"How to save for your first home" article

Even $3k is expensive for Asia! We did Thailand on next to nothing. Hotels are dirt cheap over there. We're going to China shortly. 15 days including flights, tours, accommodation & food $2k each!

 

depends on where in asia, it's a pretty big continent with vastly different offerings and prices. 2k would go much further in say Laos than Singapore or a small city in India vs a major one.

thats an excellent price you for though, which company was it through and which cities are included? I'd love to properly check out china some time so will keep that company in mind.

 

It was the internal flights within Vietnam that got us. We took a lot of them to see as much as possible. Other than that, the hotels, food, drink, and tourist activities were very very cheap!

 

business is great but hard to justify paying for unless it's a long haul imo. I suppose sydney to say Bangkok would be a decent flight time wise

 

Sanj, in Vietnam we went to Ho Chi Minh Coty which I absolutely loved (I had reservations when planning the trip about this massive city but it has an authentic energy and has a fun, carefree vibe).

We then did:

Nha Trang (Vietnams Gold Coast/Honolulu-esque beach town. Is sadly mostly run by Russian mafia these days)

Da Nang (nearby to Nha Trang)

Hoi An (one of my favourite places! Magical and old world romantic, slow pace)

Hanoi (personally I couldnt get the vibe here. Still very anti western as a Vietnam War hangover and the pollutioj was quite horrid. Food wasnt great here and got food poisoning)

Cat Ba island in the UNESCO world heritage protected Halong bay area (my favourite part, so beautiful and ruggard. Felt a bit like that planet in that movie Avatar!)

Didnt have time for SaPa unfortunately, maybe next time for that spot.

 

It was something like Signorama. Hubby's got the details. It includes a 4 day cruise and internal flights as well. We start at Beijing and end up at Shanghai. I can't remember where else we go, but it covers a lot of the tourist attractions including the Terracotta Warriors, Tianamen Square, Great Wall. Umm there's more, I just can't remember them now.

 

thanks will keep that in mind for future.

 

LOL. You know its all jealousy from them anyway. They all secretly would trade their "man-ly" car for what you have in assets any day.

 

Ha

It's all in good fun I get a laugh out of it. I like my little swift lol. Yeah they definitely envy the properties but I have offered to help them get started but most won't buget to save, I wouldn't say they are jealous but I know some family members who do actually get really jealous which I don't understand, sort of gets them angry.

 

I've gone down that path - People are ready when they are ready. You simply can't push them - they'll just end up hating you for it and throw comments "you think you're better than me don't you".

Better to be in their life to support them when they are ready rather than impose your onto them and get pushed away

 

Haha I actually always have wanted a really nice car but I have never been able to part with the money, its always been see to me as another deposit. One day I will spoil myself and get something awesome lol.

 

Saving up for a deposit is bloody hard work. We saved for our block of land in cash, luckily had our PPOR already (didn't want to pull the equity out - long story). While the block was relatively cheap, when you add the stamp duty, lawyer's fees and all the extras it's way more than most people expect it to be.

To save enough, I put aside a certain amount of every pay check into an account that I can't withdraw from (or, at least, can't withdraw from without incurring fees and an interest penalty that I'm not willing to face). We live frugally - go out perhaps once or twice a month for dinner and tend to keep the costs down. Luckily we don't have any expensive habits (not big drinkers, smokers etc and our hobbies are low-cost) though we have animals to care for.

I also work a freelance round doing property writing in addition to my full time role. ALL of this money (aside from the amount I calculate is for tax, which is kept in a separate account) goes into the high interest rate savings account. (So, anyone that needs copy written or edited, you can contact me: [email protected] ha!)

The only major expenses we've had were emergency procedures for one of our dogs (around $2k) and a cat with a blocked bladder/crystals ($3500) over the space of the last three years. Not too bad. Other unexpected/costly expenses included two interstate moves in two years, which saw us renting out our PPOR and paying rent. There was a shortfall, as we charged lower than market rent to a friend.

Our other big savings areas are in transport - we run one car for our household (we live quite a way out, so this is a fairly big sacrifice from what I was used to before), we don't run many appliances (no dishwasher, microwave, etc) and we don't go away on fancy holidays (our anniversary is this weekend and we're doing possibly an overnighter in the Blue Mountains and some hiking - suits us perfectly).

And we do all those little things - saving up the coins, giving up store bought coffee (but not all the time), etc.

It's worth it. And saving/finding ways to save is actually kind of fun!

 

I had a job in highschool and saved for a portion of the car, my parents chipped in as a birthday present to pay for the rest. It was secondhand and at a good discount, via eBay. I paid all the insurances/regos/upkeep etc via the funds from my job. Taught me how to be frugal and how expensive some things can be!!

 

Ah the great S15. I had a Spec S GT. Had it for about 2 years. It was when they were highly sought after. Sold it for the same I paid for it to help with my first deposit. I drove a Toyota Echo 1.4L for the next few years.

 

What i am saying is if you cant afford it dont buy it.
Putting holidays on credit cards because u dont have the money !

I cant afford a car so im trying to save for one.
I would love to go on a holiday this year overseas but i simply cannit afford it .

 

With extractors and a fully sick fart cannon 'zorst?

 

there's absolutely nothing wrong with frivolity for a period of time, especially when young. it's when it becomes a way of life instead of a period of indulgence that it becomes an issue.

so what if someone is 21, living week to week and enjoying their life? arguably at that age and with probably little/no responsibilities that's when it should be done.

it's not a race or a competition, someone doing it at 40 with a family to support or possibly while being propped up by the taxpayer is a different scenario imo.

I've spent an extraordinarily stupid amount of money in my life on going out, drinking, dinners, trips etc. heaps when I was younger and admittedly went too far then had a few solid years of knuckling down to make up for a major financial hole from a business failure and now Im again spending more than I probably "should" just on lifestyle.

but who's to decide what that amount "should" be? every year my net worth grows so why shouldn't I do what I want, when I want? progressing financially while enjoying life is a lot more fun than living miserly.

at this stage of my life if i did have to choose one or the other I would priorities my financial future over being indulgent but I think too long periods of all work and no play can be counterproductive. we only get 1 life, we live in an amazing country surrounding by opportunity, to not enjoy the ride seems crazy to me.

 

There is too many great experiences to be had in this world to worry about saving when your young.

I think focusing on a lucrative, successful career path is way more important then battling away to save a few hundred bucks.

However, if you envisage yourself to have modest income for the rest of your life...id suggest start saving ASAP!

 

Nope....just a bottom of the range vomit colour Echo with wind up windows. The power steering was the highlight.

 

Wow, Fielding!! I have nothing yet, and don't even know where to start. If you wrote a book, i would read it.