Is £200 a Month Enough???

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Sandgrownun wrote:

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!

council rates......tv licence......christmas.....car maintinance..... car tax/insurance..... tyres........dentist....birthday presents......household appliances..... emergencies spends.....etc

dancingfairy

Christmas/Birthdays/car tax/car insurance/emergency pot in case the car breaks down/ the washing machine breaks etc? Council Tax? T.V Licence? haircuts? chocolates? smoking? magazines? prescriptions? contact lenses/ glasses? pets?

pollyanna24

Me and bf "give" ourselves £400 each out of our wages to do what we want with. This month I have saved £179 out of it, so I managed to only spend £221 out of my money. However, I rarely buy clothes (I hate shopping) and rarely go out boozing/clubbing. All my choices. My money mainly went on booze we drank at home and a few takeaways or restaurants.

I know my bf always puts away £100 of his £400 with the intention of saving it each month, but it is there in case he is short of money.

TOBRUK

I agree with COOLTRIKERCHICK £50 to spend a week on 'luxuries' is a lot if you are REALLY serious about wanting to pay off your overdraft. I don't mean to sound hard and please do not take this the wrong way, but if you want this to work you have to set a realistic budget. You do sound a little half hearted about doing it (or perhaps that is the way I read it) ut you CAN do it.

From my understanding looking at your SOA, your income is between 1400 - 1500. Your total outgoing is 1,015. That leaves you between 385.00 - 485.00 and that after your food/household spending, from that you could easily save 200 a month or more.

I am on a tight budget and I allow myself £40 a week (which I take out every Tuesday or Wednesday) and that includes money for my grocery shopping! Before I go to the supermarket (after working out my meals for the week) I go online to that supermarket, make a list and put the price down. When I go to the shop I stick to the list - this is important. Look out for offers on the things I use and buy those then.

All my bills, utilities etc are paid by direct debit, including tv licence. It is rare that I buy clothes, and hardly ever buy cosmetics - ask yourself do you really need them! I know it's hard, but it depends if you really want to do it.

Money saving old style forum is a good place for you to look. Also, do not buy ready made meals - cook from scratch, you will save a packet.

Sandgrownun

TOBRUK wrote:

You do sound a little half hearted about doing it (or perhaps that is the way I read it) ut you CAN do it.
.

I am well serious about this but I'm new to all this saving, never really done it before. The reason why I want to keep £200 to spend is because I am only 24, my job is pretty intense and stressful and I reckon I will get ill if I don't have treats!! It may sound a bit far fetched but I don't want depression to set in!

Cheers for your suggestions.

new_leaf_6

I think that once you want to cut back it becomes easier. Being here on this site changes how you think about spending. It's a "born again" feeling when you realise that you've changed your mind set moneywise. £200 is a lot of money to spend on yourself for non-essentils. Not long ago I would have thought it was far too little but then I came here.

PabloNeruda

£200 is loads. You should aim for less. It's easy.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

with what i have read.... you class takeaways and booze for the house as treats.. not clothes and makeup is this right ?

if i got this right.. even £50 a week on 'treats' like takeaways and booze is a bit much.... what do you drink champayne lol....

you need to cook from scratch...etc......and if you feel that your job doesnt give you that much time.... invest in a slow cooker and go to the os board tobruk said.. there is fantastic recipes and moneysaving ideas.... without giving up the luxury of nice meals etc...

as for depression..... believe me..... i am talking from experince here.......i wish i hadnt spent all the money i did on 'treats' as that just got me further into debt... and now the depression which is caused by stress... about bills and trying to make ends meet... and the drepession about being a failure because i could not control my 'treat' spending and budgeting properly.... is a million times worse... than feeling a bit low and saying to heck with it lets go and cheer myself up by buying something.. whether it was clothes things for the house or a takeaway....

if you feel you got to 'treat yourself' because you want to stop feeling low or depressed..... then thats a diff ball game... and maybe you need to find out why you got these feelings.......

i know it all started with me with being insecure and not having confidence.....outside i might be a bubbly life and sole of the party but inside.... i just want to cry.....

i'm going off topic a bit now...sorry......

Imelda

Hi there!

What I spend depends entirely on what is going on that month, as a rule I give myself £20 to spend Mon- Fri on lunches, the odd birthday card/ stamps, a drink after night school. Whatever is left over gets put into my piggy bank. Then Friday after work I give myself £30 to spend over the weekend. I find I have to control myself like this or I would draw out £50 on Monday and have nothing left by Thursday.
Join the daily what have you spent thread, and keep a diary of where your money goes.
Also, your OD, does your pay go into this account? I found it disheartening when my pay went in but I was still overdrawn, could you open another account and treat the OD like a loan to repay? The keep the new account overdraft free...

Sorry I have waffled!

Sandgrownun

I usually always cook food from scratch as I'm a bit of a health freak. My food bills are usually reasonable as I eat mostly fruit and veg rice etc so thats good.

When I say I need to spend money on treats to make sure I don't get depressed I mean spending on leisure and socialising, buying clothes doesn't make me happy, in fact it does the opposite it brings me out in a bit of a cold sweat at the moment, maybe my mindset is changing woo hoo!! I don't really buy takeaways that much as they are full of rubbish. I realised a while ago that insecurity in myself makes me spend I so hear you COOLTRIKERCHICK it is the truest thing ever, I'm a Social Worker by trade and I've witnessed service users I work with doing the exact same thing on a massive scale its a viscious cycle, its made me realise and reflect on my own behaviour.

I like the idea about £20 mon-fri then piggy banking the left overs. Also £30 for the weekend is good. I'm going to try that cheers Imelda!!