I have done a brave and possibly over-ambitious thing.

I have added ‘buy a house’ to my list of 40 things to do before I’m 40.

Now I should say here, before you worry I am going to rush out and buy something stupid, Homes Under The Hammer style, that I have three years and 10 months to go before I’m 40, but still; as we speak I have just about zero pounds in savings and no wealthy yet elderly relatives, so I’m going to need a Sensible Plan.

To be honest I had half resigned myself to never being able to afford a house, but surely one of the upsides to living in Taunton has to be the fact that I’m saving money on rent? Add to this the fact that I’m working more than ever – a dual consequence of no longer having Boyfriend to moderate my ‘just say yes’ reflex and also wanting to fill my time with things other than moping – and really there is no reason why owning a house shouldn’t be at least plausible.

It’s not going to be easy though. In fact, it could well be that by the time I have saved up, my savings won’t be enough any more. As the  infographic from Totally Money at the bottom of this post shows, house prices have risen over the years at a pace that’s almost impossible to keep up with.

I do have some ideas, but I’m not sure how effective they are going to be:

• Stop going to cafes just because I am bored at home and want to work in Starbucks. (Never going to happen.)
• Stop getting take away just because I can’t be bothered to cook up some crap from the freezer. (See brackets above.)
• Cancel my cleaner. (Come on now – do you want me to live in filth?)
• Hire out Belle for babysitting/chimney sweeping etc. (Note to self – is this legal?)
• Rent out Bee’s rooms to students during term time. (Possible – but potentially embarrassing when I am roaming the house naked in the middle of the night looking for snacks.)

You see? It’s hard. Perhaps I will just have a little muffin and cappuccino while I think about it some more.

Do you have any house buying or saving tips? View Post