To ask how you saved for a deposit?

[Newmummy1234]

How on earth do you save for a deposit for a house when you are renting? Pay a small fortune in rent and just not enough money left to save. Don’t spend money on much and have really strict budget for food. No luxuries either :(
How do you do it? X

Lived frugally and saved. No car, cheap mobile deal, no takeaways, packed lunches, modest/rare nights out. Lived in a cheap place and cycled to work. Bought a flat in an undesirable area. I only had to save 5% deposit but that's not much different from the current situation with help to buy scheme. Took a while to furnish it...but the mortgage was cheap as chips compared to renting once it was done and I thrived from there on in. I bought alone but a boyfriend moved in and contributed - felt like being rich.

Lived very very cheaply - no holidays, meals out etc. Now our mortgage is about £550 a month due to overpayment and the identical house next door rents out for £1600 a month, so very much worth it!

If you have nothing left to save after bare bones living you have an income problem, not a spending one.

Made redundant
Used savings & redundancy
Found new employment quickly
Purchased a sport upper property

Not sport

A dooer upper !

I bought my flat in the days of 100% mortgages. It's so unfair to young people now. Only people I know that buy flats now are the ones with parents or grandparents who give them money. It's so bloody unfair.

The mortgage rate was 14% when I bought. I was really really skint, but it was doable, that's the difference to today.

Got second jobs each, no luxuries such as takeaways and holidays and used help to buy ISAs. Still took 2.5 years and only had a 6.5% deposit so our interest rate was really high 🤦‍♀️

Dh and I did it. It wasn't easy. We had no extras whatsoever. No holidays, no new clothes, nothing that wasn't necessary.

We got ourselves out of a combined €30,000 debt. Saved €23,000 for our wedding and saved another €30,000 for our deposit. It was fucking hard. It took us 7 years in total.
The reason we went ahead and splurged on the wedding was we knew we couldn't get mortgage approval because of our credit ratings.

We saved €400 per week for the last 2 years of it.

You basically have to factor in saving from the outset. So when you're deciding where you can afford to rent your budget should include £X per month straight into savings. You also just get into the habit of how much you can spend on groceries, nights out etc. It's so much easier when you do this from the start rather than cut back later (especially since you can't cut back on rent without moving which is expensive).

It's really hard.
The only way I know of is to get financial help from relatives.

It just really depends on where you live. I bought with 4k deposit (5%)🤷 I know that in some areas I would need 5x that.
Houseshare (just so much cheaper than renting even 1 bed flat), pick up extra hours, save.

• Got married and used some of the gifts.
• Ate beans and toast
• Moved away from our ideal area by quite a way to buy
• Didn't own a car
• Was renting a two bedroom flat in a lovely area and downshifted to a one bedroom flat in an OK area

Lived in the cheapest bedsit I could find for two years after college. It was a dump. No holidays, no takeaways, no car. Worked full time plus a bar job in the evenings so not much social life either.

Two years drudge meant I bought a flat with a tiny garden at 24. God, the relief. Hopefully I’ll never have to do it again

I was lucky in that I got made redundant with a decent payout and had a job to walk straight into. Just all fell together at the right time for us

Otherwise I think I'd have moved to a really cheap rental in a less desirable area or moved back in with parents. We'd saved to go travelling a few years before which was same amount as our deposit and did this by living with parents.

The flat I rent would be £680,000 to buy....

We live in a nice area but we have a one year old and I don't want to move as we live near a brilliant primary school. To afford to buy we would need to move really far away from where we are. We have a beautiful life and live in a stunning area so I don't want to do this.

I'm resigned to the fact it might take me 10 years to get a house and that's fine.

Same as pp above, I saved my deposit in a year by teaching overseas and earning a tax free salary with accommodation, flights, medical care all included. Then I stayed for another 7 years and rented out the house, and almost paid off the whole mortgage!

My DH bought his house (before we met) outright using a gift from his family.

Not helpful I know, but just to emphasize that not all houses are bought with sacrifice and savings, so don't be too hard on yourself.

I rented a room in a shared house (cold and damp but very cheap) for 5 years, and worked any overtime I could manage.

Houseshared with another couple for two years.
We saved a lot.

Rent a studio flat in a shitty area so we can save then buy The smallest house for our needs. Cut back on anything that isn’t essential (we had a ruthless budget). Treat savings standing orders like any any other bill that must go out.

Bought in a slightly less desirable area.
Partner sold his car for 1.5k and we both took public transport, and still do.
5% deposit on a cheap house that does us perfectly.
No holiday abroad for a couple of years, but still took UK city breaks, still ate out etc.
We chose not to have children which helps

I've done it as a single mum but I started saving for 4 years before DS was born. It has taken me 10 years in total to save, I'm 29 and have just bought a house.

I have been very fortunate in a lot of ways. I live in an area where property is cheap, so my rent has been cheap. I took the cheapest flat I could find above a Chinese takeaway. I also get a fair whack in child maintenance from my ex. So over the 10 years I have saved up £60k.

I haven't bought the "dream house" because I can't afford it. I have bought a 2 bedroom semi with a small garden. So no spare room for visitors to stay over unfortunately but compromises have to be made.

My house cost £100k. So I only have £40k to pay off which I'm planning on doing over 20 years.

I did it by giving up my rental and moving in with my mother for a year and living frugally. But I was in my 20s and no children or partner, so it was much easier (and it was 2002 and easier to get on the ladder).

I also bought the cheapest flat I could find.

We are saving the majority of my part time earnings at the moment, around £600 a month.

We live in an expensive area but we can afford to rent a house for £1400 a month. However we would need a £200k deposit, at least, if we wanted to buy this house and the mortgage would still be around £1400 a month.