A question about : The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread
Hi all
Thought I'd start one of these as it seems a lot on this board are in this position and I couldn't find such a thread. Sorry if there is one - please point me in the direction of it someone!
Not sure of the best way to do this, but thought it would be good to have a thread where we can state our goals, log our savings and encourage one another.
So, I'll start -
Hi I'm Roxie and I'm saving for a house deposit (titter)
We currently have a 50% shared ownership 3 bed semi that has (at the minute!) 20K equity in our share.
We want a whole house (lol) with 4 beds, an ensuite, a garage and utility. Basically, more living space all round.
We currently have nearly £11K in saving and are aiming to save £700 a month - although this has gone to pot recently as we've been doing abit of sprucing up in our current house. £700 is generally quite realistic IF we stick to budget. Thats just the problem I'm afraid! I chart my progress in my sig below.
Current savings portfolio
£6500 - ISA 1
£800 - ISA 2
£2000 - 10% reg saver (£200 month to be transfered to ISA on term)
£1250 - 10% regular saver (£250 a month to be transfered to ISA on term)
£100 premium bonds
total - £10650
Monthly I save like this -
£250 regular saver
£200 regular saver
£250 6% saving account - this is what I dip into if needs be.
We're planning to have another baby and will have to move when said baby is 4/5 as our 3rd bedroom is teeny. We're aiming to have 50K saved by then, which seems realistic. As we're planning another baby I'm basing my figures on just one income as I dont plan to be working until little one starts school.
My only worry is that the market will rise much more between now and then, rendering our deposit saving pointless.
Does anyone thin it would be worthwhile sharing SOA's as on the DFW board so point out to each other where any possible cutbacks could be made in order to save?
So that's me - anyone else care to join in?
Best answers:
- Count me in.......i'll be member number 2.
See sig below. - Hi skap - care to share anymore about yourself, monthly savings, how you invest your savings so far, the 'dream' house you're saving for?
Everyone, feel free to share as much or as little as you like, of course. Just thought it would be good to get ideas from others, see what products others are using for savings etc. - Ooh, make me member number 3
We are hoping to buy in the summer / autumn of 2011 (date is set to combine amount we can save and a fall in house prices by 10% (although we would prefer more but are being conservative )
We are looking for a 3 bedroom & 2 reception (for a 4th bedroom) bungalow (or a house with a ground floor bathroom as we have a disabled child).
Planning on having a minimum of 75% deposit. - Another one here!
I never thought I'd get so excited about *not* spending money - it's so nice having savings that I'll be quite gutted to have to spend them, even if it is on a house - Another one here!
Currently have just over Ј45K (jointly with bf, wish it was all mine! )
The target is Ј60K, which we 'should' have in June.
Ideally looking for 3 bedroom house so we dont have to move for years! - Congratulations on the savings, but perhaps you could join this thread on page 2?
- Hi sooz - that thread was the inspiration but i think its more of a discussion thread and there's a lot being said about house prices etc. Don't know about everyone else but I think a dedicated thread were we can log savings and spur each other on would be better then joining a discussion thread.
- Hi chelseablue, old macdonald and seraphina - Welcome!
Seraphina - I know what you mean - it is really nice to watch savings grow. Although at the minute I've been spending more than saving. We had been thinking about moving recently but I think house prices/the decision to have another baby and not wanting to stretch oursleves financially have seen us taking the decision to stay put for the foreseeable. Therefore, we've been spending on 'falling back in love' with our current home - ie new carpet, painting, decorating etc. It looks much better now but unfortunately we haven't managed to magic up an extra bedroom and garage
although - I filled 4 charity bags with 'carp' so must hav created abit more space lol!
How are people saving? Are you feeding a set amount into regular savers or does it vary month on month? - Make me Member number 5.
See Sig - I'll play, not going into totals as some people have issues with this (and to be honest I don't know that I want everyone to know!!)
So:
Mini cash ISA (Icesave 6.10%) = Maxed 2007 (3600 sitting in current account waiting for April 6th)
Abbey Regular Saver (7.25%) = £250 a month (just opened & 250 is maximum a month)
Halifax Regular Saver (7.00%) = £250 a month (just opened & 250 is maximum a month)
Yorkshire Regular Saver (6.85%) = £500 a month (in process of opening, 500 is maximum a month)
ICICI HiSave (6.15%) = ~£125 a month this is my "anything else" pot.
I am a higher rate tax payer, I'm 27 and my current "pot" is about 25% what I am aiming for... - Brilliant thread Roxie!
*SO* nice that everyone can focus together on saving.
I'm aiming to have Ј20k by the end of the year. Essentially for a house deposit depending on where the market's at. Have moved back in with my parents (age 28) in order to help achieve this, tho I work short contracts in the media and work can be sporadic.
Current set up:
Ј5,100 in ISA
Ј600 in savings account waiting to transfer over at beginning of next month.
Good luck to all. - My name is Eve, and currently privately renting with my DH and 3 year old daughter.
Don't have much saved in the way of a deposit yet, but next year will be able to put much more away as daughter starts proper school so will save Ј400 a month on nursery fee's as from next September. Am hoping to have Ј30k saved up by end of 2011. - Hi all - nice to see lots of people on board!
I'm hoping that this thread will motivate me to think twice before blowing the budget (again) and forfeiting a month or more house savings. have already blown it twice this year - once on the said 'refurb' and another on a trip to prague for hubbys birthday in feb. Glad we went but its time to knuckle down now!
Hi Eve - I know what you mean re the nursery fee's. With 2 children it was financial bad sense for me to work - which is a bit annoying. Good luck with your target!
The savings pots on here make really impressive reading!
Does anyone else worry about waiting thou - like me?? Guess its one of those crystal ball scenarios - it would be nice to have one! - Number 6 here:
Smile Savings 20k
Standard Life Bank c. 20k
ISAs (just moved to IceSave) 12k
Various others c. 15k
Regular Saver: 100pcm
At the end of each year I have at least 3k in my current account which goes into my ISA allowance, meaning I really save £350 pcm.
Ok, moving on - can you nag me into moving my money into better performing accounts? - We're using a combination of Isas and regular saving accounts - we could max out our ISA allowance at the beginning of every tax year but we choose to drip feed our ISAs so we can take advantage of some of the regular savings accounts for when the tax free allowance runs out.
We don't have kids yet but we want to be able to afford both of us to go part time for a few years when we do have kids - it's a great thought to motivate us with
They say that for every pound you put into a deposit, it saves you two pounds over the life of the mortgage in interest! - Guy_M, * clears throat and puts on best nagging voice!* GET THAT MONEY INTO BETTER PERFORMING ACCOUNTS, NOW!
- count me in two!
OH and I are living with his parents whilst we save up a good deposit on a house. im due to graduate and qualify in around 18 months, so its a wee while before we can think about moving just yet.
ideally we'd like to have around Ј30k at our disposal, and would like to buy an old house that needs work doing. our hope is to get a lot more house for our buck this way. we want to buy a family home that we can grow into and do up over time as we can afford it, rather than a poky starter flat, only to then have to move a year or two later when we start a family.
taking both of our savings iinto account, our deposit current stands at around the Ј20k mark, so we're on target to hit circa Ј30k by the time we are in a position to move. - OK, savings so far:
DH ISA: Ј9,300
Me ISA: Ј9,300
Premium Bonds: Ј1K (I know, I know, but I don't do the lottery and I get my stake back with PBs!)
NS&I: Ј12K
Halifax: Ј3,400
Total saved so far= Ј35,000
Like Guy_M, I really do need to sort out some kind of better savings accounts!
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