10 Sacrifices You Need to Start Today if you Want to Own a Home

Last year, an Australian real estate mogul sparked a national conversation when he asked young people to give up avocado toasts if they wanted to own a home.

In reality, it would take decades of avocado savings for one to buy a house. For example, in California, where the average price of a home is $658K, and that of a toast is $20, one would be required to save more than 32K toasts.

What he meant was, to own a home, you need to make a lot of sacrifices. This is because a home is potentially the most expensive and important thing you will ever buy.

Here are ten sacrifices you need to start today if you want to buy or build your home one day.

Sleep

While sleep is healthy, the reality is, you have to give up some of it if you are working to own a home. The National Sleep Foundation (NSP) recommends sleeping for between 7 and 9 hours every day for people between 18 and 64.

Research by Gallup found that people were sleeping for about 7 hours every day. On the other hand, another study found that highly successful people slept for between 5-6 hours every day.
The bottom line is if you want to own a house, you must be prepared to work hard. To work hard, you must be prepared to give up the 10-hour sleep.

Fancy Hotels

The experience of a hotel is always exciting. We all love the amenities and the services offered by these companies.

However, if you are saving towards buying or building a home, you must be prepared to give up fancy hotels in your travels.
For example, an average hotel room in New York goes for about $225. If you are traveling there, you can get an equally good Airbnb apartment for much less.

Fine Dining

Again, we all love the experience of fine dining. Still, if you want to save and build or buy a house, you must be prepared to give up the fine dining experiences.

In New York, the average price of a dinner is more than $50. If you have a family of three, it means you spend more than $200 for a night of fine dining.

To save on this, I recommend you start a habit of cooking at home. Doing this for a year or two will save you a lot of money, which you can use to buy the house.

Big Ticket Games

In the country, most people love football games. We love the hype and the experience of attending them.

The truth is buying these tickets can be expensive. For example, a ticket to watch the super bowl starts at $3,000 while that of Wrestlemania starts at $50.

On average, families spend more than $500 per year on sports tickets.

When you are saving for a home, you must be ready to give up spending all this money on tickets.

Fancy Cars

A car is a necessity in the country. It gives you freedom and lets you move from point A to B any time you want.

However, at an early age, you should buy an average car. When you are working to buy a home, you should forget about buying fancy Mercedes and Range Rovers.

Instead, you should buy a good car that can take you from one point to another without much stress. Experts recommend that you buy a car that costs about 35% of your total annual income. So, if you earn $20K annually, you should buy a used car worth about $7,000.

Comfort

As you begin your journey to own a home, you must be prepared to sacrifice some comfort.

For example, in your car, you must be ready to accommodate people during your morning or evening commute. By becoming an Uber or Lyft driver, you will be able to earn more than $50 every day as you go or leave work.

Another example is in your current house. Here, you can sign up with Airbnb to rent out your spare room. Depending on the city you live, you can make more than $1,000 by renting out your extra room and offering rides to strangers.

Extended Hours

At your age, you should be prepared to work extended hours if you want to own a home. If you work an average of 37 hours per week, you can push that to even 55 hours per week.

If your workplace does not allow you to do that, you can easily find a side gig. The Penny Hoarder has summarized 29 simple side gigs you can try.

Some people have gone ahead to make more money in their side gigs than they make in their official jobs.

Ordering Food Every Day

Food delivery companies like GrubHub have made it easy for us to order food from restaurants. With these services, you can order food and get it in less than an hour. However, experts recommend that you develop the habit of buying your own groceries and cooking your own food.

Doing this will not only help you save money, but it will also help you live a healthier lifestyle.

Avoiding Friends

We all love our friends. However, when you are on your journey of owning a home, you will need to avoid your friends at times.

For example, your friends might have the habit of going out or traveling too much. On average, a single night out can cost you hundreds of dollars, and if you do that regularly, the bills could reach thousands of dollars annually.

Therefore, to save money for your home, you must be prepared to avoid your friends occasionally.

Living Away from the City

In most states, houses get cheaper as you move away from the city. This is because more people want to live close to their offices.

To buy your home, you must be ready to live away from the city, unless you want to spend a lot of money.

Research shows that you can save more than $5,000 when you buy a house a few miles from the city.

Takeaway

The journey of owning a home is always tough. To achieve this goal, you must be prepared to make some hard sacrifices like sharing your car and working extended hours. Most people who own the mansions you admire went through all these challenges.
Therefore, start your journey today, endure the pain, and within a few years, you will enjoy the fruits of your sacrifice.