Embed Infographic
The average down payment for a house is 20 percent of its overall cost. For most people, this is a hefty chunk of change. If you’re looking to save for a new home, here are 10 tips from Movoto Real Estate, plus a bonus 10, to keep money in your wallet:
1. Don’t Have Kids
Source: Flickr user Claudia Nunez
According to a recent study, it costs $241,080 to raise a child to the age of 18 years old. That comes to $1,116 a month—per child! If you are trying to save for a house, this isn’t going to cut it. If you decide to hold off on having a child for one year, you could save $13,392. That’s a hefty sum.
2. Freeze Your Credit Card
In the modern age, we need credit cards. I’m not going to argue this point. However, if you are trying to save money, one way to do that is to limit access to your credit. Think of it this way: You can’t impulse buy some random doodad if your card is FROZEN IN A BLOCK OF ICE. To do this, cut the top of off a 20 oz. bottle of soda, mix in your emergency credit card and some water, and then place the whole money-saving concoction in your freezer. Now if you need it for an emergency, you can get to it. But if you want your credit card so you purchase a lime-green jump suit, you’ll need to be very determined.
3. Don’t Have Pets
This is similar to the philosophy of not having kids, only this little trick won’t net you as many greenbacks. I looked into how much it costs to own a cat or a dog—the two most popular pets in the U.S. It costs anywhere between $580 and $875 a year to own a single mutt. What about a cat? Say goodbye to $670 annually.
4. Get Roommates
According to Realtor.org, the median price for a one-bedroom apartment in the states is $660 per month. Which, if you live alone, you’d be paying yourself. The median cost of a two-bedroom apartment is $830 per month, or just $415 per person. By choosing to be a social person, you just saved yourself $2,940 a year.
5. Move In With Your Parents
Source: Wikipedia
What’s so wrong with moving home to save for a house, as long as you pull your weight, at least? The average rent in this country is about $1,000 a month. How much could you save if you were paying just 50 percent of this each month for room and board? That’s $6,000 for a new house, my friend.
6. Downsize Your Living Situation
If you really don’t want to live with a roommate or move back home, consider shrinking your living situation. A two-bedroom apartment is $830 a month, while a one-room apartment is $660—that’s a savings of $170 a month, or $2,040 a year. If you already live in a one-bedroom, you can downsize to a studio apartment and save $100 a month.
7. Brew Your Own Coffee
About 83 percent of American drink coffee, so the chances are high that most people reading this post love java. But do you love it enough to spend $1,092 a year on it? That’s how much it costs for java heads who don’t brew their own coffee.
8. Cut Your Cable
What is your cable package costing you? LIke a million dollars a month? On average, Americans pay $160 per month for the popular triple bundle: phone, cable TV, and Internet. Do you actually need all of these? Netflix or Hulu can take the place of cable TV and you already have a cellphone.
9. Write It All Down
If you want to save money, you need to know where your money is going. If you start keeping track, maybe you’ll notice you are spending $20 a week on coffee or that you’re eating out too much. If you can do this, you’ll be among the scant 32 percent of households who keep a budget.
10. Brown Bag It
Source: Wikipedia
The next time your cubicle mate asks you to grab a bite to eat, remember this: On average, Americans spend $936 a year eating lunch out. Instead of getting a sad little burger from the place next door, just brown bag it.
11. Carpool
The IRS estimates that it costs .565 cents to drive one mile. The typical commuter travels 15 miles to and from work. This means that, in a single week, Americans spend about $17 just to get to their desks. In a year we spend about $880. Now imagine if you split this cost with someone else.
12. Unplug Everything
I want you to think about all the electronics you have plugged in at the moment. Now, think about how many of these actually need to be plugged in. Are you actually using your coffeemaker at 10 p.m.? The point is, you are throwing money away by not taking an extra second to unplug items you aren’t using. This could save the average household $200 a year.
13. Stop Drinking Alcohol
On average, Americans spend about 1 percent of their salaries each year on beer, wine, and spirits. To put this in perspective, American households make about $50,000 a year, meaning we, on average, spend about $500 per year on alcohol. This doesn’t even take into account health problems—or late night trips for munchies.
14. Stop Drinking Soda
That delicious looking soda is keeping you from owning a home. On average, American households spend $850 annually on soda.
15. Don’t Eat Meat
Source: Wikipedia
Listen up all you carnivores: Cutting back on your meat consumption will keep greenbacks in your piggy bank. And you know what that means? Getting a roof over your head faster. LearnVest did a thought experiment a few years ago in which the site tried to figure out how much cutting back on the chops will cost you. I adjusted the experiment for inflation and figured out you could save about $866 a year.
16. Get a Prepaid Phone
According to JD Power and Associates, the average monthly cellphone bill in 2011 was $71, or about $852 a year. Do you really need $852 worth of cellphone? Probably not. Get a prepaid phone, which the The New York Times ardently claims can save you hundreds of dollars over a two-year plan.
17. Live in a Van
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that the average nationwide monthly apartment rent in the fourth quarter of 2012 was $1,048. Now think about saving that much each month. One intrepid van dweller calculated he saved $1,888 a month by moving into a 1994 Ford Econoline.
18. Skip Vacation
Remember when staycations were all the rage? There was a reason people decided to stay in town instead of jetting off. Vacation are expensive. In fact, a summer vacation costs $1,180 per person.
19. Use Professionals in Training
There are numerous professionals who need to practice on people before they receive their license: massage therapists, hair stylists/barbers, and dentists, to name a few. Getting these services from a trainee are typically a fraction of what they would normally be. As an example, the Massage School of Pasadena offers a 60-minute massage for just $35.
20. Clothing Swap
Source: Wikipedia
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spend $1,700 on clothing each year. Why not save yourself some money and take the clothing you don’t wear and swap it for some new threads from your equally budget conscious friends?
