KITTING out your new pad can be costly, but first-time buyers Heidi and Declan saved a small fortune by using a supermarket trick.
It meant the couple, who are both 30, saved £4,000 on decking out their £266,000 first home in Norfolk.
Heidi and Declan, who have four-children – Willow, seven, Aria, six, Eden, five, and three-year-old Koen, made the savings by being savvy with loyalty schemes – particularly Tesco‘s Clubcard.
You earn one point for each £1 spent in the supermarket, and each point is then worth 1p.
So, 150 points gets you £1.50, and you would have to spend £150 to get 150 points.
Over five years, the couple built up £4,000 worth of Clubcard points, which they spent on furniture for their new home.
This included beds and a sofa, as well as home insurance.
Care worker Heidi and Declan, a warehouse operator, saved for three years to afford their new home, and made some sacrifices along the way.
The couple saved £1,000 a month between them in a Lifetime Isa (LISA) and set up a standing order to make sure they never forgot to deposit their cash.
LISAs are designed to help people save either for their first home or retirement.
You can open one with any bank, building society or investment manager, but you have to be 18 or over and younger than 40.
You can add a maximum of £4,000 to the account each year and receive a 25% bonus on top from the government.
The bonus is paid monthly, and the maximum amount you can earn per tax year is £1,000.
The couple also moved back in with Declan’s parents and gave up buying new clothes and household items.
We sat down with Heidi to discuss how she went from being a saver to a homeowner for The Sun’s My First Home series.
It’s a four-bedroom detached house in Thetford, Norfolk.
HAVE you ever wondered how first-time buyers manage to go from savers to homeowners?
Getting a foot on the property ladder might seem like a daunting task, but The Sun’s My First Home feature allows you to find out exactly what it takes to finally get the keys to your own place.
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Karis Jacobs and her husband George used the 50/50 method to buy their first home just two years after losing their jobs.
Parents Chae and Cem used a “DIY Help to Buy scheme” to buy their £466,000 first home.
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It has a garage with off street parking and a large front and back garden which was an absolute must for us.
When you walk in the front door there is a hallway with a downstairs loo to the left and the lounge is on the right.
The next room is a kitchen with a separate small dining room.
Upstairs there is a family bathroom and a single bedroom, and two double bedrooms. The master bedroom has its own ensuite.
The house was 35 years old and needed a major makeover.
The properties first and only owners were an elderly couple who had moved into a nursing home.
That was reflected in the price, and it was £40,000 less than other four-bedroom houses in the area.
But I saw the renovation potential which is something many first homeowners fail to take into consideration.
I had grown up in Essex, but house prices were too expensive there.
Thetford offered lower cost houses and easy access to our families and our work.
We wanted a house in a quiet area, close to a park or woodland with no high-rise tower blocks.
Our house was £266,000 and we put down a 15% deposit of £39,000.
The house was advertised at offers over £266,000.
I offered £250,000 then £260,000 and finally £266,000 which was immediately accepted.
We took out a mortgage of £227,000 over 30 with a fixed rate of 1.24% over five-years.
We used a broker who was critical in helping us find the best deal. The broker is a friend of my husbands.
He was amazing and made sure we were updated on each step of the mortgage negotiation and purchase.
He recommended we lock in the 1.24% interest rate for five years.
The five-year offer had marginally higher in interest rate than a three-year deal.
The gamble paid off as interest rates are now at 5% and high.
IF you're looking for a traditional type of mortgage, getting the best rates depends entirely on what's available at any given time.
There are several ways to land the best deal.
Usually the larger the deposit you have the lower the rate you can get.
If you’re remortgaging and your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) has changed, you’ll get access to better rates than before.
Your LTV will go down if your outstanding mortgage is lower and/or your home’s value is higher.
A change to your credit score or a better salary could also help you access better rates.
And if you’re nearing the end of a fixed deal soon it’s worth looking for new deals now.
You can lock in current deals sometimes up to six months before your current deal ends.
Leaving a fixed deal early will usually come with an early exit fee, so you want to avoid this extra cost.
But depending on the cost and how much you could save by switching versus sticking, it could be worth paying to leave the deal – but compare the costs first.
To find the best deal use a mortgage comparison tool to see what’s available.
You can also go to a mortgage broker who can compare a much larger range of deals for you.
Some will charge an extra fee but there are plenty who give advice for free and get paid only on commission from the lender.
You’ll also need to factor in fees for the mortgage, though some have no fees at all.
You can add the fee – sometimes more than £1,000 – to the cost of the mortgage, but be aware that means you’ll pay interest on it and so will cost more in the long term.
You can use a mortgage calculator to see how much you could borrow.
Remember you’ll have to pass the lender’s strict eligibility criteria too, which will include affordability checks and looking at your credit file.
