask how long it took you to save £100K. I thought OH and I are doing really well but I don't know if we'll ever achieve £100K.

butterfly72

mouche wrote: »

Wow butterfly...that's really impressive. Can I ask how long it took you to save £100K. I thought OH and I are doing really well but I don't know if we'll ever achieve £100K.

We met in 2001 and both had 6K each in debt. OH was living on his mates sofa because he'd been made redundent from a dot.com company and I was doing temping because I'd moved from one area of london to another. So I tempted for the NHS for a while, then got a permenent job and then they sponsored me to do my nurse training - 15K a year! OH quickly got a job (didn't pay loads) and worked hard and is now doing really really well with the same company. So 8 years of hard work!!

Keep at it mouche.. you'll get there. You'll be amazed how it adds up.. little bits here and little bits there.... And the more you save the less you want to spend. You realise that you don't need the gadgets and latest TV. Also... the more you save the more you make... you have money free to take advantage of loopholes, fixed rates and the such. Also you get more interest.. well you used to!!

Good luck!

The_Saver_2

Butterfly, you're a real inspiration!

I've gone through your list and it's definitely given me food for thought. I've had loads of things packed up ready for a car boot but haven't got round to it...yet!

I did manage to sell some books on Green Metropolis but it's gone quiet recently. I think the flat rate of £3.75 to buy a second-hand book is putting people off.

I get a backdated pay rise (from August) this month so that will help towards our target but I think I'm going to focus on one new thing a month.

February - look into selling stuff on Amazon

purplevamp

butterfly72 - :T you've done really well to pay off debts and save £100K in 8 years. I thought you worked for the NHS as your earlier post said about moving up a band, and I immediately thought "NHS" (me too). You're totally spot on about not wanting to spend any of it and to not want all the latest things. Keep the savings going!

The Saver - I've never used G/Metropolis before but is that £3.75 the minimum you can sell a book for or are all the books at that price? Anyway with Amazon they don't charge anything to list and if it doesn't sell you can relist for free again. I have noticed that in the last couple of months I don't need to relist anything as they have stayed listed (I think there's an induction period of a couple of months ). Their fees are a bit on the steep side though. Also if you list a heavy book make sure you charge enough to cover the postage as Amazon only charge around £2.50 for p&p regardless of weight (sorry, you may know all this already ). I sold a book yesterday for £7 and it cost £4.20 for postage :eek: . Good luck with it though and let us all know how you do.

The_Saver_2

Hi Purplevamp

£3.75 is the standard charge for buying most books from G/Metropolis. However, the seller has the option of reducing this cost (and therefore your profit margin!) by either 50p or £1. I've done this before if the book I'm selling was a freebie from a magazine, for example. If you're selling a heavier book, you can charge more for P&P.
After what you've said, I may give Amazon a go though. I'm also thinking about using Music Magpie to sell my CDs - the idea of them sending you the pre-paid packets to send the CDs off sounds more appealing than having to package them myself. I'll keep you posted

Carrie85

Hi all,
I've been reading the forums for a few weeks and thought i'd join.
Its so good to see how well everyone is doing, it has really encouraged me to go for it and save all i can, would love to own my own home and fend for myself :T

I finished Uni in July 08 and am self employed so its pretty hard to save, but am back living with my parents which is helping on outgoings. Only debt is a student loan and small overdraft which will be cleared with my next pay cheque.

I'm aiming for a £25,000 deposit and don't have much at the moment, 3% so far, but we've all got to start somewhere right.

Look forward to hearing everyones updates.

chewyfat

I'm 30 and live with my sister in my parents flat as they live abroad, so only pay nominal rent/bills. My sister is due to finish postgraduate education at the end of 2010 so I can probably stay put until then and keep saving on rent. It all depends on what house prices do - keeping a close eye.

Saving £750 per month and more when I can get OT which i always take.

Saved £29K
Target £40K
Have a handful of free Lloyds Group shares from the HBOS takeover = worth next to nothing so will hold for the future.

I'm looking for a deposit of 40% on a two bedroom house in Birmingham. Hoping house prices keep falling.

If interest rates continue at their current level I'm tempted to borrow from my parents to make up 100% deposit. They are getting no return on their savings in the U.K and I can afford to pay them better interest than the banks!

If the recessions becomes really dire I think I'll leave the U.K to live abroad.