Our House-Saving Journey has begun...

I honestly can't believe I am writing this - we are officially saving for a house!

Before I even met Adam, I used to think about buying my first home. I remember my parents buying their first home and upsizing a few times throughout my childhood. My mum is a mortgage advisor too, so it's something that has always been very present in our lives.

Our story

I met Adam in 2019, and without sounding overly cringe, I knew right away he was the one. A few months into dating we started talking about buying a house in the next few years. I was still at Uni and Adam had just got his first 'big boy' job, so we started saving.

However, six months into our relationship two little pink lines showed up and I was pregnant. We had to reevaluate our plans and rent instead - it was always intended to be a temporary solution, but COVID, furlough, and post-natal mental health meant our plans had to change.

Adam was working long hours as a sports journalist, so much so, that in January 2021 he genuinely didn't go outside to witness daylight. One of his colleagues was made redundant and the other was in hospital, so Adam was working a once-three-man-job alone. His work-life balance was non-existent and he decided he just couldn't do it anymore. However, we soon realised there weren't many sports journalism roles out there and the progression opportunities seemed limited.

So he did a complete 360. He quit his job and enrolled in college one day a week, whilst working at Costa.

I was behind him 100% of the way but money was extremely tight. There was no point in me going back to teaching - after childcare costs, I would have been left with £10 a week. I was doing some ad-hoc freelance work, where some months I would hit four figures, other months nothing. My mental health was still bad too, for a number of reasons: giving birth during the height of Covid, interfering in-laws, and undiagnosed Neurodiversity, left me suffering post-natal psychotic episodes.  Looking back, I don't actually know how we coped but we did.

Adam finished college and got a job in an accounting firm. But as the cost of living crisis really hit, we were still paddling water financially. Every single penny that came in went on bills (as it does for most people!)

Things started to change...

My freelance work started to dry up.

I was working as a content creator on Instagram and worked with various brands. But the industry changed alongside the Cost of Living Crisis and I found myself getting fewer opportunities.

I also began to feel like I was 'selling out', every other post was an Ad and I no longer enjoyed Instagram. I felt like I was betraying my values and my audience's trust, but it was the only way I could get money in to support my family.

At this time, I was also getting my head around my Neurodiversity diagnosis, and recovering from psychotic episodes. In May 2022, I started to think about setting up my own business, but I kept telling myself I couldn't do it. No one would hire me. No one would hire an Autistic / ADHD person... I was my own mindset barrier.

So I finally started to accept my Neurodiversity and received coaching with The M Word and it changed my life. I finally understood myself and what Neurodiversity actually is. Lavinia (from The M Word) taught me that I am more than capable and Autism isn't just the 'Sheldon Cooper' representation you see on TV. I could write a whole post just about that, but I will get back to our financial situation... 

In March 2023 I set up the business I had been thinking about for almost a year. One random Wednesday I created a logo, Facebook page and started posting my services on local Facebook groups. I went to bed that night feeling sick that I had spent £300 on start-up costs. But by the end of the week, I already had four clients and had made my money back.

Assessing our finances

It's only been two full months, but Oh My Socials has really taken off and finally, I am contributing to our income every month, without being out of pocket because of childcare costs. We currently live in a small town outside of Brighton, which both Adam and I grew up in. We are both desperate to move out and start afresh: without going into detail, I had a traumatic teenhood and I struggle sometimes living here with the past memories.

So we looked into moving a few cities across. Rent would increase slightly, which we could now afford but it would mean us not being able to save. When one day my mum said, "But why don't you just buy?". I had given up on us ever being able to buy a house years ago. But we sat down and figured that actually it might be possible in the next few years...

So here's our plan for saving for a house

Being self-employed makes things a little more difficult. Not only do I need a full tax year to record my income, but I might actually need two, and we can't borrow as much. In an ideal world, we would be ready to start looking next April/May time, but that depends on if we can find a lender who will accept only one year of being self-employed. We honestly don't know until it comes to it if it will be possible.

So our plan for the next few months is to save, save, save. We are saving as if we need the deposit for next April, and if it turns out we can't buy until the following year then we will just keep growing that deposit.

While we may be starting from scratch, we do have a plan.

We have strict budgets each month and keep track of every single area of our spending. Infact, we're actually now living like we did back in 2021 when we were living off one Costa salary, but this time, it's by choice.

We don't talk to Adam's parents at all, we cut them out in June 2020 so we have no financial support from them in this house-buying process (or with anything in life). Lots of first-time buyers rely on both parents to help out, but we don't have that luxury. Nor do we want it to be honest. We are fortunate to have my parents supporting us all the way. However, we would like to save ourselves without asking my family for any financial help.

That takes us to today

So that's our story and this is our journey. We could be sitting in our new house this time next year!

But, more likely, this will be a lengthy process that will take 2-3 years. So stick with me to hear all about how we are saving for our deposit.

I do have an advantage - my mum being a mortgage advisor means she can give us on-the-go advice about boosting our income and mortgagey things along the way! But don't worry, I will be sharing that with you too! Whether you are saving for a house, holiday, a wedding or you are in that dire position we were in not so long ago, I am here to help your family save money wherever you can.

This blog and my social media aren't just for those saving for a house. It's for any family looking to save money and live their best frugal life. We are a young family of three, renting in Brighton... we don't have the luxury of saving whilst living at home, and we have a three-year-old depending on us. We are only in our mid-20s, we aren't on big salaries, infact Adam is only at the start of his career.

So here goes - our new journey saving for a house has officially begun!