You may also need to provide documents such as utility bills, proof of benefits, your last three month’s payslips, passports and bank statements.
We saved for the deposit in a two-year period.
I knew if we wanted to buy a house and have children in our twenties, a hardcore savings plan was the only option.
Declan and I set up a monthly direct debit and each put a minimum of £500 from our wages each month into a Lifetime Isa.
We quickly got used to only budgeting with the remaining cash that stayed in our accounts.
If we had any money left in our current accounts this would also go towards our deposit.
At 8pm each night, I’d check if I had extra money to move to the house fund.
I’d set a reminder on my phone, and checked what I could transfer over to our savings.
This could be a couple of quid I have left over after doing the weekly shop or filling up the car with fuel
Declan and I had a competition each week to see who could put more pennies and pounds into the account.
When we bought the house, this method made up 10% of the deposit amount of £3,900.
We discovered it is true if you watch the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves.
Declan and I boomeranged back to his parents’ house to save money for our own place.
His parents charged us £100 each rent and we also helped out with groceries.
We had a double room, and the second spare room was used for our first two children Willow, now seven and Aria, now six.
Living in a double bedroom stopped us buying clothes, household items on a whim.
I also sold all my old furniture and household items because we didn’t have room for them.
I was managing a Sainsbury petrol station and Declan was then a farm manager at the time.
Declan’s parents also helped take care of the kids and the money I saved on childcare went into our house deposit fund.
I looked up the average water, gas and electric bill and council tax bill and each month added those amounts to the deposit fund.
It was a monthly reminder of how to budget in a house of our own.
Whenever we filled the car up with fuel, we earnt Clubcard points and made our little second-hand car contribute to the deposit.
I have always been addicted to collecting points on my Tesco Clubcard, Nectar card, as well as other store loyalty schemes.
I also signed up to cashback schemes, like Topcashback, and made sure any purchase from online grocery orders to toys for the kids earnt us money back and points.
We never bought a packet of chewing gum or filled up the car with petrol unless it earnt us reward points.
I asked our parents to swipe our cards when they were shopping too.
If my family or friends were making big purchases like a sofa or holiday, I’d put the purchase on my credit card and earn loyalty points and money from cashback schemes.
They’d give me the money for the purchase, but we got the rewards.
Instead of paying for family days out I turned loyalty points from buying petrol and groceries into free trips to Legoland, zoos and family adventure parks.
I made sure I took advantage of double or triple points offers on Clubcard.
Most people don’t realise you can get free family weekends away or day trips for free on points.
I also kept a notebook with a list of discount and voucher codes and researched grocery stores to ensure I maximise my points before shopping.
When we bought the house, I had £1,400 in my TopCashback account.
We withdraw the money and use it for legal and conveyancing fees.
I used to spend £3,000 on Christmas and birthday gifts.
When we got engaged and had our first child, I decided to give memories as presents.
I upcycled frames and gave family and friend photos.
Gifting memories gave people a personalised present at a fraction of the cost of posh pressies.
Having a ‘real photo ‘also meant more to the grandparents.
I cut our gift giving budget to £50 a year for the two years we were saving for the house.
We used loyalty card points to get house insurance and pay for furniture when we moved in.
We bought £4,000 worth of furniture with 3000 Clubcard points because I took advantage of double and triple point sales.
Planning bigger purchases when we knew we could get double or triple points really helped us buy items including beds and kids furniture.
In the end, we only had to find an extra £1,000 of our own money for future and garden items.
When we celebrated the house purchase family and friends who wanted to give a gift were sent a list of items we needed.
Declan’s mum and dad bought us a sofa and doors because some needed replacing. This saved us £2,000.
We set aside £2,500 on a furniture fund and used that for fridges, ovens and electrical items.
I did a collaboration on Instagram and got a free washing machine in return.
Friends gave us their baby cots and used kids’ furniture for free.
We skill swapped to help fund the basic renovations which included new flooring and internal painting.
Declan is an electrical engineer, and he swapped his skills with friends who were builders and decorators to start the renovation on a budget.
Trade swaps have been crucial in funding the renovation.
Saving as a couple only works if you both agree on the savings plan and goal.
Set up a direct debit to go straight into your savings and learn to live on the remaining money.
Ensure you and your partner are willing to sacrifice together – one person giving up treats and purchases won’t work. It must be a combined effort.
Use club card points and Top Cash Back for free fun weekends or to pay for insurance or legal fees.
Don’t buy anything, even chewing gum, unless you can earn points – it will help you with your house purchase.
One woman has shared how she was able to save £16,000 for her deposit with a “last digit savings” trick.
Another has shared how she was able to boost her first home savings by £3,000 through a government scheme.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
