© Property Professor articles — www.thepropertyprofessor.net.au.
Reproduced with permission.
FROM the time your parents gave you pocket money, you’ve been told to save.
Save your pocket money, save your birthday money, save money from your part-time job, and then they told you that you should save a portion of your wage when you scored full-time work.
When you were young, saving for a new toy, phone, iPad, car or even a holiday was relatively easy compared with saving a deposit for your first home.
Saving for a home can be difficult because of the amount of money required.
It involves budgeting, being organised and making sacrifices, and it can take a lot of time and discipline to save for a deposit.
But there are several ideas to help first-home buyers save enough money to take their first step on to the property ladder.
Budget in advance for your bills. Every pay day, put aside money for your expenses such as rent, electricity, car, internet and phone.
When the bills arrive, you won’t get a shock and be scrambling around looking for cash to pay the bill by the due date.
Monitor social outings. It is easy to think you’re pretty good with social spending and don’t go out much, but if a few friends are asking to catch up, it is not hard to go out to dinner two or three times a week.
Add taxi fares and wine or beer to the dinner bill and that amount will add up very quickly.
Instead of going out too often, have friends over for dinner and ask them to bring their own wine or dessert.
Home-cooked meals are far cheaper and you can cook extra for lunch the next day.
This leads to the next saving tip that is packing your own lunch. This can save a lot of money, especially if lunch is leftovers from the night before.
Alternatively, make a big batch of soup or pasta on the weekend and pack it into containers for your lunch during the week. You might need to invest in some good plastic containers.
For big-scale saving, consider relocating.
There may be cheaper areas or cheaper properties in your area that will help to save rent without having to significantly compromise on lifestyle.
If moving is not an option, consider bringing in a housemate or have a friend move into the spare room.
This will also help to cut down other living expenses and rent.
Saving for a deposit may be challenging, but if buying property was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Making sacrifices now will pay off in the long run when you have a home to call your own.
– Peter “The Property Professor” Koulizos
