# Makeover needed



## dmos87 (12 Jul 2011)

Hi all,


  Posted before but not for a while. Circumstances have changed lots of times since, so I could do with some money work-out help if possible.

 The last time I posted, I had just been made redundant. I had been with the company for 2 and a bit years, statutory pay given. Found another job within two weeks, one that I am still in. the salary is a good bit less than what I was on. 

My fiancé got offered a job away from home with standard start-out graduate pay. Knowing he needed the experience (he had just qualified), he accepted the job. It meant we had to move as we couldn’t afford the costs of renting two places long term. I was luckily able to do this without affecting my job. We used a bulk of our savings to get set up away so quickly.

  Within a few weeks, there were pay cuts, and “re-structuring”. Long story short, financially we were unable to save due to the lower wages for both of us but we were covering our outgoings and were comfortable. He was let go about 4 weeks ago due to lack of business, and we decided to move back nearer home for lower rent, and family nearby. Again, I was able to do this with work luckily. We lost out on our security deposit in the other place, and also the tank of oil we had filled (thinking we were there longterm), Bins, etc.

 By the grace of whatever person is up there, he has been offered a job yesterday with an immediate start and a decent salary. So we can finally start saving again and put everything behind us. 

As it stands:

Me weekly wage: 357.00 (I actually get paid monthly)
  Him weekly wage: 424.00

Outgoings: Right now, Living at home with family until Sept / Oct. Offering services and helping out in lieu of rent. Fortunate to have nothing to cover apart from food, approx. 60 per week and petrol approx. 80 euro every 2 weeks between us.I won’t know for sure if this changes until he starts working this week but I would imagine if there is a rise it will be very small.

400 euros rent P/M, due to commence in Sept / Oct. Great offer from family on condition we save at least 400 a month. We were always saving well over that before so this is a brilliant deal. Hope to save at least 1k a month. 

Unsure of what bills will be at present, but we’re very good at keeping them low. Also we will have sky back in Oct which as a package is 55 per month. On hold for now. Happy with this package, and we don’t go out much so it’s our “thing”. All packages used and recorded to watch at later times, so wouldn’t change a thing.

No debts at all. Savings currently are approx. 19k. I locked a little over 10k into a deposit account at 3.2%, due to finish in October (7 month lock-in). The remainder is mostly in the Credit Union, and the last 2K in our joint savings account. Both have healthy normal bank balances at present, and at the end of the month we plan to throw whatever is not needed into the savings. We held off doing this until now in case he didn’t find work. 

Our aim is to buy a house in 2-3 years and we need a sizable deposit to do so. It’s a particular house that is waiting for us and will need renovations etc. so we want to be well prepared. There's also our wedding next year (small, low cost and not a concern as already covered and excluded from savings listed) and we would like to have a nice honeymoon somewhere different like Cambodia or Vietnam.

I cant even describe how had we worked to get our savings to where they are - we haven't been on a holiday in god knows how long, and worked away as much as we could - extra jobs / hours, whatever was going. We were gutted to have the savings drop recently but it was the best option going. Hoping to get our second 10K together before October, merge the two and put on deposit again with (fingers crossed) a better rate. 

There's also the fact I plan on returning to college in the near future (possibly next year, finances depending). I want to do this if financially we can. We're only coming close to mid-twenties so I know we have time, but I'd like to get on the property market while rates / prices are still ok. also should not I might work part time in another job also to boost savings while we can.

Any / all advice appreciated. How much can we save at present, and also going forward from October?


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## Brendan Burgess (12 Jul 2011)

I wonder if you are overdoing the saving? 

You are young.  Don't waste your youth scrimping and saving.

I am not suggesting that you blow your savings but enjoy your money. Don't do a second job to get extra money. Go on holidays. Go out and enjoy life. 

Take a year off and study if you want to - you have the savings. 

It's a good plan to buy a house, but it's not essential to have it in two or three years. The house that you have identified belongs to a relative presumably? Is he in any hurry to sell?


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## dmos87 (13 Jul 2011)

The house is a relatives. Right now, the time-line is 2-3 years. It will be there for us when we are ready. I suppose I'm impatient to have the house as soon as possible and get to work on it. 

I've had debt before and I think I have a mental block since that stops me from spending money frivolously. The thought of a holiday now is lovely, I suppose we'll see how the first few weeks of his job goes before we do anything.


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## Brendan Burgess (13 Jul 2011)

If the relative is going to sell you the house anyway, can you buy it from them now and pay later? 

Can you rent it in the meantime? 

If you are buying a house from a relative, especially if you are getting a very good deal, then you need to do an agreement with your fiancé about who owns what percentage of it. Askaboutmoney is full of stories about people buying a house together while madly in love and later splitting up and fighting about the house.

