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20-year-old woman and her 22-year-old boyfriend buy own home after swapping costly dates for park walks

A 20-year-old woman and her 22-year-old boyfriend who saved up a lot of money after swapping their dates for park walks have bought their own home.

TN Viral Desk

Updated Jun 30, 2022, 17:19 IST

Woman, 20, and her boyfriend, 22, buy own home | Image: @jacknlivv

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Olivia Gill and Jack Eacott bought their first house two-bedroom house together in July last year
They swapped expensive dates with park walks
They used the government's Help to Buy scheme to boost their budget

A woman and her boyfriend bought their own home when she was just 19 - by swapping expensive dates with park walks.

Olivia Gill and Jack Eacott bought their first house two-bedroom house together in July last year after they realised that they were saving lots of money during the COVID-19 lockdown by being unable to go on fancy dates.

The couple decided to stick to their park walks even after the pubs and clubs reopened.

Olivia, now 20, told Caters, "Having our own house has taken some getting used too, but it's such a positive feeling to see how all the sacrifice was worth it. We opened a joint bank account which was a big motivator to help save as we were able to see the savings increase at a much quicker rate."

She said, "We had to make some sacrifices along the way, lockdown helped us to continue to save through walks and not having the option to go out was really good for our saving strategy."

They used the government's Help to Buy scheme to boost their budget as well. The scheme enables wannabe homeowners in England to buy a property with just a 5 per cent deposit, with the government offering an equity loan to first-time buyers. The government lends homeowners up to 20 per cent or 40% per cent of the property value in London, interest-free to lower the mortgage and increase affordability.

"We got the deposit through the government's help to buy 5% scheme, which helped us to secure the house which costs 232K. Through saving in our joint account we were able to secure the £12,000 deposit," Olivia said.

Olivia said that none of their friends is near a position to own their own home.

She added, "Our friends and family have all been so supportive of us throughout the saving journey and now are just so happy that we have got what we have been working for."

"Staying on top of our finances has helped reach the first big stepping stone on the property ladder!" the 20-year-old said.

She continued, "To anyone with a similar goal to us, I would always say to be realistic with what you can save, it doesn't matter how long it takes you will reach your goal!"

"Planning out your finances is such an important part of saving, now that we have moved into the house we use the joint account to focus on money for the bills and we have opened a new account which we solely use for food," Olivia said.

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