Buying a home is no small feat. It’s something that many people dream about. Some do it alone, and some do it for their families. Some people never get to achieve that goal. If you decide that owning a home is for you, there are several things that you can do to get a jumpstart on fixing your finances and saving money to buy your home.
I recently shared some financial tips from Digital Lifestyle Expert, Katie Linendoll, who is working with Capital One to help us save more money through the magic of technology. With Katie’s tips ranging from automating bill payments, signing up for direct deposit, or using mobile check deposit, there are many things that you can do to get on track and start saving for your home.
Before you come up with a plan for saving, consider signing up for a Capital One 360 Money Market. It’s an online account offering no fees, no minimum, and a high-yield 1.0% APY for balances of over $10,000. Having a great money market or savings account means that saving your money will work harder for you! And don’t worry… if you won’t be saving $10,000 right away, accounts with less still earn a great rate of 0.60% APY.
5 Tips to Saving Money for a New Home
Keep Track of Your Spending
Have you ever stopped to think about just how much money you spend when out and about from day to day? You would be very surprised how those little things add up. Consider downloading an app like Spending Tracker to track your spending, or just carry a notepad in your bag to jot down each and every time that you spend money. Do this for one week, and add up your spending.
Curb Your Spending
Once you have kept track of your spending for one week, look at where you are spending the most money. Is it on lunch each day at work? Or is it your morning Starbucks run? Are you surprised by how much you spent?
If you feel like you might go through Starbucks withdrawal if you quit cold turkey, consider cutting down your visit to twice a week. At the end of the week, transfer what you would have spent on coffee from your checking account to your savings account.
Set up a Savings Plan
I’m not sure who started it, but there have been savings charts going around on the Internet for quite a long time. Most of them are based on an original idea, the 52-week Savings Challenge. These call for you save money over a year’s time by alternating the amount that you save per week. On this plan you can save anywhere from $1200 to over $5000.
That plan sounds great. And if you use that in conjunction with other savings tips you can save quite a bit.
Start a Coin Jar
Not too long ago I mentioned my coin jar, and the fact that I have a hard time letting it fill up before I carry it off to the bank. Well, while it may not seem like a lot, saving your change can actually make a dent in your home savings plan! A full coin jar can add up to hundreds of dollars.
I even heard a story from a friend about someone who saved only quarters for years. It was a habit that his Dad started him on as a kid. He had huge storage containers full of all quarters. When they hauled it off to the bank, it was over $40,000! I’m not sure how long that took, but if that does not tell you that saving your change is worth it, nothing will.
Automate Your Savings
Some bank accounts like the Capital One 360 Money Market allow you to setup automatic savings. An Automatic Savings Plan allows you to maximize your savings by having a set amount of money automatically transferred from your checking account to your chosen savings account. This is great, because they you do not have to remember to do it yourself. I recommend setting up an automatic transfer for payday.
As previously mentioned, I just sold my home. We are in a temp living situation while we wait for our new home to be ready. And during this time I will be able to save most of the money that I would have previously been using on household utilities in our home fund. In addition, I will be implementing many of the tips above for the long run.
What are some of your favorite money saving tips that can help save for a new home?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Capital One. The opinions and text are all mine.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Capital One. The opinions and text are all mine.
Disclosure: Thank you Capital One for sponsoring this post! This is a paid endorsement. All opinions are my own and were not directed by Capital One. To learn more about Capital One, visit www.capitalone.com.
Leave a Reply