Brendan


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## onq (13 Jul 2011)

dmos87,

I think you're very sensible for a couple in their twenties and great savers given your incomes.
Further education is a life-changing process for some and your outlook, likes and interests may change.

Committing to one another / buying a property too soon may seem like a noose around both your necks, so take your time and as Brendan advises, enjoy life a little.
If not engaged in studies which take you abroad, I would strongly advise you to travel while you're young - see Europe at least - there is a lot happening there right now.

You don't have to do these trips in a consecutive or extended fashion, just set a target each year and use your annual two weeks to achieve it.
Many places in Europe can be done cheaply by driving and staying at keycamps as we used to do and then taking a trip to see a place of interest.

[e.g. we left our car in got a replacement wheel bearing in our Renault 4TL  AND  got to travel to see Paris on the Train de Grande Vitesse while we were in France]

Do the World Trip(s), then come back and focus on a useful qualification, one that furthers your own area of interest but also one that improves your chances of gaining employment.
Look around and choose an accredited place to study. Courses in some subjects are relatively inexpensive.

ONQ.


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## dmos87 (13 Jul 2011)

Brendan Burgess said:


> If the relative is going to sell you the house anyway, can you buy it from them now and pay later?
> 
> Can you rent it in the meantime?
> 
> ...



Believe me, we've gone through this with a fine toothcomb, to the point where I have been called "cold" for even discussing it in such detail. We've been together for a long time and I could never see it going sour but things happen and we need to be realistic also. This is definitely where we are headed and we have our agreement in place which all are happy with, and it does give a sense of security. 

Buying the house now is an option which we hadn't explored, simply because the house is in use at the moment and wont be available for 2-3 years. It might be worth talking about though. I wonder if we would be approved the mortgage though based on the savings we have now and also the new job. 

I get what you are all saying about maybe easing off on the savings and enjoying ourselves, but I am very aware we've been handed the golden ticket - a great opportunity to save as much as possible over the next few years and get a great start. I don't want to waste it, and look back thinking "we shouldn't have taken that holiday" etc.


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## di74 (13 Jul 2011)

dmos87,
Firstly well done on being in such a good financial position at such a young age and looking to secure your and your partners future.
I agree with the other posters though about living a little more whilst you're so young. I bought my first house with my boyfriend (now husband) when I was in my early twenties too and had sacrificed holidays etc to do so. However a few years later when we were planning our wedding I decided I needed to do the travel thing. I was lucky to take a career break and my husband quit his job (these were the boom times!) and we headed off for 12 months to the US, South America and Australia. It did of course use up money that had been earmarked for other things but it's by far the best decision we could have made. 
Ten years it financially has made no difference to us.....you can always earn more money but you'll never get your time back to travel etc..... we have our home and more financial expense with two young children.
Best of luck to you.


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## Brendan Burgess (13 Jul 2011)

di 

That's a lovely post. Gives a great practical illustration of my theoretical advice. 

Brendan


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## 44brendan (13 Jul 2011)

> It might be worth talking about though. I wonder if we would be approved the mortgage though based on the savings we have now and also the new job.


 
A mortgage of 125,000 over 30 years would cost 750 pm gross (tax relief excluded and based on 6% rate). Adjust pro rata per 1,000 to assess your own need.


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## Greta (13 Jul 2011)

dmos87 said:


> I get what you are all saying about maybe easing off on the savings and enjoying ourselves, but I am very aware we've been handed the golden ticket - a great opportunity to save as much as possible over the next few years and get a great start. I don't want to waste it, and look back thinking "we shouldn't have taken that holiday" etc.



I for one think you are quite right to be saving now while you are young, building up solid foundations for future financial security.

Does travelling mean a lot to you? If not, there is no need to spend money on it now, if what you really want to do is save


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## dmos87 (19 Jul 2011)

Travelling is not really for us. Don't get me wrong, we like to go on holidays but neither of us have the urge to "travel". Right now, we're focused on settling - we've been back and forth and we really want to settle back to normality. Saving is high on the list, we want a Sizeable deposit for our future home. What would be considered good savings based on our earnings and outgoings?


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## Greta (25 Jul 2011)

I understand how you feel as I had been there myself - I moved around a lot for a few years just before and after getting married and really just wanted to settle down after that.

If saving is high on your list, just go for it! Don't worry what's considered good savings just save as much as you can at the moment. Budget your expenses, including irregular ones, stick to your budget (monitor your spending), and just save everything else you and your partner earn!


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## Bronte (2 Aug 2011)

You're doing great, don't think you need any advice.  Lucky you both have jobs, certainly save save save is a lot better than spend spend spend.  And education is never wasted.


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