A THRIFTY woman has revealed how she managed to save $20,000 in only six months for a down payment on her first home.
Ms Pebbles Grayson has shared her money management tips that helped her raise over $30,000 in total and pay for her dream home.
The first thing she did was to move back home to Houston from South Carolina.
She said she understands that the situation is not the same for everybody and she admitted she is lucky her parents were "super understanding and supportive."
Ms Grayson said that moving in with her parents she was able to save over $2000 as she did not have to pay for rent, utilities, groceries, internet or cable.
The next step was to accept a travel speech language pathologist position instead of a permanent one.
Being classified as a "travel" therapist, she was entitled to housing, meals and a tax-free stipend, meaning she was able to save more.
Due to the pandemic, she started working remotely which essentially cut back her hours at work but also enabled her to get a part-time job on the side.
She explains that she saved the entire salary she was getting from her full-time job and only lived off her full-time job check.
Another useful tip was to set a weekly budget of $500 for herself.
"You have to calculate what your budget is based on your income and the bills that you pay.
"I kept my budget to $500 just to play it safe because you never know what happens but I didn't always spend $500 a week- I just wanted it to be there just in case I needed it.
"Try to figure out what is the perfect budget to live by and then gradually try to increase it," was her advice.
The fact that due to the coronavirus pandemic her student loans went into automatic forbearance was another reason she was able to save quicker.
However she explained that even though she did not have to pay the loans, she still "acted" like she had to and saved the money.
Another secret she shared was that she was able to make over $1000 by buying and reselling sneakers online.
With these simple tricks, Ms Grayson saved $20,000 in six months which added to the $10,000 she already had, was more than enough for her down payment for her first house.
As she saved "more money she ever dreamt of", she concluded by explaining that after her down payment, she used the rest of the money to furnish her home.
She said: "A lot of times when people buy a home they think 'Let me save what my down payment is, what my closing cost would be but nobody thinks of saving beyond that in order to get furniture.
"I am telling you all this to try to motivate you, encourage you to save and let you know it is possible!"
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