How much disposable income do you have?

JES_F1

It's been a very long time since I had anything that I would describe as 'disposable income'.

Prior to my 'lightbulb moment' at the beginning of 2008, I was spending a lot of money on going away (several long weekends away plus a holiday), eating out, and buying lots of nice stuff that I 'needed/wanted'. But the credit cards were buying this stuff, not me.

I actually have a really good salary. Once debt free, I shall be able to afford to do lots of great things without having to rely on credit - I shall be able to eat out, have a weekend break or two, a holiday, and some nice things, just not on the scale that got me into this mess.

I'm currently on a debt management plan with the CCCS so don't consider any of my income to really be 'disposable' - it's all allocated to something. My monthly payment to my DMP is almost £800 a month so if I were debt free, I would consider roughly that sort of amount to be my disposable income.

NellyM029

Hi,
I am 31 and managed to accrue so much debt that half my income goes on it add that together with rent and bills and I have £350 a month for food, petrol and disposable stuff. I'm getting overtime at the minute which helps a lot, but this will end in Jun .

Plus as I can only afford the minimum payment I see no end in sight! And petrol just gets more and more expensive!!!

seafarers_wife

we have approx 1K left after all bills, essential savings such as NI payments, car maintenance & other car stuff and debt payments, so basically oh's wage covers everythign and mine is fun money and savings money. 1 loan will be paid off next month (paid off early) so that will be an extra 250 into the spare cash pot. we dont spend it all, most of it is saved and we have each have £150 fun money and the rest goes into either general savings pot or his isa (which is being used partly as a potential pension/retirement saving).

i cant wait for next january as the 2nd loan will be paid off early and then it will just be the car payment thats left. so close yet so far!

oh for the record we are 24 and 25

Skippycat

I'm 28 and pay £600 per month into a joint account I share with OH (OH pays £600 too). The joint account covers mortgage, gas, electric, water, insurance, food etc). That leaves me with £580 per month for myself for travel (approx £50 per month), going out, clothes, hair, savings, charity etc. It can be a bit higher if I've worked any overtime though.

Beast

We're young-ish (27 and 24) and have around £3,000 spare after all the essentials, most of which is saved.

Having said that we don't have kids yet which I'd imagine will dent that a lot when the time comes. We also only have one fairly small car which keeps costs down.

NGlady

deleted, pressed enter too soon lol.

NGlady

I am 21 and would fit into the single catagory, havn't had my first pay cheque yet from my new job, but I estimate it'll be around £1000 pcm.

I pay £130 to live at home which basically includes everything - £70 on buses to work - and £100 on debt and phone bill. So in theory I could have £700 for me.
But I won't, I have set up lots of different saving pots, which cover everything from saving for a car at £250 with insurance at £50pcm to in case I need a new laptop at £15pcm and glasses at £20pcm, I wanted to strip down my disposable income enough to still have a very good life but save plenty to but didn't want to just throw all my savings at one source.

I had two canarian holidays last year one last minute thing to Tenerife and one to Lanzarote, and loved it I am saving 50pcm for an holiday along with throwing any bonuses ill get at work to it

I estimate I will probably be frivverlous with £260pcm, this covers any non essential travel and if I decide to have my dinner at work, along with clothes etc. This works out at £8.66 p/day, which I shall hopefully save up as I go along the week so I can treat myself at the weekend

Currently also got a spare change tin to pay for a dress I have to buy to a christening in June

Also I am saving for xmas at £50pcm im considering things like park catalogue at the mo

Sorry for rambling lol.

zarazara

not enough left at the end of the month unfortunately.

MrsE_2

elvis86 wrote: »

I was just wondering, after you've paid all your "fixed" bills (eg mortgage/rent, utilities, transport), how much do you have left a month to spend on food, clothes, going out etc?

Particularly interested in younger single people, as I'd like to know how I fare compared to others?

A little less than I would like:rotfl:

joe_purdy

I'm 18 and just changed my hours from 14 (this was while i was at college) to 28 hours a week at the start of april, only working as a customer assitant but hoping to train up in management within the next few years

so when i next get paid (my first decent wage) i will get around £750 after tax and national insurance.

I only pay £80 a month board to my mum at the moment although think realisticly it should be more and i dont have anything else to pay for apart from my driving lessons but i pay in blocks on 12 and only have 1 a week so thats like every 3 months

So that leaves me with £670 a month which is pretty good going i suppose. Im not silly with my money though and do try to save a good amount each month. I also have several "money boxes" in my room which cant be opened unless using a tin opener so i cant be tempted! I save £5 a week for christmas, have a "holiday fund" tin and also have a little pot which i put randon pounds in then when my phone needs topping up i just use that!

sorry to blab on, i find it really intresting how much people have left, hoping that one day i'll have as much as some of you