Everyone knows that to buy a home, you have to make a downpayment. If you have had your heart set on owning your own home, some boxes need to be checked to do it and not ruin your financial stability and make other areas of your life difficult.
Let’s go over some of the easiest steps toward making better choices for your wallet. And what’s good for your wallet is good for you to be able to afford your dream home.
Quit Crappy Habits
If you smoke cigarettes, chew, vape, drink a six-pack each weekend, or do anything similar to these activities on the regular, you should consider stopping them. These purchases that may seem like a necessity are an addiction. Even if you spend $4.00 every morning on a coffee at your favorite spot, that is an addition and a crappy habit.
Other habits of spending money are just that, spending money. Sometimes we all spend money on stupid stuff but the worst time to do that is if you are trying to save for a home. You don’t need to grab a Slim Jim every time you fill up at the gas station. Little changes can lead to big gains.
Additionally, something that can be a real pitfall for those that are overly empathetic, stop giving money that you don’t have. Even if you do have it, which if all goes well, you will have by the time you go for your purchase. I’m not discouraging donating money, because we should try our best to help others who are struggling. But if you don’t have the money to give away, then you shouldn’t. Don’t give the waitress an extra $5 once in a while.
Cut Excessive Spending
We have made the world so easy for us to get everything we think we need or want. Hungry? Order super-specific and highly rated food on your phone quickly and easily to be delivered right to your door. This is convenient, but it is not financially practical. You’ll need to start realizing what you spend money on that you don’t need.
If you get a massage, a manicure, or a shoeshine every week, you need to stop. At least for the duration of smart spending to be able to purchase your new home. If you use something like a house payment calculator, you can see exactly how much you will need to have saved for your down payment.
You are probably spending quite a bit of unnecessary money on subscriptions each month as well. If this is so, you should see what you can cut from those monthly expenses. Maybe for the next year, you can have just Hulu instead of Hulu and Netflix. Once again, these small slashes to your budget have a large effect on savings.
Downsize
This is probably one of the most challenging suggestions for lifestyle changes that can help you save money. It can be difficult to stop doing certain activities that we rely on, especially the things we do for self-care. Self-care is still very important for mental stability so the best to do with that is just to downgrade. Self-care from home, performed by yourself, can be just as relaxing and extra rewarding.
Downsize from spending extra on name brands or organic products to generic brands. This may be important to some families to get a certain level of nutrition so take into account all of the pros and cons with all choices and weigh its value to you and your loved ones. You may not value your daughter’s doll collections but she might have an emotional attachment to them. Also Read – 4 Simple Gift Ideas Your Loved Ones Will Really Appreciate
However, emotional attachments can’t be given to every object you own. This can be a sensitive issue with some people as some of us can become quite the collectors. Letting go of these objects and most material objects, in general, is highly suggested if you’re looking to spend less money overall. Downsizing can be taken to a whole new level.
It may not be for everyone but there are some folks who save the most money by living more simply. There are folks that are minimalists and really have just a few quality items in their reasonable dwellings, counting their fresh stacks. Not actually doing that but figuratively they are saving a ton of money. Are we perhaps thinking over our version of “dream home”?
Even without going all the way to living in an RV, look at any opportunity you have to save money, and eventually, you will have the ability to make your down payment. But you have to be tenacious and follow through. Saving now will benefit you later.