Saving to buy a house!

[Eloisedublin123]

So if I save every spare penny I have (already allocated things for hair cuts now and again and Saturday coffee etc) in two years I will have enough saved to buy a ( small/old) house in the country! And then we could really live the life we want, and wouldn’t need to keep going with the stressful day jobs in the city.
I’ve never saved properly.
How do I stay focused?
My job isn’t great albeit well paid.
How do I keep my eye on the ball?!
Ps I’m 44 and have always spent what I wanted....usually owe money etc. I really really want to break the rut 😁

[Sleephead1]

so how we saved for our deposit was set up a direct debit so as soon as we got played it went into a isa then just never touched it. we found that easier but we also did save some money in a separate account that we could get to for emergency. I think make sure you have enough to live and can still have some fun otherwise I think it's harder to keep going if you are going on for years with no money. Good luck

[GoodMorning1]

Bear in mind house prices could change over two years.

Have you budgeted for all the costs associated with moving - legal costs, survey costs, removal costs etc?

[GoodMorning1]

Buy it now with a mortgage?

I use a budgeting app on my phone. Everytime I make a purchase I type it into my phone and allocate it to a category ('groceries', 'fun' etc). Each category has a certain amount of money in it each month. When it's gone, it's gone. It automatically takes money out for bills on the day they leave my account.

[Etymology23]

Look into a LISA as well - that’s another government funded scheme with bonuses - every little helps! I also “pay myself first” as described above, and have a set budget for “pocket money” so even if I have to be saving really hard I still have some money to go out and have fun with.

[Eloisedublin123]

Thanks again guys x

[Cyclingforcake]

I’ve used You Need A Budget to hell me make big savings. They usually do a free month trial and then there’s an annual fee (but I’ve saved far more by using it). It keeps me honest with myself as I have to write down every penny I spend and the Costa habit is shown up as the expensive luxury it is. But more disciplined people do just as well with a spreadsheet.

[nannynick]

Set goals and visualise them. Find a nice picture of the sort of property you would buy.
Create goal sheets / grids which show what you have saved. Set mini goals not just one big one - so things like legal fees, moving costs, utility installation cost, curtains/furniture fund. Pininterest can be useful for finding goal sheets or me your own - if goal was £1000, you could have a 100 grid representing £10 per square.

Do you owe anyone anything at the moment? If so, set goals to pay debts back. Without money going to pay debt you will have more to go towards your ultimate goal.

[8FencingWire]

Pay yourself(savings) first. Set up a direct debit for what you want to save, it comes out automatically the day you get paid.

Budget. I have separate accounts for everything, it helps me be more focused. So, £500 each month goes into the bills account. £500 into the day to day spending account (food/treats etc).
I have 2 regular saver accounts, one for holidays and birthdays/christmas and one to save for rainy days.

If you never owned a house before, there is a ‘help to buy isa’. The amoint you can put in monthly is capped at £300. When you are ready to buy a house, the isa gets transferred directly to your solicitor. They then apply for the government ‘bonus’ of 25% of what you’ve saved. Say your isa has £10,000 in it, the government pays you ‘interest’ an extra £2500.
HTH

[Eloisedublin123]

They are both really good ideas!
It’s actualky an outright purchase rather than a mortgage
Thanks very much x

[AdoraBell]

I would set up an account and, if your bank permits, call it House Fund.

[SandysMam]

Do you mean buy it outright or with a mortgage? You can get some internet savings that set goals etc...£10 a day to make your end goal by a certain date, which I find really helps me. So if my goal says today you need to save £8.61 and I am in costa, I will walk away, put the kettle on when I get home and transfer £2.50 into my savings! Really helps me stay motivated!