A question that arises quite often from my interested buyers concerns the deposit.
Besides this deposit issue, most people aren’t aware of all the extra financial costs when buying a house.
While it becomes quite sensitive (or inappropriate) for me to advise my (future) clients what they ought to do with their finances as they sit in my office, via my blog I am able to address this issue on a more general basis.
How to come up with a bigger down payment? How to find ways to save money for that deposit? Besides hoping (read: praying) that the financial institution will provide you with a nearly 100% bond, there are a few other options available one can take a serious look at:
(1) Grocery list:
As simple as it may sound, make a detailed list of the items you need before you head to the grocery store. Not because you might forget a few items but for the more important reason that it will prevent you from getting things you don’t really need! Make the list and stick to it while doing your grocery shopping. Making grocery budgets will be easier to put together and actually follow!
(2) Lunch time:
Come on, people! How often do I see people make statements that they’re going through a tough financial time, yet while I’ll bring my own lunch sandwiches, I see them go to the grocery store or local sandwich bar for pretty much every lunch!
(3) Evenings out:
Same concept as above. If you’re going through a rough financial patch, I don’t think going out to a restaurant 2-3 times per week ought to be priority right now. Make it once a week and be amazed how much per month this will save you!
(4) Credit cards:
Even though overall (clothes) shopping sprees ought to be limited as it during such financial (saving) periods, if you do end up buying new clothing, try to go with cash instead of credit cards. I don’t think I need to tell you how much that one shirt will eventually cost you if you decide to carry over the unpaid credit card balance to next month instead of paying it off right away.
(5) Electricity:
We’ve all seen and heard the “49m commercials”. Besides thinking of the environment, try to approach it from a financial point of view. Turn off the applications you don’t use at the moment: take all chargers you don’t use right now out of the socket, turn off that DSTV decoder, turn off your TV instead of putting it on stand-by, same thing with your computer, with winter approaching, heat up the rooms you’re actually in and close the doors to all other unused rooms etc.
(6) Car pool:
I’m sure you have a colleague or friend who not only works near you but actually lives around the corner from you, so why not try to organize a car pool system. You know how much petrol you’re using on a monthly basis, now imagine that being one half or one third by opting to drive in a car pool system.
Even though these six small saving tips might not amount to much on their own, I challenge you to try it and see how many thousands of Rands it will save you per month. Try doing it for six months and be amazed how fast your deposit for that house is growing
