Saving Money For My First Home

If only I lived somewhere where property was cheap I could have bought my first home by now. I have friends who have lived in various places in the States such as Colorado, Minnesota and now sunny Florida and in every State they have bought beautiful homes for a fraction of what it would cost in my part of the world – and it’s not even sunny here! To be fair it wasn’t very sunny in Minnesota and brutally cold in the winter but they did have all the beautiful lakes to make up for the weather.

But here I am in an expensive corner of the UK trying not to lose heart when I look at the price of homes in my area. I am trying really hard saving money to get enough deposit just to buy the smallest one-bedroom place. I’ve moved back in with my parents, who are not charging me any rent so that I can save every spare penny.

Even though I am no longer paying rent  it’s still so frustrating that  mortgage payments are at an all time low and I could relatively easily afford repayments on a one-bed apartment but I just can’t get approved for a mortgage until I’ve saved a hefty deposit. I envy those people who already have a  mortgage with such low interest rates.

I no longer want to rent and effectively pay someone else’s Buy-to-Let mortgage while house prices keep going up so I’m willing to make some short term sacrifices saving money (like living with my Mum & Dad) to help me buy somewhere to call my very own. I have heard of people taking out no credit check loans to bump up their deposit but I’m not sure that’s for me. Although my folks have mention guarantor loans as a possibility if I’m still living with them this time next year – because maybe they are making sacrifices too and will be glad to see me gone!

So I continue to trawl Rightmove looking for that gem everyone else has missed (!) but here’s a couple of ways I’m saving even more money in the meantime:

I’m Learning To Cook

I’m learning to cook and finding I really enjoy it but keeping the food bill down by making everything (well, almost everything) myself from scratch. I have become a whizz at vegetarian pasta dishes, vegetarian stir-fries and curries and am amazed at how much money I am saving by not buying meat or ready made meals. And my fresh food is so tasty I’m sure it must be healthier for me.

So I’m saving money and becoming healthier at the same time. I’m getting so used to being frugal and having no debt I’m not sure how I’ll feel when the time comes to take on a home loan, which will probably be the largest debt I’ll ever have, but, I guess, that part of growing up.

I’m Shopping in Charity Shops

Who knew they had so many great things in them – you have to be prepared to rummage but I recently bought a red silk dress (no label) and some shoes from L K Bennett for next to nothing. As well as picking up some good books for those evenings when I’m not going out.

This time next year with any luck, I will have saved enough money to get on the property ladder at last.