To ask how long it took you to raise a mortgage deposit?

[IamScarfaceClaw]

Just musing really, DP and I would love to own our own home one day, we live in a relatively low living cost area and a 2 bed or small 3 bed is about £140K. We earn about 25k combined and (obviously) currently rent so have all associated costs.
So AIBU in asking, without windfalls/inheritance etc how long did it take you to scrimp and save for your mortgage deposit?
disclaimer- I'm a list maker and a forward planner and I love having timelines to work with, so not just beingnosey.

20k, 3 years, 2013-2016, 10% deposit. Bought alone on 30k salary (but in the SE).

The property I bought went up by 50k in those 3 years...

£0 deposit, 100% mortgage in 2006. Was fine, in that we got onto the property ladder but then the credit crunch happened and we were unable to move until this year, at which time we were able to put 25%+ down on a much bigger place from the proceeds of the sale. Was definitely a long game though, and I do think we were only about a year or two away from being not able to get on the property ladder at all. Skin of our teeth really, which is what is so annoying about the whole thing. Unsustainable and ridiculous.

Our collective income was 55k in 2012. I had a fear that a big fall meant there might be a big bounce and begged and pleaded with DH that we needed to get a deposit for a mortgage, so we lived on one salary for 2.5yrs and managed to save the rest.
It helped that when we began we had no debt - paid cash for cars prior to starting, no credit card debt (one card, 1k limit, nil balance). We allocated ourselves 15 a week play money each which covered his monthly movie pass and my make up. Basically no treats, only had dinner out three times in that period, only a few essentials (new underwear, work shoes), no holidays. We managed to still pay my college fees of 2k each year but took lunch to work and became dependent on our slow cooker. I hunted out every deal I could and claimed every bit of our tax back. Our iPhones were 2010 models (iPhone 4) which we only replaced at Christmas last year, no sky.
We had 38k to put aside after 2.5yrs, which was a 20% plus purchasing costs and some furniture. Our old apartment was 2bd; cost us 850/mth when we moved in, it was 1050/mth when we bought our home, and it's now being advertised for 1375/mth. Our mortgage is 800/mth, it's 3bd and it's two years ago today we picked up the keys for first home.
For most, it is a bloody hard struggle to get the deposit together but if you can, I doubt you'll regret it. Friends of ours who thought we were boring while saving are still moaning, yet they have two weeks away each year and pop off to visit family abroad for long weekends..

the how is much more useful than the amount and time scale - lived in bedsit with shared kitchen and bathroom and wore extra clothes rather than pay for metered heating, OH road a bike to work, no holidays, make sandwiches for lunch on work days, very rare evenings out, bought food in markets, studied the financial pages to find highest interest rates on savings. No new clothes except work clothes and underwear and work clothes were not an excuse to buy extra and more expensive clothes, it really was the minimum to get by. It wasnt much fun but we had a flat - in an unfashionable area - years before any of our friends. No furniture for the flat except a bed (bought on hire purchase), cooker - and a black and white portable tv we were given by OH's parents and stood on a cardboard box. Interest rates went through the roof and we couldnt afford to heat the flat if we wanted to eat. After 8 months in the flat I got a better paid job and we never looked back.

Now those who want to live in the centre of London, have foreign holidays, think £50 for a meal out is cheap and so on tell me I was lucky.