What do you consider a 'decent' salary (non-London)

Pete111

Interesting.

We are shortly to experience a 70% drop in household income as my other half is taking a few months off to de-stress from her extremely lucrative but very demanding job

My monthly take home is more than the OP's but in the same ball park. We have some expenses he does not have (ie a dog) so In terms of 'spare' cash it is probably roughly similar. We have recently worked out how much we will have left after all the essentials/bills are paid so we can see up front where we need to be more careful with cash.

Bearing in mind we are 2 people so food/bills etc are doubled, we should still have at least £1250 a month left after essentials for new clothes/ nights out/emergencies etc. This seems ok to us and we may even be able to keep saving a little (though we have spent years doing this /overpaying the mortgage that so it is not a priority currently)

My message to the OP is therefore: If you are genuinely concerned, make a few easy changes and be a touch more disciplined with yourself. The money will magically appear!

...also, you and I should probably be glad to earn what we do and realistically, moaning about it is only going to make you look a bit silly...

ThriftyFelicity

jojo90 wrote: »

Maybe I'm just unhappy and buying things makes me happy hence the problem.

Buying things doesn't create happiness, only the [temporary] illusion of it

I think that if you're going to succeed at changing your spending/saving habits, you need to do more than just spend less and save more.

You're 29, in a job with an excellent salary, no debts, no dependents, with friends and family close by, in good health (I'm assuming, as you've not said otherwise) etc etc.

And yet you're unhappy. Your first instinct is to blame it on your bank balance. If only you could save some money, then you'd be happy.

But would you? And is that what's really going on?

This is probably not going to be a popular view, but I think you would benefit from a bit of psychotherapy (yes I'm laughing as I'm typing this, because I know what most people think of psychotherapy and I also know that I am going to get for suggesting it).

But I think that finding the root of your unhappiness will make any change in your spending/saving habits a lot easier, and a lot more successful.

I have to warn you though -- it may be a very uncomfortable journey, should you decide to take it. Not nearly as much fun as those 8k holidays

Person_one

jojo90 wrote: »

I'm going to try and only spend £15-£20 on food. I reckon 2 x chickens = £8, re-use some spices for flavour, and some vegetables should be £15 for one person. £50 is a lot and guess I don't need things like salmon, olives, etc! I'm not going to include car travel in that although I will take out parking. Rest will be entertainment.

Thinking it through tho I already spend £30 p.c.m on entertainment, £10 for a spotify account, £20 for a giganews account, and £30 for Sky. My justification is £10 and £30 means I don't need to buy CDs or films. I'm not going to include that or I'll be screwed.

Basically it's going to be money in my pocket for the week with no cards and whatever regular payments and subscriptions come out my account aren't included. I think that's a good start for now.

Sainsburys basics olives, 99p a pot and not that bad actually!

mitchaa

jojo90 wrote: »

So how do you manage it then? How did you acquire £70k in cars and enough capital for a mortgage by 27? I'm guessing it's taken time to get to £55k? What does your budget look like to enable this to happen?

I'm guessing you have a £250k mortgage which is what, £50k deposit? £70k of cars is a total of £120k capital. Your take home at £55k is (assuming student loan) £36k. So did you save and live like a hermit for 4-5 years or is it all finance? Rich parents? Inheritance? Partner's income?

Dual income yes.

My wife was left an inheritance of £100k last year that went straight into upsizing our home. Equity and payments built up on our last 1, leaves us with around £200k mortgage on our current home. One car is financed yes, the other is not. (Doesn't make sense to have so much capital tied up in depreciating assets)

Neither of us have student debts having never set foot in university, and of course, everyone has to work their way up the salary scale but mine has been a more gradual path rather than from low to high through promotion.

I bought my first home in 2007 so certainly never benefitted from HPI, my parents are not rich and have never helped me financially, no.

I wouldn't class myself as rich nor wealthy, just comfortable. I/We certainly cannot afford to save £2k pm or anywhere near that amount even though our joint income will for the 1st time go through 6 figures this year.

Beast

We didn't go to university either... high five

custardy

popped in,seen enough
popping out

spugzbunny

custardy wrote: »

popped in,seen enough
popping out

:rotfl::T:rotfl:

ASmith

Don't think it's been asked yet...but, er what job do you do? Ha ha.

I also really recommend getting a weekly cash lump sum out. It's a great way to learn to respect your money. This way you have a visual reminder of how much you have spent and how much you have left to spend.

DCFC79

jojo90 wrote: »

Yeah I totally get that... but the holidays enable another of my true passions and life is dull without being able to look forward to the things that make you feel alive .

but could you not do that on a smaller budget,

jojo can i just add that if i was in your position, i would really look at my finances and work out where its going (which you have done) and i would seriously think about do you need to spend X amount on this and that

GEEGEE8

kr15snw wrote: »

£30 is very realistic!!

I am very lucky that while I am out of work my partner can afford to pay the bills but nothing else. Once I pay out for things like car insurance etc I'm left with £20 a week and this is exactly what we are living off!

£20 a week buys our food and anything else we want! Try living like that, it's not fun!!

But there is a distinct difference. I also try to spend just £20 a week on food and anything else, but just for myself mind you.

The OP wants to save money not live a hard life .

When you think 'realistic', for the OP, £50 is more realistic for him and what he is used to. Going down to £20 is not going to work, he already said he has issues with spending and I just think he would ditch it in with such a low amount.

Granted, some people live off very little, but the OP is fortunate to have a good wage and he could make use of it much better.. if he choses to have some fun with his spare cash then that is his choice, but he obviously wants to cut down and save. (or at least I hope so, otherwise we've all been wasting our time!)