DAD-OF-ONE Daniel Marshall earns £18,000 a year and manages to save an impressive £250 a month – but it’s still going to take 34 years to buy a house.
The 22-year-old from Burnley, Lancashire lives with his partner Rabekah Whiteside, 20, and their son James, five.
This week, Daniel takes on the Cash Clinic challenge and lets expert Holly Thomas rifle through his bank statements to give him a money makeover.
Holly admits that Daniel runs a tight ship – but as well as saving cash she gives him some practical advice on how to get on the property ladder.
When you get a mortgage it’s usually possible to borrow four times your income – that means £72,000 for Daniel.
His partner Rabekah is a full-time mum and student, so she doesn’t have any savings or cash coming in.
They have £4,650 in savings but to buy their dream terrace three-bed home in their local area costing £175,000 on average they would need around £100,000 at least to put down as a deposit.
In order to save this up at their current rate it would take a massive 34 years, unless they are going to use a scheme like Shared Ownership or a Help to Buy loan to buy sooner.
“It’s really important to me to provide stability for my family and invest in our future,” Daniel told The Sun.
“But there’s no escaping that things are really tight and I’m worried it’s wishing for the impossible.”
“I’m proud of what I’ve managed so far but I’m concerned how long it’s going to take me to save up a decent amount.”
Here we reveal how to save Daniel hundreds of pounds – and how he can increase his family’s income.
Groceries: £180 per month
New spend: £150 per month
Saving: £30 per month
Daniel is super frugal – but there are ways to cut back.
A simple way to save is buying non-perishable items like loo roll, shampoo and cleaning products in bulk.
You’ll need to hunt out the deals using a website like MySupermarket.
While buying from wholesale retailers like Costo (which costs £15 a year for online-only or £33.60 for in-store membership) or Makro, which is free, could save Daniel upto £30 a month.
Daniel could also keep an eye out for one-time offers on Topcashback, where he has an account.
It is currently offering £12.60 cashback at Sainsbury’s – so if he does one weekly food shop he’ll get £12.60 back (with a minimum spend of £40, plus delivery fees), and that may be cheaper than his regular supermarket, Aldi, for a one-off shop.
Fuel: £80 per month
New spend: £40 per month
Saving: £40 per month
Joining a car-sharing scheme could halve Daniel’s fuel costs if he can split the fuel bill.
It’s simple if you can find workmates who live close to you – or if you share the school run with other parents nearby.
There are online services that will help match your journey with others such as liftshare.com, which is free to join.
Entertainment: £8.99 per month
New spend: £8.99 per month
Saving: £4 per month
Streaming TV is essential in most households – especially with little ones to keep entertained – and Daniel uses Netflix for this.
Netflix’s standard plan, which lets you watch two screens at a time, is pretty affordable though it has recently risen from £7.99 a month to £8.99 a month.
But Apple TV+ is launching on November 1 for just half the price at £4.99 a month. The new service is accessed via the Apple TV app and will allow you to download shows to watch offline.
If he wanted to go one step further he could also ditch his TV Licence and save £154.50 a year.
It might seem drastic, but over 37,000 households ditched theirs last year.
Daniel is also paying fees for his college course – a certificate in plumbing and electrics. This costs him £212 a month with another three years to go until it’s all paid up.
The family car – a Ford Focus – which Daniel uses to drive to work and take James to school, is leased which costs £186.59 a month, including interest payments that can’t be changed.
Daniel has a broadband and TV package with Virgin. Earlier this year he was told the bill would be £74 a month but he haggled the amount down to £50 a month.
Energy bills with Octopus cost £45 a month and he last switched in March so he will likely be on the most competitive deal.
Daniel’s parents pay his monthly mobile phone bill.
Council tax costs £81 a month which includes a 25 per cent discount because Rabekah is a student. So, there are no further savings to be had here.
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