‘Moving back home has helped me to save’

It was only meant to be a short-term arrangement when Laura Sears, 29, moved back in with her parents, Jacqui and Jeff, in 2018. Laura had just broken up with her boyfriend, with whom she lived, so she needed a place to stay, fast. ‘We had no issue with Laura moving back home,’ says Jacqui, 57, an investigator for the Financial Ombudsman Service. The plan was for Laura to stay at home while she got settled in her job and could then find a room in a house share. ‘After a couple of months, I realised that it was much more sensible to stay put and save to buy my own property instead,’ explains Laura, who works as a PR manager in the City.

Commuting to her job from the family home in Hornchurch, east London, was easy and Laura, Jacqui and Jeff, 58, quickly settled into a routine. ‘We don’t see her much,’ says Jeff. ‘We pick her up from the station most evenings, but by the time she’s back and has made dinner, it’s nearly bedtime.’ Laura is vegan, so she makes her own meals. ‘She does her own laundry and helps around the house occasionally, though probably not as much as I’d like her to,’ adds Jacqui.

Laura does pay rent, but nothing close to what she would be paying if she were living elsewhere. ‘Having her at home doesn’t massively affect our finances, so we don’t ask for much,’ says Jacqui. ‘We’ve put half of this money away for her as savings towards her eventual house deposit.’

In fact, Jacqui is using this opportunity to help make Laura better at budgeting. ‘She puts her savings into one of my old online accounts as soon as she gets paid and I pay her an amount each week into her current account, which helps limit her spending,’ explains Jacqui. ‘If she wants any more, she must ask me to transfer it over, which reduces the temptation to spend on things she doesn’t need.’

Laura is also saving into a Lifetime ISA and is hoping that she’ll have enough money to be able to buy her first home later this year.