"I’ve just bought my first house with my partner, and we made the decision to leave London (CRAMPED!) and move down to Brighton (SEA!). I never thought this would happen as 18 months ago, I was nearly £14,000 in credit card debt, had an overdraft I had set up camp in, ran out of money every month and had my head completely in the sand about my situation. I also never thought I’d qualify for a mortgage as my credit rating was terrible, but here we are, many difficult and embarrassing conversations and habit changes later. I must also clarify that the deposit for our house was my partner’s money from a previous house she sold. Although my salary is higher than hers, I have no savings to speak of so please don’t think I stopped buying avocados in February and by November I had a house deposit. I am extremely fortunate that she had the deposit and then everything for the house is split 50/50."