How we saved 70k in two-years to buy 420k home by cutting back on takeaways and nights out – The Sun

CUTTING back on takeaways and eating out helped first-time buyers Adam Everiss and Laura Perry save almost 70,000 for their three-bed home in Berkshire.

The couple also lived with their parents until aged 28 and 27 before moving into their 419,950 new build house in June this year.

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Adam, 29, a top headhunter, is a higher rate tax payers earning over 50,000 a year, and Laura, 28, who works in human resources, were lucky enough not to have to make any drastic changes to their lifestyle.

But both say that its the small changes they made that helped them save more and move out quicker.

Swapping eating out and takeaways for homemade meals saw their weekly bill drop from 120 to 50, meaning they could put the spare cash into savings.

They also set up direct debits for 2,500 between them on payday, which stopped them from overspending every month, and swapping nights out for evenings at friends' houses also helped them cut back.

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The couple, whove been dating for five years now, lived 20 miles apart while they saved - Adam at his mum's house in Basingstoke and Laura with her mum in Wokingham.

We would have struggled to save so much had we been renting somewhere, Adam told The Sun.

For us, it was the little things that we changed that ended up adding up.

In two years, the couple saved 69,500 to cover a 15 per cent deposit, stamp duty and fees before reserving their home at the end of 2018.

We spoke to Adam about what it takes to become a property owner for My First Home.

It is a three bedroom semi-detached new build house in a Redrow development.

The layout works well for entertaining. There is a living room at the front and at the back a kitchen-diner with patio doors into the garden, which is turfed. Theres also a shed.

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We had a joint party to celebrate moving in and Laura's birthday with about 30 people.

The space worked really well as we can shut off the rest of the house and have a party at the back in the kitchen and garden.

We got a great upgrade through negotiations with Redrow, which included a fridge freezer, dishwasher, oven and hob and upgraded cupboards and worktops. We only had to buy a washing machine.

Upstairs we have two double bedrooms and a single. This means we can have a guest room and Laura also has her own dressing room.

We needed 69,900 to cover the deposit, fees and stamp duty.

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We put down a 15 per cent deposit worth 63,000 and the developer paid for 1,000 out of the 1,400 solicitor fees as an incentive.

Because first time buyers don't pay stamp duty on the first 300,000 we only had to pay the tax on 119,950 worth of the property. That works out at 6,500.

Weve got a two-year fixed-rate deal with Nationwide for 1.74 per cent, which is quite low.

It was a nice surprise because wed been prepared to be told we had to pay a higher rate because I'm a subcontractor on a day rate and not employed on a full-time contract.

We also thought that this might have an effect on how much we could borrow.

I had to provide several months worth of wage slips and a letter of employment but in the end we were actually offered more than we needed to borrow.

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It meant that we didnt need as big as a deposit but we decided to take out the smaller mortgage so our monthly repayments were less and our lifestyles didnt have to change much.

We took it out over 35 years and we pay 1,032 a month, plus a 350 service charge for estate maintenance.

Laura has always been a saver - shes has been saving since her first job at age 17 when she did a business administration apprenticeship.

She was only earning 9,000 a year but she still saved 50 a month, which increased over the years as her earnings went up.

It is something which her family instilled in her. If you want things you need to save for them. It encouraged me to save too.

Weve been together for five years and spent two years saving 23,000 to go travelling.

When we got back, we decided to save for a house. Laura had some savings leftover and we are fortunate to earn good money so we didnt have to change our lifestyle too much.

What help is out there for first-time buyers?

GETTING on the property ladder can feel like a daunting task but there are schemes out there to help first-time buyers have their own home.

Help to Buy Isa- It's a tax-free savings account where for every 200 you save, the Government will add an extra 50. But there's a maximum limit of 3,000 which is paid to your solicitor when you move.

Help to Buy equity loan - The Government will lend you up to 20 per cent of the home's value - or 40 per cent in London - after you've put down a five per cent deposit. The loan is on top of a normal mortgage but it can only be used to buy a new build property. You can no longer open a new account, but existing account holders have until December 1 2030 to claim the bonus.

Lifetime Isa- This is another Government scheme that gives anyone aged 18 to 39 the chance to save tax-free and get a bonus of up to 32,000 towards their first home. You can save up to 4,000 a year and the Government will add 25 per cent on top.

Shared ownership- Co-owning with a housing association means you can buy a part of the property and pay rent on the remaining amount. You can buy anything from 25 to 75 per cent of the property but you're restricted to specific ones.

"First dibs" in London- London Mayor Sadiq Khan is working on a scheme that will restrict sales of all new-build homes in the capital up to 350,000 to UK buyers for three months before any overseas marketing can take place.

Starter Home Initiative- A Government scheme that will see 200,000 new-build homes in England sold to first-time buyers with a 20 per cent discount by 2020. To receive updates on the progress of these homes you can register your interest on theStarter Homeswebsite.

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Both of us had never moved out of our parents house either. Neither of us had to pay rent or keep although we did help out with the shopping.

This really helped us to save so much - we wouldnt have been able to do it if wed been renting.

We set up direct debits for a combined 2,500 to our savings account on payday. This helped stop us from overspending.

We made small changes, which helped us save more though. We would spend around 120 a week eating out, generally getting a take away or going out on Friday and Saturday.

But we cut this back to just one per weekend, opting to cook at home instead.

Its mad when you realise how much you spend eating out - a takeaway would normally cost us around 50 and you think, how is that only for two of us?

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We also spent less on going out - but this wasnt something wed consciously decided to do.

As we were a bit older, our friends had already started to buy houses so instead of going out as much, we would go round to our mates houses for dinner and inadvertently save money.

But I wouldnt say we socialised less, just more economically.

If we had any cash leftover at the end of the month then we transferred that over to savings too.

Laura did open a Help to Buy Isa but we didn't end up using it because we didn't qualify for the bonus as youre limited to buying a house of up to 250,000 or 450,000 in London. Ours was over that limit.

We reserved the house in November 2018 and knew completion would be in May 2019 - although this ended up being June - so we had six months to keep saving to furnish the house.

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This was really when I stopped buying things such as new clothes and instead bought stuff for the house including cutlery and light fittings.

There were lots of deals over Christmas and the January sales - Sainsbury's had some good deals on homeware.

We bought pots and pans and all of our furniture brand new as we could afford to. Since putting down the deposit, I reckon weve spent between 9,000 to 10,000 getting everything we need.

I didnt realise how expensive all of this stuff was!

It was quite a big change for me as I had been living at home for 27 years and I was moving from Basingstoke, whereas Laura was more familiar with the area.

We didn't move in for a month. We moved in gradually, slowly taking in furniture, doing it all in our own time.

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It was quite a nice process not having to do it in a day. It was so much less stressful this way.

Buying your own house is so expensive, even after moving in!

Im still managing to save about 1,000 a month and Laura saves 500 or more.

But this is more for going on holiday and things - weve still got a few more places that we want to see next year.

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How we saved 70k in two-years to buy 420k home by cutting back on takeaways and nights out - The Sun