The most common thing I hear from my friends who are renting is that “I’ll never be able to come up with a down payment”. While I would love to feel sorry for them, I can’t help but notice that 90% of the time I am hearing that statement, they are drinking a $7 or chowing down on a $20 lunch.
Saving for a down payment is a relatively easy task if you make some minor changes to your regular spending habits (many of which you won’t miss). I’m going to talk about five of the easiest ways you can save money and over the course of the year how that can easily add up to thousands of dollars.
- Stop Buying Coffee From Stores
Potential Savings Per Year: $650.00+
You might think it’s only $2.50, but that adds up to $650+ over the course of the year and that’s only based on a single cup at Starbucks… I won’t dare tack on the treats to this.
Try This Instead: Buy the beans (every store sells them) and make the coffee at your house in the morning? You get the same great taste at a fraction of the cost and you will never have to say the word “Vente” again.
- Cut Back on Restaurants
Potential Savings Per Year: $1,560+
Granted, this can be difficult BUT most people eat take out lunch daily or eat at least one meal out a day in a five day work week. If you can cut that down to only two days a week, you can save $30 per week which adds up to $1560+ per year.
Try This Instead: Make your lunches at home. It is way healthier, and yes, you do have the time to do it. If you are still having trouble buy pre-packaged meals from bakeries or grocery stores which will cost you less and you can avoid paying a tip to a waiter.
- Ease Up on Drinking at Clubs
Potential Savings per year: $2600+
I’m digging back into my club days where spending $100 a night was the norm and I did that at least two nights a week. If you spend $100 a weekend, that adds up to $5200 per year. If you can cut that in half, you can easily save $2600+ on drinks and save money on things like cover charge, after club eats and cab fare.
Try This Instead: Enjoy your pre drink a little longer before going out (I can’t believe I am actually recommending this). Here’s the thing, you are paying $10+ for a drink at a bar/club and that is for basic liquor. Treat yourself to a nice bottle with friends and you won’t need as many drinks when you go out… nobody wants to see you pass out drunk anyways.
- Visit the Mall a Little Less.
Potential Savings: $2000+
Some people go crazy with buying clothes. Of course looking good is necessary, but it shouldn’t cost you thousands of dollars every year. A pair of jeans here, a dress you wear once there and a couple pairs of nice shoes will set you back hundreds if not thousands for items that will likely end up sitting in your closet after a few uses.
Try This Instead: Make your wardrobe more versatile and keep last year’s clothes in your regular line-up. You can also shop at outlets for better pricing or take a trip to Buffalo and save!
- Save Your Bonus or Cash Presents
Potential Savings: $1,000+
The second most people get an influx of cash it is gone within a week. It can be a bonus from work, your vacation pay coming back to you or your Grandma spoiling you for your birthday, whatever it is, save it! You go majority of the year without the money and really don’t need to spend it. As a side note, people tend to give you more money as gifts when you are saving for a houseJ
Try This Instead: Keep aside 20% of whatever you get to treat yourself to something nice BUT don’t exceed this amount.
Don’t look now, but you just saved almost $8,000 without really doing too much! You see, saving for a down payment is a lot easier than you think. If you can keep this up for only two years, you would have a down payment on a $300,000 purchase… That sounds a lot better than Starbucks to me.