So how much do you spend every month after paying your bills?

fiftyeighter_2

Goodness some of you put me to shame and I thought I was quite good. Pigpen you,re fantastic.
I was some time ago in a little debt but aren,t now, thank goodness.
My monthly income is my pension, child tax credit and I have a friend lodger who gives me £50 per week. I buy the food. So my total monthly income is £900.
After bills I have roughly £500 per month left for groceries, toiletries, dog food, haircuts clothes etc.
I try to save £40 a month for Christmas and birthdays
Also £20 a month for my daughter
Then I try to save £40 for holidays, days out etc
I have an emergency fund for £40 per month
That leaves me with about £360 per month.
I spend about £240 on food, toiletries, dog food etc
Now I,m wondering what the other£30 a week goes on. Odds and sods obviously.

pigpen

judywoody wrote: »

I could offer you some worn out knickers ;-)

There is a market for them.. pref. unwashed

I don't want them... try ebay

retepetsir

Carlos77 wrote: »

Our Joint income is Approx £5550

We have Household bills of about £900 pm, then on top of that is childcare of about £600 pm. OH spends about £200 pm on fuel, and I spend about £150. Grocery bill comes to about £300

So our total spend comes to about £2150.
In theory we should be saving over £3400 a month, but in practice all manor of things come up, and we only end up saving £2700

Flipping 'eck, nice savings! :eek:

Currently our joint income is around £3000 per month depending on the shifts my OH works (NHS nurse).

Out of that we have the mortgage on our first home (not cheap) at £800 p/m then bills (council tax, utilities, etc) come to around £300. A few extra things like Life Assurance, NHS Pre-Payment Certificate, etc probably add up to £100 or so.

I've been tracking our spending for a while and we probably spend a good £300 or so per month on food. I'd like to get this down but I need to follow a strict specialist diet which isn't cheap and my OH likes buying plenty of fruit/veg which also isn't cheap. Hoping to get this down to £200-£250 with some gentle persuasion! :rotfl:

We then try and save the rest so that can vary month to month. However we've just found out that we have a baby due in November so the race is on to save up enough to cover maternity leave :eek::o

MrsE_2

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

Mine and OH's joint income is about 2.5k monthly. Our food bill is horrific- about 400 quid a month. (There's just the 2 of us) Petrol for OH is about 120 a month and public transport is 50 for me. My mobile bill alone is usually about 130 quid and our Sky package is 64 a month. Bills come to about 400 quid and OH's car loan is 230. OH gets DLA which pays for his prescription card and his car costs (his condition means he is unable to use public transport and we live in quite an isolated rural area so he has to run a car) OH doesn't tend to spend much on himself but I usually have about 500 or so spare every month dependent on my shifts which goes on the rugby usually

Mobile bill is how much!!!!
You can get unlimited packages for a fraction of your monthly bill.

cannyscot_2

We joined Ninjakat on one of her monthly challenges and it was a real eye opener - we set out to spend the least we could for one month. It taught me how little I could spend if I wanted to and how a lot of what I spend I am choosing to. I like a lot of fruit and veg but I have read and reread lots of threads and changed things about.
I am not sure if you said you only have organic but there are a lot of good veg abd fruit about if you shop about . Ie this week waitrose is doing agreta deal on fairtrade bananas/ lidl has some great spring greens/asda has carrots/cabbage and parnsips/ You can get great deals on basics from the asian supermarket and buy in bulk ie rice 5/10kg-it makes a massive difference.

persa

In your shoes, I'd cancel that donation straight away. You are in debt - so you're effectively taking out a loan to give to charity each month. That makes no sense, no matter how worthy the cause. Cancel the DD and resume donating once you clear your debts.

Your phone bill is high - can you break contract and get a better deal?

You are spending too much on luxury products. Do you even buy any 'value' food? Things like kidney beans taste exactly the same whether in a nice branded can or with Tesco value plastered over it. I have expensive tastes - I buy some branded things - but I also buy basics, value, esssential, etc. Mix and match.

Frozen is cheaper than fresh - can you incorporate more frozen veg into your diet? Peas for example. You can also buy frozen fruit - berries are cheap frozen and retain their flavour.

I buy fresh fruit down the market only - a giant bowl of juicy grapes is only a pound. Supermarkets are expensive for fresh fruit. Are there any alternatives near you?

FWIW, we are a well off childless couple and would see a £2 loaf of bread as an expensive treat, not an everyday grocery. We wouldn't buy organic either - much more important for us to look at the quality and know of the provenance. Organic IMHO is a word used to drive prices up.

If you can't get to any 'cheap' shops easily, look into online delivery. Particularly good for stocking up on heavy things, like giant bags of grains.

Hardup_Hester

Hubby & I take home about £2000 a month, our direct debits come to £1600. This month I spent £72 at the supermarket & £70 at the butchers for meat & veg, £45 on petrol & £30 on milk & bread. We don't spend money on magazines or nights out.