How are you all saving for your deposits

PasturesNew

I had a job (yes, I know some of you will be surprised, but I got over it and left when I realised how rash a decision that was) .... and you had to buy coffee in the canteen. The cheapest was 30p (plain, black, regular coffee). It was easy to have 5/day.

That worked out at:
£1.50/day
261 working days/year minus 20 days annual leave minus 8 bank holidays = 233 actual days worked per year.
233 x £1.50 = £349.50/year

I popped into Asda, picked up a £2 flask and a 50p screw top screw top plastic jar. I took hot water and a tub of coffee into work. It had paid for itself within 2 days.

Having said that, since I left there was an email sent round saying it was against H&S to have/allow people to do this and flasks were banned. Yes, really!

It's the small stuff that can add up.

e.g. got into the habit of picking up a daily newspaper? a weekly magazine? buying coffee? packet of crisps with that coffee? tasty muffin?

Add them up!

lostinrates

Well, on returning to UK we slashed the costs of renting: DH lodges in London (where he works) I am living with my mother in the family house. Initially I came back to UK a few months before him, which dragged out, then when he started in UK it waswithout so much as a weekends break. Thus, up until now we have sved a hell of a lot on rent too. Now that DH is back in UK (he will actually be away for 6-8 months next year) we are looking to either rent, or possibly buy again.

When his salary comes through we put £1k of it straight in savings, and then try and use as little of whats left so that the day before the next pay check there is stuf left to transfer. We think o the £1k as our mortgage interest payment, and the rest as over payment adding to equity. Thats fairly inspirational.

When we were renting we chose THE cheapest roperty that met our needs. These aren't in the coolest areas, but DH and I are cabable of making our own entertainment most evenings and planning to go out is fun (what tended to happen is I'd meet him at his office and we'd go out from there rather than out from home). We actually didn't go out ALL that much, but again,lots of the things we went to, especially out of UK were work based, so free.

While living abroad we DID use our weekends to travel once a month a bit further. In Italy we have a lot of friends, so would spend every second weekend staying with chums and using their places as a base to explore. This cost us a gift for the house hold or a meal- in Italy meals out are cheaper ase are train fares. Thats not so helpful in UK, but it did have an impact on our abilty to save.

We have animals, including a horse, which cost a bit, but they keep us away from the dreading 'shopping for entertainent' at weekends, and make home life better...also meaning we don't want to go out so much!

Through the week DH eats almost all his meals at work. There is a subsidised canteen for breakfast (porridge is 70 or 80p, a full english once a week £1.20 lunch works out between £1.50 and £2.50 for supper he can order up to £25 quid of food from a myriad of restaurants charged to his employer). He works long long hours, but this is again, a significant saving. My groceries through the week, bar et food are negliable. We have chickens and I eat a lot of eggs, we grow veg, I eat a lot o veg. I buy a fair bit of milk and apples- my favorite foods happen to be cheap! At weekends I send more and cook properly.

DH and I go on a 'date once a month', before we were serious savers this was a meal out or a trip to the cinema: now its more like a dog walk somewhere further afield with a picnic.

When we want rather than need something, 95% of the time we save for it. I save every 20p piece that comes my way, I literally never spend them, 20ps build up quickly. I'm trying to do the same with £2 pieces too. For our wedding anniversary DH got something he needed but we hadn't saved for.

Clothes: I don't buy many clothes - I wear the same stuff a lot. I am shallow about clothes but I put on a lot of weight and won't buy 'fat'clothes makes this sacrifice easier. DH did need new clothes in UK because the ofice dress code was smart casual, and still needs suits for client meetngs, damn. We bought hima decent but not OTT wardrobe at a 'shopping village' at 70% off everything we bought, and he got a couple of great pairs of shoes at TK Max.

We tend to prefer to wait to hope to get somethng cut rice but maybe 'last season' rather than buy new and cheaper.

clobber_2

Shopping at TK Maxx and charity shops is fantastic and fun as well, if you can view it as a challenge. Normal clothes shops never have anything in the right size anyway, so the random element of shopping that way isn't a big change to what you would expect.

