How are you all saving for your deposits

boat_girl

This is pretty unconventional but we bought a narrowboat about 18 months ago and moved out of our rented accomodation. This enabled us to save almost all my salary every month. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as you need to be pretty practical and hardy but we have been able to save enough to put an offer in on a family home which has been accepted just this week. Then once we move in we will sell the boat and use that to overpay the mortgage and pay for some of the improvements needed

We also have an allotment and try to grow what we can although last year was pretty dismal, this year is progressing pretty well.

oldMcDonald

boat_girl wrote: »

This is pretty unconventional but we bought a narrowboat about 18 months ago and moved out of our rented accomodation. This enabled us to save almost all my salary every month. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as you need to be pretty practical and hardy but we have been able to save enough to put an offer in on a family home which has been accepted just this week. Then once we move in we will sell the boat and use that to overpay the mortgage and pay for some of the improvements needed

Where oh where is a *green with envy* smilie when you need one?

We often drive past some moored up narrowboats and houseboats and I always start to plan how we could squeeze the seven of us plus two springer spaniels into one.

boat_girl

oldMcDonald wrote: »

Where oh where is a *green with envy* smilie when you need one?

We often drive past some moored up narrowboats and houseboats and I always start to plan how we could squeeze the seven of us plus two springer spaniels into one.

It can be done, it is just me and hubbie,a lab and jack russell on ours but we know a couple with 4 kids, 2 dogs and a parrot and there boat is smaller than ours really don't know how they manage but they do and they are such a happy family always laughing and playing together. I think if you are organised it can be such a nice life, stress free as your bills are low and if you have probs with neighbours you can just move!
But it can be hard during the winter, we have done two winters and survived but when the canal is frozen and you can't move to fill up with water it can be awful. We regularly had ice inside the windows john was forever chopping wood to feed the stove. I am so looking forward to flicking a heating switch, but am sure I will regret that statement when the first bill comes in!

butterfly72

Me and the OH have been putting together a deposit for the past few years. We were 6K each in debt when we met 7 years ago and didn't have permenant jobs but have managed to save a nice amount. We do the same as everyone else really, cook from scratch, cashback, loopholes..like opening the Barclays and Halifax account for £100 and then closing, stoozing (only doing the slow stooze now). We got a £800 council tax reband rebate.

We don't eat out often, have had holidays in the UK for the past 3 years (had a brilliant time) and don't buy gadgets or top end fashion. I've started growing my own veg too. We've put all our CDs onto itunes/ipod/pc and are selling our massive CD collection. Also selling our old books and have made over 1K in the past few years! I do a carboot once a year to have a clear out of my junk.

we've also worked hard at work. OH has managed to secure promotions and I had sponsorship to do my nurse training. Its made a real difference. (well, not my wages anyway!!)

Our deposit is in our ISA accounts and savings and I'm hoping we can hit the 100K mark by the end of the year! I've really enjoyed saving and this site has helped every step of the way. However, a bit of fun really, but our fortunes did change the day we recieved a budda as a gift. He's the one with the sack of money and you rub his tummy. The day after we got him the OH got a payrise and everytime we rub his tummy some money, even if its a small amount comes our way!!!:rotfl:

Good luck everyone!! :T

lostinrates

boat_girl wrote: »

This is pretty unconventional but we bought a narrowboat about 18 months ago and moved out of our rented accomodation. This enabled us to save almost all my salary every month. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as you need to be pretty practical and hardy but we have been able to save enough to put an offer in on a family home which has been accepted just this week. Then once we move in we will sell the boat and use that to overpay the mortgage and pay for some of the improvements needed

We also have an allotment and try to grow what we can although last year was pretty dismal, this year is progressing pretty well.

I'm very envious too. We looked briefly at this as an option for Lonon accomodation but found that morring costs were high, residential moorings the witing list was long in central london and that we could actually rent more cheaply. I would LOVE to do this though.

LittleMissAspie

Well I give myself £50 a month to spend, every other penny goes to bills and savings. When it comes to buying something I always have one choice: the cheapest. Apart from a few important things like my toiletries and cat food.

I don't buy clothes or shoes unless something I already have falls apart. I cut my own hair. I drink diet coke instead of alcohol. I buy books from charity shops and give them back when I'm finished. I take a packed lunch to work. I drink from the water machine instead of buying drinks. I cycle, even to the supermarket, instead of using the car. I don't usually wear makeup. I have one bag that I got off eBay for under a tenner. My PC monitor needs replacing, it keeps falling over but I'm going to keep it as long as I can.

We don't have a TV. I never wanted a landline phone but my boyfriend got one anyway. We don't spend £10 a month on our mobiles combined so why we have to pay £10 a month purely for line rental to BT is beyond me . For entertainment we watch films (Tesco DVD Rental, £8 per month, go through two DVDs a week), play free online games, do jigsaws, read, go cycling.

I do have treats though, I buy nice toiletries and I buy some fresh coffee beans every week. I don't skimp on the cat food or cat litter because it's worth spending extra on her health. And because I have plenty of savings I can afford bigger treats once in a while... like a new monitor...

Here's where my money goes. I haven't tracked the utilities for a while so not sure if we are spending more or less than that. We always seem to have a couple of hundred spare in the joint account, I don't know why. This is my half of total bills.

temba

What a great post. I loved MrDT's post. I used to be very saving obsessed but have got a bit lazy this year. I intend to get my act together again and this post has been very inspirational. The first thing I've done is dusted my bike off and started to cycle into work again. Today I went to the supermarket on my bike though I will have to be more disciplined next time as I looked a right sight cycling home with all my shopping bags.

One question though... someone mentioned about a black and white TV. I actually looked into this when I finally got a TV after not having one for years, and found it was impossible to get a decent sized B&W tv these days. I was laughed out of Currys, and the only ones I found on the internet were really little mini TVs. Does anyone know of anywhere you can buy a decent one? I hardly ever watch TV so it is such a false economy me having a colour license.

I'm glad to see there are so many fellow excel-nerds around

I'm also glad that people do realise that you need a bit of a life as well. I'm afraid the idea of NEVER going out, NEVER drinking, only having ONE holiday in 8 years just makes me wonder if those people are saving at the expense of their happiness. It is important to get a balance just in case you pop off before you get a chance to reap the benefits of all your hard savings. (Trust me on this one, my boyf died in his 40s and I'm very glad we "wasted" money on now-cherished holidays, decent bottles of wine, weekends away and nights out)

My biggest money saving discoveries have been www.saynoto0870.co.uk and quidco. Another thing a friend and I did was to try to cut out one thing a month or reduce a payment by £5 a month. The fiver a month challenge. Each fiver you cut out adds up to £60 a year, so if you cut out 10 things you spend a fiver on each month then you will have £600 a year. When I had run out of things to cut out I started ringing up my internet providers to ask for discounts and I also rang up my credit card and convinced them to give me 2% cashback for a few months.

sodamnfunky

Ive just read this thread, and my god am I glad I dont want to buy a house if thats how I would have to save for a deposit. I dont know how you do it, well done to you all.

neverdespairgirl

oldMcDonald wrote: »

We also go for long walks with the kids and forage a lot of food.

That reminds me, I need to get my mother to make elderflower wine again, it's fantastic stuff!

neverdespairgirl

butterfly72 wrote: »

Our deposit is in our ISA accounts and savings and I'm hoping we can hit the 100K mark by the end of the year!

You've paid off £12k and saved £100k in 8 years? Bloody hell, that's amazing.