Charlotte Fletcher is a 33-year-old single mom-of-two who managed to buy a luxury $275,000 house in Coventry by saving up $20,000 for the deposit in only five months.
The mother, who works 37 hours per week as a mental health nurse, successfully saved the deposit amount not only by working overtime but also by running her own business offering Botox on the side.
While working hard had plenty of drawbacks, including the mom barely having the chance to see her 6-year-old daughter Chyna-Coco and 9-year-old Harrison, it allowed her to save enough to pay for the 7% deposit.
Tired of renting and waiting for someone to buy a new home with, Charlotte decided to handle things on her own.
Speaking to The Sun as a part of their My First Home series, the 33-year-old single mom said:
“I live in a three-bed house in the Bellway estate in Coventry with my son Harrison who’s nine and daughter Chyna-Coco who’s six.
“It’s a new build with a garden and a driveway. The kids have their own room too. We only moved in at the end of September so we’re still getting used to it but I absolutely love it.
“At first, I looked into shared ownership because I thought that was the only way that a single person can buy a house. But I knew that they were building a development around the corner from where I was living for a new build estate.
“I was sick of renting so I thought I’d go along and have a look anyway and I went through things with the advisers who made me realize that I could actually afford to do it on my own.”
Speaking of how she managed to save up enough for the deposit, the hardworking mom said:
“I figured that I’d need to save at least £2,000 a month so I took on as much overtime as possible. My normal working week is 37 and a half hours but I topped that up with around 12 hours in overtime working in A&E or in the crisis team.
“I also run an aesthetics business that specializes in treatments like Botox so I would meet with those clients on evenings and on weekends. I can earn anything from £200 to £1,000 a week depending on how many treatment clients I have.
“I cut back on our spending too. I managed to cut my weekly food bill down from £75 to £30 by shopping at Aldi rather than Asda. I would also spend about £50 a week entertaining the kids on weekends, taking them to the soft play area and things like that. Instead we’d do free things like go to the park and they loved it.”
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