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Do you have personal spending money?

Hello everyone,

My partner and I have always had some personal spending money that we can spend without comment from the other person.
Now we have decided to pay off our debts once and for all I'm wondering whether we should be still doing this.
We won't be debt free for 8 years as things are being paid at the moment and our personal money would go towards reducing that. But I don't want to be without any "fun" money at all for that time.
Do you have any personal money and if so how much?
Would help me gauge if we're being sensible with this or not.
Any thoughts greatfully received.
Thank you :)
«13

Comments

  • bobble_hat
    bobble_hat Posts: 727 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Hello,
    I think it's really important to retain a little 'fun' money when you are working hard to pay off your debts otherwise it's like binge eating, you'll feel deprived then 'binge' by spending a huge wadge of cash instead of the small amount which you have already figured into your budgeting.

    Bobbly x
    "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." (Montgomery, L.M.(1908). Anne of Green Gables.)
    Debt Free Nerd No. 186 Debt was £16,534.03 Now £9,588.50
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    it best to do a soa and see if you actually have any money left over to spend!
    mfw'11 No68- 55k mortgage İO--little to nothing saved! i must do better.
  • rdchick
    rdchick Posts: 1,815 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I think you definitely need some wiggle room to play with otherwise you would go mad - it's like going on a diet and only eating fruit and veg - you'd soon get sick of it and have a blow out! I would say something like £20 a week - for stuff like a nice lunch at work on a friday or a drink after work or whatever - anything you don't spend that week either save it in an emergency fund or chuck it at your debts. My parents aren't in debt (that I know of) but my mum still gives my dad £20 pocket money for putting a bet on or whatever (he had a gambling problem when they first got together but he's totally cool now :)) so I think it's good practice :) xxx
    Life is too short not to love what you do.
  • rdchick
    rdchick Posts: 1,815 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    de1amo wrote: »
    it best to do a soa and see if you actually have any money left over to spend!

    This is also true - if you have no pennies then you have no pennies :)
    Life is too short not to love what you do.
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    A soa is the fundemental place to start because if you have arrears that will take 8 years to clear it is obvious that you have been spending beyond your means.
    mfw'11 No68- 55k mortgage İO--little to nothing saved! i must do better.
  • Hovel_lady
    Hovel_lady Posts: 4,291 Forumite
    Thanks for your quick replies :T
    We have a SOA and can "afford" the personal money we currently have. At the moment it's £40 a month each.
    Half our debt is a loan with 6 years to run. 4 credit cards that we only pay the minmum and an overdraft. We are reducing the overdraft as a priority at the moment as the bank is likely to want to reduce the limit again when it's due for renewal.
    Is £40 too much?
  • HappyMJ
    HappyMJ Posts: 21,115 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Always try to have some fun money...some personal spending money. It might only be £10 per week and require a bit of juggling of other numbers in the SOA but you can squeeze it in. If you budgeted let's say £200 per person per month for food and other groceries but shopped around and only spent £150 then you could reward yourself by using the excess £50 on yourself for anything you wanted. That's how I would do it anyway and if shopping really one month did come to £200 well it doesn't matter as it's been budgeted for.
    :footie:
    :p Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) :p Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. :p
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    personally i dont spend anything on myself. i am married with a daughter and everything i spend is for the family. We dont have any debt and save regularly but that is for the future--retirement and any bills that crop up(we dont loan money which avoids debt!)
    mfw'11 No68- 55k mortgage İO--little to nothing saved! i must do better.
  • mrsb83_2
    mrsb83_2 Posts: 914 Forumite
    Me and DH have £60 a month each for spending which we don't have to account for. It mostly gets spent on parking money, lunches, cigarettes etc. Anything that's left goes towards debt.

    When I first started budgeting, I tried to allocate every penny and we were both miserable. This way works really well for us, although I'm sure some would think it's too generous.
    Total Debt Sept 2010 - £24,132.38 / Current - £0.00/ 100% paid

    DFD - [STRIKE]Aug 2014[/STRIKE] 24th Aug 2012

    £10 a day // Jun - £64/£300 / Jul - £133/£310 / Aug - £281/£310
  • FireWyrm
    FireWyrm Posts: 6,557 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    My opinion is that £40 a month each is about right. It's not worth recinding this priviledge for the amount of debt it will pay off. As others have said, if you cut it back, you'll have a blow out. If you take this £40 (unless both parties are totally onside), it will only foster ill feeling. You have a long way to go in your journey and the last thing you need is to be snipping at each other for want of £40.
    Debt Free! Long road, but we did it
    Meet my best friend : YNAB (you need a budget)
    My other best friend is a filofax.
    Do or do not, there is no try....Yoda.

    [/COLOR]
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