The problem I find with bargain shopping is that stuff is so cheap you end up spending more than planned to buy more stuff. (She says wearing her new Chloe jeans from TK maxx).

beingjdc

Jonbvn wrote: »

My word you are dedicated. However, be careful that you do not become obsessive! I worked with a guy who ran his life using spreadsheets. He could tell you to the day when he could retire early. Unfortunately his wife became fed-up and left him.

It's because my father's a management accountant, I caught the Excel bug, if not the career. He's written a spreadsheet that solves the Sudoku for him when he gets stuck.

As for the other half, given that I've promised her that if I stay on my savings target until 2016 and she hasn't left me I'll buy her the handbag she wants, she puts up with it.

The handbag, by the way, costs two months' wages. Good to tell her family are millionaires isn't it? Might have to behave appallingly towards her for the whole of 2015...

PasturesNew

beingjdc wrote: »

The handbag, by the way, costs two months' wages.

Handbags cost £2.99 and aren't a necessity. A Tesco bag will carry most things.

Badger_Lady

I never saved for a deposit, but I have spent the last three years paying off the debts my ex kindly left me, and am now working on denting the mortgage.

Thankfully I'm in a position now where my income is high and my outgoings are low, but until 6 months ago:

Household costs

- Watch basic black-and white TV. Half the TV license and no subscriptions.
- Ditch the landline phone - negotiated mobile contract with sufficient outgoing calls included, and of course receive calls at any time.
- Switch the energy bills (electric in my case) for a cheaper rate, and reduce usage by microwaving instead of cooking, hand-washing and naturally drying clothes, and wearing a blanket in winter.
- Use Martin's method to check your Council Tax banding. I couldn't change, but many have and have received thousands of pounds in rebates as well as reducing their ongoing cost.

Shopping

- Find the cheapest food. I lived next to a Waitrose and every evening at 7pm they'd mark their fresh produce down to 10p - whole pineapples, packs of ready-to-roast parsnips, bags of apples. You never knew what you were going to get, but that added to the fun! There's also a cooperative near me that meets once a month, and you can buy grains / beans etc at trade prices by bringing in your own containers (therefore saving packaging costs). Chinese food is also an amazing way to eat cheaply - I order from an online supermarket now and can bung together an authentic Asian feast for two at a total cost of 84p (excluding electric costs etc, which would be insignificant).
- Shop around for EVERYTHING - insurance, second-hand car, work clothes - whatever it is, there's a better bargain to be found somewhere. Always check this site for discount codes and Quidco for cashback deals. And go second-hand where you can (as PasturesNew says, charity shops can be a goldmine). I actually sold my car and invested in a good pedal bike for the couple of years when I really needed to save. I moaned about it in the winter/rain but it was the biggest help financially, no running costs / MOT / tax etc...

Going Out

If I felt the need to get merry, I might have a swig of cheap vodka before going out. But mostly it was enough to just see friends so lime-and-soda (free-50p) was fine for me. And after a couple of hours I was quite happy to sit and chat without a drink.

I was fortunate enough to live in an area safe enough to walk home again... these days I have to use a taxi or drive, but it's a rare enough occasion to make sense.

I do still think it's important to have fun, and possible to do so without spending. I got into working at Festivals - sometimes it's purely voluntary but gets you a free weekend away; other companies will pay you for the work on top. Yes, it is working, but it's so completely different from my day job that it still feels like a holiday. Change is as good as a rest an' all that. You can even take it into Europe - I do the Lowlands festival in Holland every year, £40 for return flights from Cardiff and a week's free accommodation when I arrive

Toiletries

I really didn't "need" most of them. Shampoo - eventually I went without completely, but in the interim Lush solid shampoo was £5 a bar and would last me 6 months (I have thick hair down to my hips). Bicarbonate of Soda is also a gentle and effective way to clean your hair. Body sprays and perfumes are pointless (though a lady does love to wear perfume on a special occasion). One good anti-perspirant/deoderant is plenty, and something like Pit Rocks will again last longer and work out cheaper. Shower gels - just use soap. Moisturiser - there's nothing more effective than basic E45 cream, or even just a smear of olive oil. Google the Oil Cleansing Method for an incredibly effective way to care for your face without spending money.

