Adult 'pocket money'

Any

tiger_eyes wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. I also budget £50 a month for discretionary spending like meals out, drinks in pubs, rail tickets home, the occasional treat, etc. It's usually plenty.



Also without sounding cheeky you're assuming that everyone enjoys what you enjoy. I can't stand shopping, so I don't do it. I have my friends over for dinner every week rather than go out to restaurants. I live centrally so I can walk into town - if it rains, I just put my hood up. I use free promotional tickets to go to the cinema. And so on. I have one passion in my life (writing novels!) that gives me a huge amount of enjoyment and it is wonderfully free.

Sorry, I haven't assumed absolutely anything.
I just asked. Your cooking dinner for friends costs. And going to their house does too. Surely you don't go empty handed? So I just asked what is included that. You have to wear clothes, you can't go naked. Well you could, but you might get arrested or something.

Any

tiger_eyes wrote: »

I genuinely would not enjoy this at all. I don't enjoy shopping. I don't have any particular enthusiasm for clothes or shoes or perfume. I'd rather pop home to see my family for a weekend than go on holiday. It's not that I have an intense pent-up desire for clothes that I have to repress. I just really don't want it. It's just stuff.

Everyone enjoys something else. Orkney she has no idea how would you spend such a money and Dandelion replied.
Different hobbies and interests have different costs as well.
I love making stuff. And buy lots of bits for it.

Rosemary7391

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

Really I used to spend £1000 per month on myself, holidays like New York, weekends away all the time to London, Edinburgh etc. New bikes, clothes and shoes,mmm plenty of them, jackets, coats and clothes, perfume etc.
You can easily spend a lot on yourself no problem.
No point scrimping and saving unless of course you really have to, like your not in work or in a lot of debt.
Your a long time dead and you know what they say, there are no pockets in a shroud. Get it spent and get yourself out and have a life.
Even when I was at school I had more than £50.00 a month spends.

That would drive me mad! I'm single, I live on (pay rent etc out of) about £700 a month. I only rent a room though so wouldn't be able to fit all that stuff in it, let alone £1000 a month worth :eek:

I'd like to be able to study, and have my own place, but I don't feel like I'm missing anything in my day to day life from not having a lot of money. I just had a lovely holiday (UK) with a friend as well, so I don't feel skint at all! I guess everyone is different.

tiger_eyes

Any wrote: »

Sorry, I haven't assumed absolutely anything.
I just asked. Your cooking dinner for friends costs. And going to their house does too. Surely you don't go empty handed? So I just asked what is included that. You have to wear clothes, you can't go naked. Well you could, but you might get arrested or something.

OK, but your questions were about a very particular lifestyle - girlfriends, lunches out, wine bars, cake, hairdressers - that's why I thought we were coming at this from different angles.

To answer your question more directly, I include all discretionary spending in this £50 - everything that isn't rent, bills and groceries - so that would include clothes and bus fares, if any! I can make dinner for me and friends using what's already in my cupboard, so it doesn't cost anything extra. Even if I cost up the ingredients it's probably little more than £5 total. I don't bring anything to my friends' houses on dinner night and they don't bring anything to mine. And clothes last for years - I don't think I've spent more than £20 on clothes this year. I keep a spending diary, so I'm not making it up when I say that £50 is my monthly spend.

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

That would drive me mad! I'm single, I live on (pay rent etc out of) about £700 a month. I only rent a room though so wouldn't be able to fit all that stuff in it, let alone £1000 a month worth :eek:

I'd like to be able to study, and have my own place, but I don't feel like I'm missing anything in my day to day life from not having a lot of money. I just had a lovely holiday (UK) with a friend as well, so I don't feel skint at all! I guess everyone is different.

Now that's impressive! I run a pretty tight ship but can't quite squeak under £700 in total monthly expenses. I think your house share is giving you an edge - I have a studio flat, so I'm guessing my rent is a bit more expensive. Where did you go on holiday?

dandelionclock30

^ I cant believe you go empty handed to a friends dinner night!!!. I wouldnt dream of going empty handed, and I've not known this unless its just a sandwich/biscuit type nibble at lunch time.
Everyone I know would bring either something to eat or some form of drinks.
You will probably get really talked about for being tight.
My friends sister in law did this for years, calling round for sunday dinner and never bringing anything.They family used to call her tight fisted etc and thats being polite.
You need to do the decent thing and show your friends some respect by taking a small gift.

lovely-cup-of-tea

Afternoon/evening all. Good to see lots of discussion here. It really does go to show how different we are in how we deal with spending money. I've just done my SOA which, unless I've got my sums entirely wrong gives OH and I about £100 each per month spending money. I'm putting aside quite a chunk as we're only just getting ourselves back on our feet after having to ditch our business and starting salaried jobs again. We had to borrow from our local credit union as the gap between payday and rent day couldn't be bridged any other way. It was a humbling experience but I'm their number one fan now and that's why I want to get rid of of our overdrafts and debts.

Now I have to share the news with OH, I think I'll do that over a beer though!!!

Addiscomber

Our £90 does not include clothes or fares, it is entirely up to the individual as to whether they spend it at all and if so, what on, no questions asked. In the OP's case cigarettes would come out of it as smoking is a personal choice. If necessary I would have agreed to the joint money paying for hypnosis if a smoker partner truly wanted to stop smoking, but only once and never to the tobacco itself.

When you have never been in a position to spend £100s on yourself every month you have no choice and do not miss it. I sincerely hope that those of you who do spend those sort of sums never lose that ability as you will find it very hard to adjust.

peachyprice

HappyMJ wrote: »

I'm quite amazed at the low amounts here.

I couldn't get by on much less than £600 per month for everything (clothing, mobiles, gadgets, going out, personal debts...etc) except household bills.

But clothing, mobiles, going out as a couple, personal debts etc., come out of the household account, not out of OH's pocket money.

jtr2803

It's always interesting reading what works for different people and couples. We have, for the past 5 years, split all household bills between us - Rent/food/electric etc. At the start of our relationship OH had the higher disposable income but we have now reversed and mine is higher but we have always split the bills that way.

I keep tabs on my earnings and spends pretty well but hubby just isn't very good at that, he only signed up to internet banking this year when I pressed him to. It's caused us a few problems previously when he thought he has X in the bank to go towards a holiday (for example) and actually he had less. We are both very different in our spending habits and I have a fear of spending money that I haven't earnt, ie his, so a general joint account wouldn't have worked for us.

Last month we sat and worked out our individual income and outgoings, all our household bills and what we thought was a reasonable amount of spending money for both of us to have. We are moving to a joint account later this month and we will both have our salaries paid into it and then £500 will go back out to each of our own accounts as our spending money. What's left in the joint account will also go towards furniture, family presents, our mobile phone and medical bills and what's left will be our savings.

'Spending Money' is a personal thing, apart from in the run up to Xmas I don't expect to be spending mine each month but if I want to treat myself then it's there and I can!

Addiscomber

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

Everyone I know would bring either something to eat or some form of drinks.
You will probably get really talked about for being tight.

You need to do the decent thing and show your friends some respect by taking a small gift.

It seems to be agreed amongst tiger eyes' circle that it isn't necessary. If none of them do it surely that is the same as all of them doing it, except that no-one is spending money they may struggle to find for the sake of appearances?