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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask how you saved for a deposit?

139 replies

Newmummy1234 · 08/02/2020 20:02

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

OP posts:

stopshoutingd · 09/02/2020 14:02

Tbf I don't think a 1% tax on property over 2m is necessarily a bad thing.

I don't think the correct market is sustainable, the 600k flats & 1.2m terraces are unlikely to be worth 1m & 2m in 5 yrs time. Where I am the prices have been the same for at least 4 years.

BarbedBloom · 09/02/2020 14:04

We haven't yet. I used to own with my ex but when we split up we had to sell in negative equity so I lost my deposit. We had saved some up but then I was diagnosed with a chronic condition and had to stop work for a while, which used up those savings.

I now work part time as I can't manage full time and rent alone is half our income. Council tax has gone up again by almost 8% soon and since the toll has gone, house prices here have rocketed. I can't see how we are ever going to save enough now. Both my parents rent and have no real savings so no inheritance and my DH may get one, but it depends on whether his mum eventually has to get any care and will also be split four ways, so won't be much. It is a real worry.

stopshoutingd · 09/02/2020 14:08

I also know lots of people who can't move up the ladder even though they have good incomes & good equity. Lots of neighbours have either gone to other cities or stayed & had parental help.

JosefKeller · 09/02/2020 14:10

by not spending a "fortune" on rent
houseshare, meant a very small rent including all bills, and I could save and still have a life.

That was for the deposit, then buying a shit hole and redoing it - I literally had no bathroom for 6 months and don't get me started on the kitchen. Then selling, and buying something hardly better.

Couldn't afford furniture for the first 6 months, slept on the floor!

Not expecting to move into a show house was a big thing, it was actually fun, and I was young enough nothing bothered me.

I have seen people around me complaining they can't afford to save, they are renting a HOUSE with garden! of course they don't have that much left to save

BlueJava · 09/02/2020 14:10

When DP and I graduated we stayed in the same room in a shared house - it was pretty bad but very cheap. A lot of friends got nice flats to rent when they got jobs, we just stayed put and saved every penny. We also budgetted and saved everything we could.

Wowthisisreal · 09/02/2020 14:11

We did it while renting - lived in a small flat, worked out our monthly costings and budgeted for food (meal plans!) and birthday presents and meals out etc (not loads!!) and then the rest went into savings at the beginning of the month. We both also got second jobs and all that money went into savings. If either of us got pay rises or bonuses they went into savings. Managed to save 30K in 20 months.

We've never stopped doing this and have also managed to pay for 20K wedding (debt free) and honeymoon as well as move to bigger home, small renovations, new furniture and saved enough money to take 1 year maternity leave. It's tough but it's doable. It's our way of life now although I am thinking Hubby could probably quit his second job!!

Wowthisisreal · 09/02/2020 14:14

I also rarely 'treat' myself to clothes or things like that! We don't have a credit card although we did have overdrafts they are all paid off now. No needless spending on food is a big one - it's crazy when you break it down how much you can spend on food!!

Purpletigers · 09/02/2020 14:18

Rented room in a shared house until I was 27 , moved back home with parents to save up before getting married . Husband stayed at home until we married . We would have struggled to rent and save so made sacrifices in the short term to benefit us in the long term . Both drove old cars , one cheap holiday a year and sometimes not even that . No weekends away , expensive meals out , expensive clothes etc .
Lived in a house owned by his family while we built ours . That was our biggest helping hand and saved us approx 18 k over the three years it took us to build . It’s difficult if you factor in children as then you have childcare bills to add to the mix .

Rhayader · 09/02/2020 14:49

@flirtygirl

We can’t stay in our flat for very long as we are officially overcrowded once the baby turns 1. Our landlord won’t let us stay because it’s a fire hazard. We would stick it out otherwise, and have made the decision not to move ahead of the birth to save a bit more. I’m 30 and DH is 32 so yes we have age on our side.

We can’t really buy without moving much much further away and then I would need to leave my job because we currently do a system where I drop the kids and DH picks them up. With our current deposit the maximum we could buy would be 400k so we would need to move to somewhere like Kent, Sussex, Bedfordshire etc

If our commutes were any longer then we wouldn’t be able to do the drops and picks plus it would mean moving DC out of school etc (would they even both get into the same school?!).

I’m not sure what would happen to our affordability calcs if I stopped working (as the lower earner) but it seems counterproductive to do so when I have so much of my career left to go. DH already works in the evenings and weekends from home as, his employer are very understanding letting him leave at 5:20 most don’t leave until 8.

I realise we are in a strong position and we have worked hard to get our careers this advanced at our age, but it just highlights how bonkers the housing situation is right now (particularly in London). This cannot be sustainable surely...

Rhayader · 09/02/2020 14:54

Forgot to mention, we both have very London centric jobs. They do not exist outside of London or at a push, cambridge (which still costs megabucks anyway).

Cyberve · 09/02/2020 16:23

Got the deposit from my partners parents. Otherwise we couldn't have done it. We are paying them back for it though obviously.

gwenneh · 09/02/2020 16:25

We emigrated and lived with my parents while working to save money.

TinkysWinky · 09/02/2020 16:38

we did it whilst renting prechildren - 2 full time incomes but rented a cheap flat including rates and put money aside - we saved for a wedding and deposit over around 2 years. Bought in 2013 shortly after we had our first child. I think the rent being realisitic was the most important factor - 400pm including council tax. Also house prices in this area at that time were at a low. Part of the reason we moved back to NI to save up and buy really.

Regular12Saver · 10/02/2020 08:17

How on earth ?

Job A - worked FT
Job B - worked guaranteed minimum 16 hours, in same building, different department. Sometimes more hours were available
Job C - worked some evenings & weekends in a restaurant, which was sociable with free food & tips

Lived in a room in a shared house. I had a small, old car. I ate at work. I had few expenses.

Saved 10 percent deposit, plus solicitor fees etc, which took a couple of years

I have 2 better paid jobs now

I still save regularly

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