Simple budget secrets young family uses to save money

Sean and Danielle Coffin with their children, Brooklyn and Lara, upsized their home about a year ago. Picture: Josie Hayden. Parents Danielle and Sean Coffin adopted several smart money-saving strategies before upsizing to a house with their two children. The couple also spent years planning and educating themselves about property and finance, reading books such as The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape. About a year ago, they bought a four-bedroom residence in Melbourne’s south east where their son Brooklyn, aged 5, and daughter Lara, 4, love the backyard trampoline and vegetable garden. RELATED: How Melbourne couple paid off their mortgage in five years Victorian homebuyers take biggest mortgage gamble to enter market How Melbourne buyers save $400,000 in school zones Prior to their relationship, Ms Coffin owned an apartment – which she has since sold – while her husband bought a house in his twenties. They rented a unit for a few years while renovating Mr Coffin’s home in order to sell it, all while searching for their dream house. Ms Coffin said although their new home’s larger mortgage repayments were “a bit scary”, they had adopted practical methods to budget. Her husband joked ...