Income

I squeezed my full-time job for payrises (of course using the "I'm great at my job" line rather than the "I need cash" line!). I got myself an internal promotion very quickly, made it clear that I intended to go far and was willing to develop. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough and I had to get a second job.

So I did 6am-9am each morning in Tesco, pricing up goods. Worked out to be an extremely lucrative option, because every so often I'd price down an end-of-line range of digital cameras, mobile phones etc, which were still selling well on eBay. As soon as my shift finished, I'd walk back in there, buy the lot and flog them on for a profit. I still HATED every day that I had to don that uniform, not because of the job itself but because it was in addition to my day job. But again it was needed and I thank Past-Me for having done that to save Present-Me and Future-Me.
_______

Anyway, that was the tough phase. And it's now facilitated the easy phase, where pay £300pcm into an ISA and overpay the mortgage by £220pcm. This happened because:
- My debts were paid off.
- All my hard work (despite being knackered from the 2nd job!) got me head-hunted into a much better-paid position for a different company.
- The job was in a much cheaper area, so I was able to sell off my one-bedroom flat and buy a three-storey house with very little price difference.
- I got a couple of lodgers in, who pay the interest part of the mortgage between them. I have room for more in the future, but have quite a comfortable set-up at the moment. I actually enjoy having them around and still get my privacy (we have separate living rooms).
- Because I now only have to work one job, I have spare time to dedicate to charity work. I'm now on the committee for my local hospital radio and present shows as well as fundraising, such as Male Voice Choir concerts, which help the community as a whole.
- I still do most of the moneysaving above (my lovely little sports car excluded!), out of habit but also out of common sense! Why waste money?

beingjdc

PasturesNew wrote: »

Handbags cost £2.99 and aren't a necessity. A Tesco bag will carry most things.

I dare you to tell her that. It's a heresy second only to my "shoes are just something to stop your feet getting wet in the rain"...

clobber_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

Handbags cost £2.99 and aren't a necessity. A Tesco bag will carry most things.

The handbag she wants will be on ebay for £2.99 by 2016, so I think he's got a bargain there...

beingjdc

clobber wrote: »

The handbag she wants will be on ebay for £2.99 by 2016, so I think he's got a bargain there...

Sadly it is one of those exclusive brands where the limited production run means the second hand price is generally higher than the rack rate.

Who'd have thought it, contango in the handbag market.

PasturesNew

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Household costs

- Watch basic black-and white TV. Half the TV license and no subscriptions.
- Ditch the landline phone - negotiated mobile contract with sufficient outgoing calls included, and of course receive calls at any time.

I've often wondered - if you buy a black & white TV license if they'd catch you watching colour! I've often thought this might be a "cheap cheat". But I'd never dare try it.

As for ditching the landline, you seem to need one to get internet (unless you live in a cable area, although now there are more mobile/USB options coming out)

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Going Out

But mostly it was enough to just see friends so lime-and-soda (free-50p) was fine for me. And after a couple of hours I was quite happy to sit and chat without a drink.

I did that for years. Some people get really annoyed by it, which I never understood. Even now I don't realise when my drink's finished, but it seems to really bother some people as they can't sit around without one.

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Income

I did 6am-9am each morning in Tesco, pricing up goods. Worked out to be an extremely lucrative option, because every so often I'd price down an end-of-line range of digital cameras, mobile phones etc, which were still selling well on eBay. As soon as my shift finished, I'd walk back in there, buy the lot and flog them on for a profit.

Brilliant/ebay!
I'd have not dared to do that (although it's perfectly legitimate).

I take it your day job was on flexi-time and just around the corner judging by those hours.

Note to the OP: sometimes where you live will limit your options on what's possible. Often you will find that where you live some things are simply not available, never have been, never will be. But just gather the ideas up, use what you can now - and remember the rest in case you suddenly spot an opportunity that you'd have overlooked before.

If you live in a big city there are many more options to save money/make money than in a small town or rural area. Focus on the things you can do, not those you can't.