How much do you live on per month?

Nottoobadyet

I give to charity regularly and include it in my budget (mostly as direct debits, on top of extensive vollunteering and working for a charity). I can afford what I give and I am very happy to help causes I beleive in - I hope I can give more in the future.

ilovecheese

We are very lucky as we only have one loan left (very low fixed interest rate) which finishes this August.

We have a total income of £2,650 and our bills and the loan come to £1,125, so we have £1,525 per month for food, petrol, spending, this will increase to £1675 after August.

We have in the past had over £84,000 worth of debt, £64,000 secured loan, and two personal loans for £10,000 each, so I do know what it is like to have no disposable income! (Along side a mortage of £130,000! :eek:) Thankfully we sold back in 2007 and managed to pay off nearly all our debts.

[Deleted User]

Keepgoing wrote: »

This is a great thread, but there's one thing that makes me pretty sad. This may not go down too well, and I do realise it's something people have to make their own minds up about, but ... does no-one out there give to charity, and budget regularly for that???

Obv some people may want to keep it quiet, and loads of people volunteer or donate time rather than money, but I'm a bit surprised that it doesn't seem to come up more in people's outgoings/expenditure. I don't mean the odd quid in a collecting jar, but regular donations. I fully understand that everyone's circumstances are different, and that in some ways we sometimes feel like we are the charity ourselves, lol! Can relate to that, as have had mental health issues for a long time, and quite literally have the bailiffs at the door at the moment myself.
BUT I have always believed in giving away even from what little I have, and doing so regularly. Whether you have religious beliefs, or believe in karma, or believe in humanity, or believe in nothing at all, what goes around tends to come around, and the one thing guaranteed in life is that there is ALWAYS someone out there worse off than you!

Yes I do, it's included in my regular monthly 'bills' budget - a small amount every month to my local village church fund, and I sponsor a child in south India through a small Christian charity at the equivalent of £2.60 a week. I also do voluntary work for a local charity and regularly donate to charity shops etc.

Lucy1010

Maybe someone can start a topic about charities? I am more interested in keeping to the theme of this topic which is about how much you have left to live on per month

Lucy1010

Lucy1010 wrote: »

Great replies so far, I honestly thought I had nothing to live on compared to friends and colleagues but it is comforting to read that those of you with children are managing on less.

I definitely will take the advice on withdrawing cash - as soon as I am paid I will budget £100 p/w and hope for rollover each week.

I was just reading back through this thread and laughed when I saw what I was budgeting for the week! £100!!!!!! Look what smoking does to a person, that is insane!

My budget is £20 this week

schoolrunmum

Sorry to go off thread,just wondering how the non-smoking is going Lucy??

Lucy1010

schoolrunmum wrote: »

Sorry to go off thread,just wondering how the non-smoking is going Lucy??

Hi SRM

Thanks for asking... I cannot believe it, I have not smoked, I don't want to smoke, I am so determined.

It is not easy... it's really really hard, so hard but I keep looking at my "My last cigarette" (MLC app on iphone) and it keeps me motivated as well as talking to the lovely people in the giving up smoking forum, I quit with their help.

Cyril

Lucy1010 wrote: »

Hi SRM

Thanks for asking... I cannot believe it, I have not smoked, I don't want to smoke, I am so determined.

It is not easy... it's really really hard, so hard but I keep looking at my "My last cigarette" (MLC app on iphone) and it keeps me motivated as well as talking to the lovely people in the giving up smoking forum, I quit with their help.

I don't suppose you've come across a giving up chocolate forum have you, I need to quit with someone's help.
Anyone please ...... Would save me about £8 a week.

lauzellen

I have a right soft spot for chocolate etc and with a shop across the road it was a killer to the finances and waist line.. so i've joined up to the NSD (no spend day) challenge and Grocery challenge (as chocolate etc would be included in the food budget) and so far it's working!! Helping to change my spending habits and thinking.

In reply to Lucys how much do you have to live on after expenditure I have a considerable amount this 14 months or so as i've worked very hard to get where I am (not always the case and i've been seriously on the breadline on income support completely in my overdraft with debts coming out my ears and as a single parent) but this has been ploughed into paying off debts the ex left me with (controlling/abusive and racked depts in my name) and now it shall start going into building up a house deposit. I've decided to start off budgeting £200 a month for groceries for me, my dd and my bf a couple of w/es a month and see where I can go with it.

ani_26

Hi everyone. Well i've done my weekly shop today. I walked to the supermarkets, for the exercise, to save petrol, which i very often do, and because they are cheaper than the local shop. 47p for my bread, for sandwiches, beans on toast etc, and 45p for my milk. I overspent, as i saw a bag apples for 79p from the value range. One looked as though it had a bite taken out of it, ( seriously, i'm sure it had ), the rest were bruised, so i asked the shop assistant if he would reduce them, and he took one look and said, ugh,yes, so i got a bag of apples for 29p yippee. Beggars can't be choosers, they just need a bit of minor surgery. So my shop came in at £1.21, minus the two 5p coins i found on monday = £1.11.


I think that will be it for this week. It remains to be seen how much i can spend, next week.