5 Cost-Cutting Hacks That Make Saving For Your Dream Home Easier

We all want to buy our dream house, but for most of us, there’s one thing standing in the way: money.

Unfortunately, saving up for the perfect home is tougher than ever. House prices are constantly going up and so is the cost of living, making putting away those hard-earned dollars an almost impossible feat.

Luckily, there are a few ways you can cut corners and costs that will make saving that bit easier — read on for our five cost-cutting hacks for home-buying:

1. Get any debt under control

None of us wants to have debt, but sometimes we end up with a credit card payment or two looming over us. Perhaps your car broke down, or you had a family emergency. Whatever the reason, credit card debt can all too easily build up and weigh on your mind.

It’s not just your mental health that debt affects either — carrying a lot of debt can make buying your dream house much harder. After all, a chunk of your income is currently going towards your repayments, and having debt can make it harder to get a mortgage too.

One big way in which you can make saving for your dream home much easier is by getting this debt under control. There are a few ways you can do this:

• Try to put any extra money towards paying your credit cards off

• Transfer your balance from high-interest credit cards to low-interest or 0% interest cards

Once you get rid of your debt, you’ll find saving much easier. Plus, as soon as your debt is gone, you can channel the money you usually put towards paying it off into a savings account!

2. Find a good mortgage broker

Choosing a decent mortgage broker can make a huge difference to how much buying your dream house costs you.

When you’re choosing a lender, it can be super daunting. Aren’t they all the same? What’s the difference? What’s good and what’s bad? What do you even look for?

If you’re a first-time buyer, it can all be extremely overwhelming. Luckily, mortgage brokers like Breezeful can help you compare and contract mortgage lenders and let you know what the best deal is for you. And a good mortgage broker will also negotiate on your behalf so that you end up saving more money than you could on your own.

3. Reduce your outgoings

If you want a super easy cost-cutting hack, then reducing your outgoings is as easy as it comes. Yes, we all say that we’re going to save up and reduce our spendings, but how many of us actually do it? And how good are we at committing to saving each month?

Firstly, you need to have a clear amount to save in mind. Once you do, you can split this into a monthly saving target; any bigger than that, and your brain will start freaking out about the sheer size of it and you’ll struggle to achieve your target goal.

Now that you’ve got that sorted, here are a few ways you can reduce your monthly outgoings and increase savings:

• Make and pack your lunch for work — having something readymade will stop you splashing out on takeouts and “lunch meetings” all the time.

• Make coffee at home and take it with you — coffees really add up over time!

• Cancel that expensive gym membership — the park is free to jog or cycle in, after all.

• Work overtime or start a side hustle — any additional money you make on top of your normal job will make a big difference, not to mention you’ll have less time to splurge on drinking with your buddies.

It might not sound like much, but add up all of those tiny savings over time and it will easily be hundreds (and potentially thousands) of dollars.

4. Think about location

So you want to buy your dream home, but how much does location come into it?

The difference between one neighborhood and another could be thousands of dollars — so sacrificing your white picket fence on that spacious road for the slightly smaller one a few blocks away could make all the difference. In fact, it could be the difference between being able to buy a new house in the first place or having to rent for a further five years.

Of course, it all depends on what you’re looking for in a house — if you need to be near your place of work or in a certain school district, for example. You also need to be aware that in certain neighborhoods, your house’s value may depreciate over time, so that’s something to look out for too.

5. Don’t be afraid to put some work in yourself

Houses are expensive, and the housing market doesn’t look like it’s getting any cheaper… One cost-cutting hack for buying a house? DIY.

We’re not suggesting building your dream home from scratch (although if you do want to do this, then go for it). Instead, try looking at houses that need a little bit more TLC — “do-er-uppers” rather than a sparkling new build.

You’ll still be able to have your dream house, but you’ll be able to cut the cost of it in a big way if you can do some of the graft yourself. If you and your partner are into your DIY and pretty practical, then that’s awesome, but you could always enlist the help of family and friends, paying them back in hot meals and beers (or actual money over the years).

Even hiring contractors to gradually do work on your house could be cheaper than buying a ready-made home. Just make sure you inspect the property and have a handle on how much work is actually needed and how much it could cost — you don’t want to end up out of pocket.

Follow these five cost-cutting hacks and you’ll soon find that saving for your dream home is much, much easier.