Is £200 a Month Enough???

Sandgrownun

Hi,

I I really trying to save money at every angle to pay of my overdraft and after doing a budget I thought I would leave £200 per month as disposable type income e.g. for cosmetics, clothes, shoes, going out, other luxuries etc. I can't really work out whether that will be enough or too much or too little, what do other people think.

What is a reasonable amount of spending on non-essentials??

Cheers Everyone.

skintas_2

i think thi is maybe to much, maybe £120 a month, i dont buy new clothes every month. i buy from market they have a stall with clothes for a£1 each. 2 weeks ago i bought a suit jacket and jumper, all new. if i buy cosmetics i buy from the market or savers. if i go out i drive even to niteclub so dont drink much which saves money . or i get nites bus home. what sort of socialising do you do ..i go niteclubs every other week be lucky if i spend £20, still have a good nite

Mrs_Sparkle

Hi, it's difficult to say. I'm allowing myself £200 this month for non-essentials but am hoping not to spend it all. It really depends on your lifestyle- I used to happily spend £300-400 a month EVERY month on clothes and shoes. Now the thought of this horrifes me. But I do believe you need to allow yourself enough leeway for treats otherwise you'll feel down about it. Trial and error is sometimes the only way- give £200 a try and you might find it's too much or not enough and you can adjust next month.

betti911

I've worked out my weekly spend rather than my monthly spend so that I can calculate it in my spend diary. I find that a bit easier.

You could always work out how much you spend at the moment and how much you could cut down on? Thats what I did but I'm just starting out. Ask me in 6 months if I've been sucessfull!

Sandgrownun

thanks skintas that makes me feel better, some people who I have said it to feel its a paltry amount and I really can't work it out. I think I will just have to see how it goes. I will try to not buy clothes every month but it'll be hard! I do drink when I go out but not loads, there aren't really any nite buses but I can try my hardest to share taxis etc. It would be brilliant if I could only spend £120 like you then I could save an extra £80! Really want to get my overdraft sorted I keep breaking out in a cold sweat as I've just moved into a new house on my own and am getting scared as at the moment I don't have a contingency fund.

Anyway I'm going to do a signiture soon to keep track of how I'm doing.

Thanks

Sandgrownun

in fact thanks to everyone!

I used to easily be able to spend £400 etc on rubbish, cannot believe what I was doing! This site is a revelation!

I feel much more positive now.

crawley_girl

Sandgrownun wrote:

Hi,

I I really trying to save money at every angle to pay of my overdraft and after doing a budget I thought I would leave £200 per month as disposable type income e.g. for cosmetics, clothes, shoes, going out, other luxuries etc. I can't really work out whether that will be enough or too much or too little, what do other people think.

What is a reasonable amount of spending on non-essentials??

Cheers Everyone.

I think we are all different and lead different lifestyles and make difference life choices. Maybe if you tell us a bit more about your life and social life and spending then maybe we could be more productive in helping you to trim down a budget. Maybe a SOA?

Take care

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

Mrs_Sparkle

Sandgrownun wrote:

in fact thanks to everyone!

I used to easily be able to spend £400 etc on rubbish, cannot believe what I was doing! This site is a revelation!

I feel much more positive now.

Oh me too hun! I've spent thousands over the years on clothes which hang in my wardrobe waiting for the right occasion. This site has changed me for the better and I wish I'd found it years ago :mad:

lynzpower

I think its important to think, OK, how long can I go without toiletries, cosmetics, clothes etc for?

I turned out all my cupboards, drawers. make up bag etc and had a full "stocktake" of what was there. I did a load of clever things like using some of my stockpile of bath foam for shower gel & handwash, using up the dregs of shampoos and conditioners that had been hanging about, and scrounged loads of bits like this from family. ( all those bath baskets mum gets given and never used!)

Clothes, well I havent really bothered. No real point if I dont NEED anything. I think this is vital to understanding the differnece between WANT and NEED. By all means buy a pair of shoes (*can you get them cherap, can you get from an outlet village, or with quidco cashback? can you get them for a birthday etc)

Now I must say I have been essentuially very hardcore in non spending. But it has reaped massive dividends.

Im rambling now, but hope that this makes sense

Sandgrownun

Ok here goes

Income - about 1300 after tax I have an extra job and get mileage so that can add 100-200.

Mortgage - 579
Car Loan (from work only 4% apr) 106
Gas & Leccy £30 but may rise
Petrol approx £150
Water £15
Phone £15
Food approx £120

Can anyone think of other expenses? I'm good at missing things!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi... if you break it down to weekly ..that more or less £50. a week.... to be honest... could you forgo your shopping sprees for a while and use this money to pay off debt...

dont get me wrong everyone got to have treats...

so why dont you check out the boots thread for their loopholes for make up and also the tescos health and beauty leaflets that are around at the mo... if you work it right you are getting your stuff for pennies....

clothing.... there are tescos money off coupons around at mo.... which could bring your clothing spend right down...

i used to spend loads on clothes etc when i was younger and most of them was either worn once or not at all:eek:
now i am lucky to buy myself something once or twice a year

but this week i am going to treat my self via the tescos clothing money off vouchers..

i also found that searching for freebies was much better than spending money... go round the beauty counters and ask for samples...... its suprising what they will give you:D

i have changed my defination of treats.... treats for me is the buzz of getting something for free or exploiting a loophole to get something....

everyone is diff.... so work out what amount would suit you.. without it being impulse buys or i want it because?????