How much money per week for "spends" after ALL bills have been paid.

Souk08

I have about £50 a week for spends after everything. I don't have much debt and have a great social life which is what I choose to spend my money on.

sulkisu

As others have said, it really depends on your current financial situation and what you are trying to achieve. Assuming that you have no debts - are you trying to save and how much do you need to save? Work out how much you need to put aside each week to meet this goal. If you have serious debts, then it would be wise to forget about 'pocket money' for now - especially as you have included items such as lottery tickets and haircuts in your essentials/bills spend. It's a difficult question to answer without knowing your financial situation.

Edit: Sorry, I thought you were asking how much you should have as 'pocket money' - not howmuch do we have. I'm having a blonde morning:o.

I allocate myself £100 a month although I rarely spend it all. This is for my clothes, cosmetics, going out, books/mags/cds. Anything left over rolls over to the next month in my instant access account - current balance is about £480. I earn a good wage- £68k- and have low outgoings. I have cleared my debts and now save at least £1500 a month, so £100 a month is probably a bit mean, but my spending /saving habits have changed so much since my LBM that I find it hard to spend money on things that I don't really need.

gonzo127

sulkisu wrote: »

I allocate myself £100 a month although I rarely spend it all. This is for my clothes, cosmetics, going out, books/mags/cds. Anything left over rolls over to the next month in my instant access account - current balance is about £480. I earn a good wage- £68k- and have low outgoings. I have cleared my debts and now save at least £1500 a month, so £100 a month is probably a bit mean, but my spending /saving habits have changed so much since my LBM that I find it hard to spend money on things that I don't really need.

this i think is the perfect example of why it depends on your situation as to whats reasonable 'spends'

someone on 68k a year and a £100 a month (which i think probably is a bit on the low side in your situation but hey if you are not spending it all anyway real big well done)
or me 21k a year (family of 5) so only £10 a month

property.advert

sulkisu wrote: »

....but my spending /saving habits have changed so much since my LBM that I find it hard to spend money on things that I don't really need.

I think this is the real benefit and a seismic shift in thinking. I shouldn't need to even do the lottery but years thinking the gravy train would roll on forever and putting off what would have been sensible long term investments whilst spending umpteen thousands on absolute unnecessary items and gross indulgence left me in the lurch when I should be retired.

I feel that my actual discretionary spending will always remain low and whilst I may pass on £1/2 a go surveys if things get back to high income levels again, I doubt I will ever go out shopping on a Saturday afternoon and see it mutate into a multi bottle champagne fest with hundreds of pounds spent.

I cannot say that experiencing difficulties is a good thing but if I can get past it and although the vast amounts I should have will never be recouped, I may well see a period of asset accumulation in the future rather than a trail of woeful and wasteful spending.

Souk08

That's the thing pa, even if I got an extra 10K in my salary tomorrow I would never go back to buying lunch out for work every day, for example.

pault123

Paying off credit card debt at around £200+ a month at the moment. This could be increased to £400 at the expense of having no spending money.

On 0% interest rate tart style card method, and one on 3.4% for life marks and spencer card.

The question is as its on such a good interest rate do I go all out and skint myself in a rush to pay the banks back, or be sensible and carry on living well and keeping debt repayments on the lower side.

What is a good happy medium of debt payments VS spends 50%/50% or 80%/20% when on good interest rates.

ps. if i was on 60k i think 50% of it would be spent on good living!

Ames

About £100 a week, but that also has to cover my care needs which aren't fixed and vary every week. It's hard for me to say how much is frivolous spending and how much is care needs, as for instance my psychiatrist told me I have to face up to situations that make me panic, such as going into town when it's busy. So I make a point of going into town regularly and having a coffee. So that could be spends or care needs depending how you look at it. And some weeks I have to spend more on equipment and things.

joe_purdy

I have £150 per week left after bills being paid, saying that im only 18 and i live at home only have to pay board each week and the only over expensense i have is my driving lessons which are £20 a week. I dont spend no where near the £150 though and do try to save a fair sum.

I have 2 jobs, my main job is at tesco where i work 28 hours a week and get paid monthly but i also work in a local toy shop thursday and friday mornings which i get paid cash in hand weekly, after tax it works out at £27.01 and i try not to spend more than that in a week on social etc...

Souk08

I'm really interested in the answers to Pauls above post as I had the same dilema at the start of the year. For me personally I need a lot of social stuff going on so I'm paying off gradually but we're all different and I do admire people who can throw all their money at their debt.

Tixy

A first glance £40 seems quite a bit, especially considering you have a number of entertainment items already budgeted for.
But I would also be budgeting for other items (such as car servicing, mot, new tyres, house repairs etc). But assuming that the £40 has to cover that and things such as presents, clothes, holidays/days out then then it probably doesn't work out as all that much each week averaged over a whole year.