Tim Gurner, a 35-year-old real estate mogul in Melbourne, sparked debate last month when he suggested that young adults would be more likely to be able to buy a home if they gave up avocado toast.
In truth, you’d have to give up a lot more than that one tasty indulgence. If, for example, you live in New York City and sacrifice one weekly avocado toast, you could afford a down payment in March of the year 2410.
To help you make more headway towards saving enough to put a down payment on your first home, here are eight things to give up, in addition to brunch.
Procrastination
If you’re serious about buying a home, start saving today. But don’t just create a house fund and tell yourself you’re going to contribute to it — create a specific plan with a hard deadline.
First, determine how much home you can afford and set a target date for when you want to make the purchase. Next, figure out how much you’ll have to save for it and for how long, and start setting aside a certain amount each week or month.
Other big ticket items
To become a home-owner by your target date, you may have to put other major purchases on hold, such as vacations or a new car.
The more sacrifices you make now, the sooner you’ll be able to afford your first home.
Ordering food every day
Eating out or ordering takeout can add up quickly. If you’re not careful, a Seamless addiction can end up costing you more than $1,000 a month.
In general, the more food you can prepare at home, the more money you can set aside and the sooner you’ll reach your savings goals. Of course, it’s OK to treat yourself and buy the occasional meal, but keep in mind that going homemade is one of the simplest ways to cut back in a significant but doable fashion.
Excessive bar tabs
Like eating out, the occasional happy hour or night out is fine, but if you’re looking to free up some cash to put towards a down payment, skipping drinks will help. And let’s face it, ordering one drink usually leads to ordering two or three, which often leads to ordering food, too.
Cable
These days, cable costs Americans more than $100 a month. That’s a large sum to pay for a service that people often don’t take full advantage of.
If you replace cable with a service like Netflix ($8 a month), Hulu ($8 a month) or HBO Now ($15 a month), you’d have an extra $90 a month to put towards your house fund.
Trying to show up your friends
Keeping up with the Joneses, or trying to live up to your friends’ and neighbors’ standards, is a tempting, but expensive, habit.
If you stop choosing what to wear and what gadgets to buy based on what your friends do, chances are you’ll save a ton of money and be a home-owner much sooner.
Underused subscriptions
How many 30-day free trials have you signed up for and forgotten to cancel? Are you getting your money’s worth from the gym membership you signed up for at the beginning of the year?
Look over your last couple of credit card statements and figure out exactly what you’re paying for in terms of subscriptions to magazines, software or online services. Ask yourself which you could eliminate and cancel them on the spot to save a couple hundred dollars a year.
Lifestyle inflation
If you want to buy a house, it’s time to stop living up to the ceiling of what your income allows. If your earnings increase, don’t boost your spending — put that extra money directly to your house fund.