£50 a week too much pocket money?

thriftychick

I think £50 a week is an awful lot. We used to have £50 a month each and thought that was loads. Since we've been in debt, OH has roughly £10 per month which mainly goes on coffee at work and sponsoring workmates/leaving collections etc. (nothing exciting) and I don't have anything but all we want is to pay off the debt that we are sick of hanging around our necks. I don't know what I would spend £50 a week on now!

whatatwit

Sugar hunny, for now, I would concentrate on your own spendind diary, and then when OH is in a happy mood....you know when to find a weak moment!!!
maybe make a small suggestion, as you have said though, tread carefully.

Keep us posted (I'm not nosy) honest

Sugarhunny1

My hormones are going mad i think! Feeling down at last post but enjoying this thread. Must be hormones!

spending diary for today....
apple - 0.31
sandwich - £1.89
hmmm.... makes £2.20

Wont be spending anything else as got to collect kids from school then home.
Oh quick question, I need a haircut (costs approx £8) Should that come out of 'ME' moneyor house money?

Penny-Pincher!!

We are from this month allowing ourselves £25 each per month as pocket money:D

Sugarhunny1-I think your downfalls are defintley the packed lunches. For instance-you have spent £2.20 today on lunch. If you do this say 4 times a week, thats £8.80pw=£458pa or £38per month.....it soon adds up

Have you thought about meal planning? Maybe if you did this, you could make extra and take to work. When DD was pack lunches, I used to buy the reduced decent loaves then make them up with cheese, ham or marmite and freeze them in bags and just grab out when needed. Do you have access to a MW at work and toaster? Maybe a baked spud with a cold filling kept in fridge or beans, beans on toast etc etc.

Why dont you pop over to the OS board as Im sure we can help you cut down on food spending. What are your weekly spends like on food etc?

Hugs and chin up!

PP
xx

climbgirl

I think bambywamby has summed it up perfectly - it's all about percentages, not a £ value. And frankly spending 25% of your income on fun when you're in debt isn't a good idea...

Although having said that, I can understand where hubby is coming from - if he's working all hours, he should have a bit to enjoy. One thing that struck me is that you're both working long hours but the combined income seems pretty low. Any chance of finding jobs that pay slightly higher?

There are some good ideas suggested on this thread to help him bring it down without feeling too deprived. I hope they work out for you.

Sugarhunny1

Thanks for replying PP.

Today for me wasnt the norm. Normally i take cereal to work and find that very cheap (40p for milk) As i said i have three jobs...

Job 1= seasonal colleague. only work when it suits me (Kinda)
Job 2 = 8 hours on a sunday
Job 3= 12 hours. Very flexible hours

Job 1 = Neglible
job 2 = £2197 before tax
Job 3 = £4500

O/H

Job 1 = £13'000
job 2 = £2,197 Before tax
What does that total = £21,894

We dont have any skills that could bring us more money and barely have time to ourselves, although we always make a saturday our family day.

O/H doesnt go to the pub (although he does like a drink) and doesnt have many friends. I go out once a month with a few friends from work and have tried to encourage him to do the same but he seems very reluctant!

whatatwit

A haircut should come out of ME money, I presume OH pays for his, or gets you to do it.

all_hours

Sugarhunny1 wrote:

We dont have any skills that could bring us more money and barely have time to ourselves, although we always make a saturday our family day.

O/H doesnt go to the pub (although he does like a drink) and doesnt have many friends. I go out once a month with a few friends from work and have tried to encourage him to do the same but he seems very reluctant!

You could work out how much income you would need if you weren't repaying the debt. Do some 'what if' SOAs.

£8000 debt - minimum payments must be at least £160. Perhaps that's the carrot you could dangle - once you are debt free he could give up his extra job and spend more time with the family or do some study to gain further skill to get a higher paying job.

edited to add - the take home from his extra job is actually less than what he has as pocket money.

Sugarhunny1

Payments for our debt is currently...
£135 for car loan - £4000 left to pay at 0%
£50 minimum payment to credit card - £3950 left to pay at 0%

We have sold loadsa stuff on Ebay and have over £1000 (trying to get interest)in a savings account and try and put as much as we can in that as the credit card is only 0% till september and hope to pay it off before then.

Sugarhunny1

Payments for our debt is currently...
£135 for car loan - £4000 left to pay at 0%
£50 minimum payment to credit card - £3950 left to pay at 0%

We have sold loadsa stuff on Ebay and have over £1000 (trying to get interest)in a savings account and try and put as much as we can in that as the credit card is only 0% till september and hope to pay it off before then.