Luxuries

KarmaPolice

How much a week/month do you allow to spend on yourself - i.e. little luxuries after all the bills are paid.

The reason I'm asking is that my hubby and I are trying to save to pay off the mortgage and I don't know if we are trying to save too hard as there is always too much month at the end of the money!!!

We leave ourselves a couple of hundred (per month) for birthdays, and unexpected things that crop up.

I would be interested to hear if you guys have a religious routine or do you just play it by ear.

Ta much!!!

pstones578

KarmaPolice wrote: »

How much a week/month do you allow to spend on yourself - i.e. little luxuries after all the bills are paid.

The reason I'm asking is that my hubby and I are trying to save to pay off the mortgage and I don't know if we are trying to save too hard as there is always too much month at the end of the money!!!

We leave ourselves a couple of hundred (per month) for birthdays, and unexpected things that crop up.

I would be interested to hear if you guys have a religious routine or do you just play it by ear.

Ta much!!!

Me and the misses budget for all shopping and household expense and then have a £250 fund for whatever we feel like during the month. Works quite well and we don't feel like we're penny pinching for penny pinching sake.

sarmia

KarmaPolice wrote: »

How much a week/month do you allow to spend on yourself - i.e. little luxuries after all the bills are paid.

The reason I'm asking is that my hubby and I are trying to save to pay off the mortgage and I don't know if we are trying to save too hard as there is always too much month at the end of the money!!!

We leave ourselves a couple of hundred (per month) for birthdays, and unexpected things that crop up.

I would be interested to hear if you guys have a religious routine or do you just play it by ear.

Ta much!!!

Hi, my partner and I pay a set amount into a 'bills acc' each month to pay all bills excluding anything car related, then pay £50.00 each per week into savings acc (though soon to be towards childcare costs in jan :-() which leaves me roughly £300 and my partner more as he earns more.

Alion

I leave myself £250 after bills and mortgage. I usually have quite a bit left though and it always makes me proud to drop a bit extra into my savings...

Debt_Free_Chick

I budget the other way around ..... I save £x per month after bills - currently putting maximum into a S&S ISA, so £583 per month. If we eat out or want a more expensive bottle of wine, I do that from the monthly budget and try to find somewhere else to cut back on.

My "personal spending money" is only about £50 a month and I don't usually spend all of that.

I guess it depends on what you mean as "luxuries" - to some people, my luxuries would be "necessary" and their luxuries might be things I would never spend any money on.

I think we have to decide on our own luxuries and how much we're prepared to spend on them each month. I'm currently downsizing my lifestyle (even more!!! :eek:) ... but that's another story - it could be "mid-life crisis" or "menopausal" ... I'm not sure :rotfl:

David_B_2

My wife and I tend to put most of the money into various savings & our ISA's as well as paying extra on the mortgage. We still have a little left for extras if we so wish. Otherwise we always have a threshold in the ICICI saving account for paying car tax, insurance, services, other etc and if we want something else such as new washing machine or luxuries then again we’ll use this money rather than borrowing on credit cards. I would say we save quite hard but don't really go without, if we want something then we’ll get it but do some research first and get the best deal etc.

Ok, we want rid of the mortgage ASAP but we want to live a little as well, we have a young son just turned 2 and even thou we don't throw money at him we still want to be able to go out and enjoy the time we don't have to work.

Dithering_Dad

I pay £1700 each month into a "Bills account" where all our direct debits are paid from - mortgage, utils, insurance, etc.

I then pay £1200 into Mrs Dither's account for housekeeping and all themeals out and treats and birthdays, etc. etc.

The rest goes into our offset account.

InMyDreams

Totally agree with Debt_Free_Chick. 'Luxury' means completely different things to different people, so to put a figure (or even a percentage of income) to what you spend on luxuries is meaningless because it depends on what you put in that category. If you actually *had* to, I'm sure most of what you consider necessary you could actually live without, albeit a different standard of living to what you may be accustomed to. But that doesn't mean you should necessarily be denying yourself.

I'm also with Debt_Free_Chick in her attitude towards treating herself. Once a balance is found such that you are living within your means and saving what you are comfortable with, if you want to splash out in one area, then do without somewhere else. I see it very much like being on a diet. No point pulling in the reigns too far or you won't stick to it, but at the same time be realistic with how much you can afford/eat which is different for everyone. Don't be thinking 'is that new jacket worth denting my savings for?' but be thinking 'is that new jacket worth forgoing those shoes I was saving up for or that night out I had planned next week or the train ticket I was planning buy to go and see my parents?' It will help you determine where it is on the need/want spectrum. Then, if appropriate, spend the money guilt-free, knowing that you were going to spend it on something else anyway (as long as you then don't go and get the something else too) or don't spend the money, knowing that you are spending it on something more worthy or will give you more satisfaction anyway. If you feel you are repeatedly denying yourself, maybe you are saving too much. Or maybe after a few months you will start to change your ideas about what is 'necessary' and what you 'deserve' and appreciate more the things you take for granted at the moment. Either way, it's a personal choice, and comparing with what others spend on what they deem to be luxuries, won't help you make that choice.

ailuro2

We buy what we want, go out when we want and at the start of each month put half of what is left after all credit card/direct debits/mortgage have been paid into our holiday savings fund.After the holidays it will be going into mortgage overpayments.

The thing is we 'want' within our means according to where we are going on holiday/coming up to Christmas.

We have an extravagant month now and then, when we will book a hotel or pay for concert tickets and the credit card bill will be up (gets paid every month but we spend on it for free cashbacks)