Over the past 10 years or so the amount of money needed for a down payment on a house has fluctuated from 20% to 0%, back to 20% and everywhere in between and now people are looking to put down even more money when they buy a home.  The economic downturn has made people realize that being debt free relieves a lot of stress and takes a huge weight off your shoulders allowing you to live more comfortably.  Paying for a house with cash seems impossible but more and more people are waiting longer and saving more to put down as much as they can 30, 40, and even 50% or more to avoid the major issues that many homeowners experienced just a few short years ago.

Saving up for a house seems overwhelming to most but if you break it up into bite size pieces or baby steps it really is doable and when you see that first 10% in your account it will put a lot of wind in your sails to continue the course of saving.

The first thing you should do would be to get out of as much of your debt as possible. This includes credit cards, car payments, student loans, and anything else that forces you to shell out hundreds of dollars of your hard earned income each month.  It may seem stupid but take that $300 dollars a month for a car, add $175 for the student loans and another $250 for credit cards this grand total $725 dollars a month.  If you are the average American and you bought a car that was $30,000 and pay upwards of $400 a month in car payments you should consider moving down into a car you could pay cash for to free the money up or at least trade in for a less expensive car that includes less expensive monthly payments!

There are a number of other things besides reducing your debt that can free up extra cash to help you save for a home. Things like your morning Starbucks, Friday night pizza, Saturday night drinks, and going out to eat or even that $130 cable bill.  All of these items add up very quickly but keep in mind you are setting a goal to PURCHASE A HOME, this should keep you motivated and skimping on these things now will pay off in the long run. But don’t worry, you aren’t giving up these things forever. Once you buy your home you can add these little luxuries back into your budget.  From the famous talk radio host Dave Ramsey would say “If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else”.

Another good kick starter to your down payment fund is a garage sale or Ebay sale.  If you look around your house there are probably things you haven’t touched in years like those mountain bikes in the garage, electronics sitting in your entertainment center or maybe even something larger like a motorcycle or jet ski.  My advice would be to go through all of your stuff you can part ways with and put a price on them.  You will be surprised at how much money you can make with a little effort and a Saturday sale. You could potentially bring in $1000 or $1500 or more to go towards your home fund.  Keep in mind once you are in your new home and you put a large down payment your mortgage payments will be much lower and making it easier to afford some of the items you sold down the road! We went over the easy stuff…now it is the time to roll up your sleeves and get serious about saving.

At this point you have gotten rid of the debt, sold almost everything except for the neighborhood cat and you have a surplus of money being saved but you want more.   This is the prime time to get a second job!  Sure you can’t possibly find another 40 hours a week but what about another 20 hours only a few nights a week bartending or serving tables?  It sounds crazy but another potential few hundred dollars a week could really expedite the saving process and even cut that 3 year savings plan way down.  Just keep in mind none of this is permanent; you are making sacrifices for a short period of time to achieve a huge goal.  In the end it will be all worth it.

To put things into perspective it is most useful to place these items on paper, make a monthly budget with your savings on the top. You can even create a chart that you color  in as you hit your milestones…Make it fun! You can hang this chart onto your refrigerator or somewhere you can look at it every day and celebrate when you reach different goals.  Without digging too deep you will find hundreds of dollars a month on things that can be eliminated and directed towards your house fund.

If you have any additional saving tips that we missed add them in the comments section of this post!

If you enjoyed reading this post you will find the main Mover’s Atlas site even more Interesting! There you can discover important information about what surrounds your current or future Florida home, give it a look: Mover’s Atlas.