July 10, 2025
How To Save For A House?
By : Ellie Brown
Are your roommates driving you crazy? Do you find yourself exploring the best ways to buy a home? You have landed right. You might have started thinking of buying your own space. However, buying a residential property requires a lot of money upfront. Individuals living from paycheck to paycheck struggle to save enough. Hence, buying the home becomes challenging. However, you can decide the time frame and begin saving for the home now. The blog lists the best strategies that may help you save money for a house easily. Let’s first begin with the basics.
How much does it cost to buy a house in the UK?
You need to know a few home purchase costs before heading towards buying one. It may involve- solicitor fee, stamp duty, mortgage, down payment, etc. You can use a calculator to determine the total cost of buying a house. Apart from the visible one, don’t forget to check out the hidden costs of house purchase. Here is the detailed background of what to expect:
a) Stamp duty costs
Stamp duty is one of the biggest taxes that one encounters while buying a house. The amount you pay depends on whether you buy the primary property. Alternatively, you pay 5% more if purchasing a secondary residential property. First-time buyers don’t need to pay stamp duty for properties costing over £300,000.
b) Deposit
It is an amount that you pay as a down payment to get a mortgage. Usually, one pays 10% of the property’s price as the deposit on the loan. For example, if the cost of a property is £3,00,000, then you must pay £30,000 as a 10% deposit on the mortgage. The more deposit you pay, the less the interest and total repayments. Saving for the house deposit is challenging, but starting it early may help.
c) Solicitor’s fee
A solicitor’s fee is the biggest cost that you encounter while buying a home. It splits into 2 parts- the legal fees and the disbursements. The cost you pay depends on the type of home you want to buy. Check whether it is leasehold or freehold.
Apart from this, you may experience costs like- survey fee, mortgage arrangement fees, removal costs, insurance, estate agent fees, etc. These may add up quickly into a huge lump sum.
5 Ways to save money for buying a house without worries
According to an account director at My Local Mortgage, Paul Wheatcroft, “spending just £3 from Monday to Friday on a shop-bought sandwich may help you save £780 a year”.
Precisely, preparing and having home-made meals instead of relying on eating out may be a good budgeting trick. It helps you instill healthy eating habits and save money for buying a home. Interesting, right? There is more you can do to budget for your dream residential property:
Optimise your monthly spending
The first thing is, of course, analysing your monthly bills and spending. Identify the best ways to reduce your expenses to save more money. Write down what comes in and what goes out every 30 days. Next, identify the areas where you can cut expenses.
It may include reducing reliance on fast foods, cutting unnecessary OTT connections, or switching to an inexpensive gas coverage. Also, consider the weekend trips and gateways you take. Identify the possibilities of reducing it too. Your budgeting graph should look like this:
| Expenses to consider | Expenses to avoid |
| Rent, utility bills, groceries, emergency medical needs, important repairs, examination fee, insurance payments, tax payments, transportation | Dining out, ordering food, shopping, weekend trips, using overdrafts, movie nights, impulse purchases, and unused gym memberships |
Explore mortgage quotes for an idea
Having clarity over what your mortgage agreement may look like helps you better manage your budgeting. You know where you need to save and how to do so. For example, the deposit requirements may vary according to the property costs. So, identify how much deposit you should provide to make repayments affordable.
Using a mortgage loan calculator will help you there. For example, if the estimated costs of a property that you want to buy are £250,000 with a 10% deposit, here is how your fixed rate mortgage quote may look:
| Mortgage amount to borrow | £225,000 (250,000-25000) |
| Deposit | £25,000 |
| Repayment term | 11 years |
| interest | 5.2% annually |
| Monthly repayment | £2408.53 |
| Total amount | £294204.28 |
Just like this, you can get an idea of how much you must pay approximately for the mortgage cover. Accordingly, you can set a savings budget.
Choose the right budget plan
There are certain budgeting processes that you can choose from. You can select one according to your goals, income, flexibility, and other monthly bills to tackle. Here are some of the most common types of budget plans to consider:
- 50/30/20 budget planning
- Zero budget planning
- Traditional budget
- Envelope planning/cash stuffing
- Pay yourself budgeting
How to choose the right budgeting method here?
- Step 1- assess your finances and get a baseline
- Step 2-Track expenses in the traditional method by knowing your expenses and income
- Step 3- If long-term saving is the goal, pay yourself budget helps
- Step 4- decide the time you can dedicate to budgeting
. Build emergency savings separately
Saving separately for emergencies is important. It is because you never know when you may need urgent cash. Moreover, you cannot decipher exactly how much you may need at that time. So, it is always better to have a separate savings or emergency fund for the safety side.
It helps you in financial uncertainties like joblessness, disability, and a sudden income drop. However, you can also create one for buying a home. Here is how you can start your emergency fund:
How to start an emergency fund?
- Step 1- Determine the savings account with a high interest rate
- Step 2- Identify how much you must save for your goals
- Step 3- Check and decide on a fixed amount to save monthly
- Step 4- Automate the savings from your current account into the new one
- Step 5- Continue savings and don’t tap it for 6-7 months
- Step 6- stay consistent with your savings goal to achieve aspect timely manner
Alternatively, if you encounter an urgent need like repairing the leakage from the roof, check quick loans for your needs. It helps you get instant cash if you lack an emergency fund. You don’t have to delay the repair just because you lack financial flexibility. You get the money the same day without detailed documentation, collateral, or a guarantor requirement.
Check strategies to earn more
Buying a home requires you to have a consistent and handsome income. It will not only help you save money to buy the house. But it will also prove beneficial in getting cheap and easy-to-afford mortgage quotes. You can seek ways to improve your current income. Here is what you can do:
- Seek promotion or a hike in the current employment arrangement
- Check part-time jobs that match your industry
- Identify passive ways to earn, such as investing money or renting the space
- Switch companies for a better offer and environment
- Start a small business from home
Bottom line
These are some of the best ways to save for a house without worries. Yes, you must uphold patience and invest money consistently towards your goal. Analyse your finances, goals, and earnings. Check the mortgage quotes and pre-qualify to get an idea. Identify the property you want to buy and the deposit requirements to plan savings comfortably. Rest, stick to the perfect budgeting method that helps you meet other needs without difficulty.