Look after the pennies....

[Crimpnwave]

I'm a single mother working part time trying to save towards my dream home. Given my low income im going to have to have around a 50% deposit to get the mortgate approved so im really trying to save hard and im looking for some not so obvious ways of saving a few pennies here and there, hopefully so that the small savings add up and I can get im to my dream home quicker.

A few things I have thought of today are walking 20 mins in to the next transport zone to get the bus and pay less for the ticket.
Unplug all appliances when not in use.
Stop drinking hot drinks to save on heating the water and just drink water or milk.
Clean up spills with a cloth or flannel rather than kitchen roll so im not having to always buy kitchen paper.
Put my sandwiches for work in a tupperware rather than wrapping in foil or cling film

Have a look at the £10 a day thread

How much do you need to save for your deposit and what sort of time period are you doing it over?

Ive seen the thread and had a go at some of the things on there but I struggle to find the time. Working more isnt really an option I want to take. I enjoy being with my son too much and that is more important to me than the dream home. I could up my hours and go full time to bring in an extra few thousand per year but while my son is still young I would rather dedicate my time to him and make small savings where I can to put towards the house deposit.

I would ideally lile to buy within the next 4 years. I already own my flat and have 60k in savings. With the equity on the flat ive got about 120k to put towards a deposit but im about 30k short of the kind of deposit I would need.

So that works out at £625 a month. It's ambitious but I'm sure it must be possible! I would say things like stop buying takeaway coffees, cancel gym membership, only buy clothes from charity shops, etc, but from your OP it sounds like you live quite frugally already. I think you would need to find some way of increasing your income though, rather than just cutting back.

Have you looked at reddit FIRE subthread
(Financial independence retire early)

Basically you either reduce outgoings or increase your income... it also talks a lot about investing savings to make your money work for you!

Some of it is a bit extreme but some of it is really useful.

@LivingLaVidaBabyShower

Have you looked at reddit FIRE subthread (Financial independence retire early)

Basically you either reduce outgoings or increase your income... it also talks a lot about investing savings to make your money work for you!

Some of it is a bit extreme but some of it is really useful.

@LivingLaVidaBabyShower where does that thread come? i can't find it but looks interesting.

why is it that money is so hard to work out... investing just scares me, but so does working til i'm old and tired and not able to do much. i have mortgage on 2 bed house cus i loved it rather than 3 bed that i could have made more money on... maybe i'm not made for making money.. but i would#mt mind undersanding it all a bit more

The US threads are way too out there for me...

www.reddit.com/r/FIREUK/

Here is a 101
www.wealthify.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-fire-movement

I am not planning to retire at 36 but I do want to retire no later than 60 max ideally 55.

Fire principles have enabled us to be in a very comfortable position and given us a lot of choice which i am grateful for
We are careful with money but do have a good standard of living but we make very considered purchases and dont like waste.

I'll have a look at the FIRE threads and see if theres some points I can take away from that.

I picked up the post this morning and there was a free newspaper there so Ive decided to start saving the newspapers to wrap presents instead of buying wrapping paper. Hopefully I'll a few more ideas like that over the next few weeks and the small savings will add up too.

use about 1/3 of what you think you will need for washing powder. You won't notice a difference!

Use less of everything. Shower gel, toothpaste, cleaning products, bleach, fabric softener.

Any time there's a cost of grocery shopping thread on here people talk about the high cost of cleaning products. They must be using loads, otherwise surely the weekly cost is tiny, under a fiver?

OP have you switched your bank account to get the free money? You can do that more than once. See moneysaving expert weekly email for details of this and more ways to free up cash.

If you already own a home, it might be worth overpaying or paying off a lump sum to save on interest.

If you have no plan for retirement, could you use your savings to pay off your mortgage, not buy a dream home but instead put what you would have paid on a mortgage towards a pension so you can retire?

Sorry I know that’s not the dream, and obviously a house is great assets too but I don’t want to get to retirement and have a house but no income.

Oooh some nice things to try here. I like the idea of using a bit less of everything.

Im about 40 years off retirement so that is not my main concern now. I pay monthly in to a private pension and I wont divert that money towards the house purchase but equally im not willing to give up on the house for the sake of the retirement pot.

I try hard not to waste any food. Plan meals in advance, shop for what you need, cook in bulk and freeze portions.

I also have a massive thing of white vinegar which I use to clean almost everything.

If you use Amazon, check out Subscribe & Save. You can get some good reductions there.

Could you ring around some of your utilities and try and get a better deal, or tell them you are thinking of leaving and see what they can offer you.

Also, you could ask family or friends if you could use their Netflix/ Disneyplus login instead of paying for the subscription, as they both allow multiples users. Ditto if you have other subscriptions or paid logins, just see if a family member or good friend lets you use theirs for a while.

Sell unwanted clothes on ebay. Do a clear out of what you don't use and sell it.

Charge your phone or laptop at work, so you don't pay for the electricity. Also, if they have a shower, maybe you could use that too. Always drink the free tea or coffee at work instead of buying your own.

Also, local shops around where you work may offer discounts to employees or something. Ask your company if they have any deals with local vendors.

I will definitely be using the shower at work from now on. I never though about that before. I could also probably fill up my water bottle and go to the toilet before leaving to save water at home.

The other day at the market I heard a man trying to negotiate prices with the stall holders. Maybe I should try that too. Im not sure that I have the balls for that though.

Im hoping that tomorrow I can get some old stuff listed for sale. I generally have a problem to sell it though. Pre covid a did a few car boot sales and managed to sell loads of stuff but with online selling I never seem to have much interest.