<prompt> Human: Hi personal finance!Im 23 years old, started working a 80k job back in July, and got my student loans paid off right away. As the title says, I dont have any plans to buy a home anytime soon probably 5 years at the earliest..., but I have no idea how to plan for it. How much money should I be putting away for it right now? I already have my emergency fund built up, and am putting away 10 of my salary into 401k. Take home salary after taxes and 401k is roughly 50k, and my monthly expenses currently total up to about 18,500year Additionally, I grew up in a family with not a lot of money, and have always been too frugal to the point of it being a problem to this point in my life... So Ive been making an effort to spend money on things that I never have before e.g. nice clothes, to see what I find useful to spend money on, so Im not planning on saving an above-average amount for the next year or two, but Ill probably ramp up the savings after 2 years compounding interest yada yada I know, trust me I knowWith all that being said, how much should I be saving for a house, and where should I be putting that money? I know it depends on how expensive of a house I want, and how much of a down payment I want... but I dont know yet... Should I approach it as I will put away X of my salary for a house, and then re-evaluate it every year?, if so, what would you guys suggest that percentage be? Right now Im putting away 10 of my salary into 401k, but my company matches 6, should I be doing something else with that 4? Another factor: I doubt Id want to buy before having a financially independent spouse, but I assume that I should not factor this in to my savings because you never know who you will fall in love with : Any tips in this regard?Thanks for any advice anyone!  <response>: You should back your way into the savings number,instead of saying Ill save X percent. Figure out what youd be willing to spend on a house in 5 years or so, then figure out a reasonable down payment. Then create some sort of detailed plan on how and when youll get there. If you decide 60K is your number, you could say the first two years I want to save up 20K and then once you ramp up you can save 40K in the next three. So then you calculate how much you need to save per month to get to these numbers. Ive found its easier to save with the goal of hitting a certain number, because then you can see if you are ahead or behind in your plan and adjust it accordingly. 