O/T House deposit

[Babeonthego]

Hey girlies,

I know this is completely off topic but I was wondering if any of you have had to save up a deposit for a new house. My hubbie and I currently have a mortgage on a 2 bedroom house were we live with our gorgeous baby boy. We have decided that hopefully in 2 years time we would like to move to a bigger place. We would prob be looking at a budget of £170000 which means at min we would need a deposit of £17000 minus any money we make on our current house.

I guess im wondering if anyone has successful saved up this much money. how long did it take and any helpful tips

thanks

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

We are paying £17800 (10%) deposit on our house, and this is our first (and hopefully LAST!) house purchase so we started from scratch. Hubby had a few thousand saved up already (about £5k or so), but I started from not very much, a few hundred maybe, as I'd been paying our rent after he was made redundant, so I couldn't save, and I wouldn't let him touch his savings.

Every payday we've both been putting as much as we can in our ISAs, sometimes for me that's been £300, sometimes it's been £700-800. Between us each month we've been saving an average of about £1k. We started saving properly just over a year ago, and we now have enough to cover deposit and legal fees (but we're exempt from stamp duty as first-time buyers so that's £1780 we don't have to worry about).

We found it was better to put that money in the ISA ON PAYDAY, so there was no temptation to spend it. We've been quite good with our spending, and can still afford the little treats now and then, and we're not earning a fortune between us, about £45k before tax, we both have student loans to pay and I pay into a pension as well, and we currently pay £700pcm rent. So it is do-able!

Good luck!

 

[Babeonthego]

We are paying £17800 (10%) deposit on our house, and this is our first (and hopefully LAST!) house purchase so we started from scratch. Hubby had a few thousand saved up already (about £5k or so), but I started from not very much, a few hundred maybe, as I'd been paying our rent after he was made redundant, so I couldn't save, and I wouldn't let him touch his savings.

Every payday we've both been putting as much as we can in our ISAs, sometimes for me that's been £300, sometimes it's been £700-800. Between us each month we've been saving an average of about £1k. We started saving properly just over a year ago, and we now have enough to cover deposit and legal fees (but we're exempt from stamp duty as first-time buyers so that's £1780 we don't have to worry about).

We found it was better to put that money in the ISA ON PAYDAY, so there was no temptation to spend it. We've been quite good with our spending, and can still afford the little treats now and then, and we're not earning a fortune between us, about £45k before tax, we both have student loans to pay and I pay into a pension as well, and we currently pay £700pcm rent. So it is do-able!

Good luck!

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and a very helpful reply as it seems that we are looking to save up the same amount. Im not very clued up on ISAs, like which one is the best to save into and can u decide what amount goes in each payday. The thing is my hubbie and I both earn alot however we also have 2 loans and an expensive car which could be ebough for a 2nd mortgage hehe. But the cars going back next month so wohooo no more big car finance.

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

As far as ISAs go, you want a mini cash isa, it's a savings account with no tax on it, so your interest is not taxed. A maxi ISA is an investment thing, with stocks & shares, and while you can put more into it than into a cash ISA, it's more complicated in how it works.

Look for the highest interest rate you can get, often if you have a current account with the particular bank you can get a special interest rate. A lot of them have special rates for the first year, and it's pretty easy to move your ISA to get a better rate if you need to. Just now I think most of them have 2 or 3% interest. Look for one that has no restriction on withdrawals, unless you are confident you can keep your cash in there til you need it and you don't need the deterrent of losing interest if you withdraw.

You can pay into it whenever you like, up to a maximum of £5340 in one tax year - this limit goes up a little bit each year. You decide how much to put in, it can vary, you don't have to pay in each month or week, it's just literally whenever you can. it doesn't have to be a standing order or anything, so it's quite flexible. Of course when you've filled it for the year, you can put any more savings into a normal savings account- you can only pay into one ISA each tax year, but you and your hubby can each have one. You can't have a joint ISA though.

We find it's nice to have our ISAs at the same bank we have our current accounts at, because we do online banking, so we can shift money across on payday without having to go to the bank or write a cheque etc, and the money goes right away. And also it's good when you need to use the money - we've just moved some out of hubby's ISA to pay part of our solicitor's bill, and it was there ready to be used within two minutes.

*shuts up rambling about ISAs*...lol, it took me ages to convince hubby it was a good idea for him to get one, and he was only convinced once he saw my yearly interest statement (about £180 on a balance of £3k or so, but that was back in the good old days of 6-8% interest on savings!), and now he thinks it was his idea

 

[Babeonthego]

Hehe thanks so much for taking the time to explain that all to me. I think we r off to make an appointment at hubbies bank to set one up Ur explanation was certainly alot more understandable than the internets description hehe

thanks again

 

[Beccaboop]

We need to save £15000 but we are doing well we have been saving since we got married in February and have £11000 but my husband had £3300 in a account his grandparents set up when he was a kid and then he forgot about it!!
It seems like it takes forever but that probably cos we are going to TTC when we have moved in so I want it to hurry up so we can make a baby!!

Good luck

 

[Babeonthego]

Wow Beccaboop you guys have done brill. How did u manage to save so much so quickly? any tips? We r literally just starting out to save and unfortunately dont have any savings sitting at all?

 

[buttons1]

we have just finished saving a deposit to buy our first home, it was a long time coming and hard work. Like Mrs Eleflump said I think it is important to move money into savings as soon as you get paid and it is a good idea to have a separate savings account so your money isn't in your every day account and you are not tempted to spend it. Good luck with your saving

 

[Beccaboop]

We save £1000 a month we are quite lucky my husband has a great job but he went to uni and studied hard to get his job and I work full-time too and we don't have any depts or children. We started with £3300 from is savings but that's it! You'll get there one day. Good luck