How much is enough 'spending money' for a month?

Kayalana99

Hiya guys,

More talking to the lower earners really, but how much is to little?

Me and my partner have agreed to spend £200 a month each as spending money only.

This is leaving us with about £500 spare to save (but only untill June won't go into that) but part of me is thinking is this to much to save as I feel more for my partner that £200 isn't alot...and because he goes off to work and I am with the kids (maternity leave) he is likey to spend more then me on extras like food.

I think we 'need' to be putting £350 away so we can pay the car insurance off in one go in June & few other bits (when we will have less income so makes sense) so it leaves us an extra £150...what would you do ?

Should we enjoy it while we have it or put it away while we have it?

How much do you tend to spend on extras? £200 is alot to me but my partner its not & he is the one working atm... esp since he buys alot of beer on top so he rarely has spare cash to buy himself much else.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

On the DFW board there is an SOA which you can use easily and it will give you an exact figure of how much you have left at the end of the month - if you post your soa on there people will suggest ways to save

I personally dont spend £200 on "extras" - but i do save as much as possible and find "trick treats" - for example, if we fancy a take away, I will buy and cook, then whatever money i have saved goes into the pot.

tea_lover

What does his spending money need to include? £200 sounds like loads to me!

RAS

hi

Part of what you may be doing is confusing saving and budgetting.

Budgetting means looking at all regular costs that are not monthly and converting them to monthly amounts and putting that into an account. That might be a "savings" account but it is not a SAVINGS account.

Savings are putting money aside for large planned future projects and to protect you in the short term is a disaster happens. So 3-6 months essential finances in an account you do not touch. Then the round the worlld fund or saving for a deposit fund etc.

Alikay

Kayalana99 wrote: »

How much do you tend to spend on extras? £200 is alot to me but my partner its not & he is the one working atm... esp since he buys alot of beer on top so he rarely has spare cash to buy himself much else.

Well, spending much of his portion of cash on beer is his choice I take it? I'm assuming he's drinking it, not using it for some other worthy purpose which benefits the whole family:D.
We have a reasonably high income and £200 sounds plenty to have fun with to me, unless family holidays are to come out of it too.

picklekin

Indeed, we need to know what you mean by "extras"? It also depends what you commitments are, ie, swimming lessons for children or some extra curricular activity you are signed up for, or broadband, mobile phone costs etc. Or do you just mean clothes and meals out?

We probably spend about £400 a month on "extras" if you mean meals out , clothes, day trips etc. But we don't have children and can afford that, so I think its very personal.

Kayalana99

Literally £200 on anything we want - phones and stuff all included in bills no commitments.(Bar clothes, days out that would be extras) I agree to me its more then I need to spend but my partner probably spends £100-150ish on booze and then he buys snacks at work constantly...

I'm not judging him I am just saying he would struggle and I wondered if I was being harsh to limit him to £200 with him working.... but it sounds like most agree thats a decent amount?

claire16c

£100-150 on booze?!

I think you should set a limit so he realises how much he's literally peeing away!

You could have a holiday for a years worth of his drinking!

maggiemance

I think £200 is enough

Person_one

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Hiya guys,

More talking to the lower earners really, but how much is to little?

Me and my partner have agreed to spend £200 a month each as spending money only.

This is leaving us with about £500 spare to save (but only untill June won't go into that) but part of me is thinking is this to much to save as I feel more for my partner that £200 isn't alot

Um, are you classing yourself as lower earners when you have £900 going spare each month? :eek:

I would probably put a few beers and snacks for him in with the regular food shop each week as part of that budget, but then stick with what you're doing. £200 pocket money is plenty, and it sounds like his liver would thank you if he had to cut down a bit.

Kayalana99

Alikay wrote: »

Well, spending much of his portion of cash on beer is his choice I take it? I'm assuming he's drinking it, not using it for some other worthy purpose which benefits the whole family:D.
We have a reasonably high income and £200 sounds plenty to have fun with to me, unless family holidays are to come out of it too.

Family hoildays would be where some of the extra money would go into. (I have a spreadsheet and one bank account for savings so everything is accounted for that way)

Person_one wrote: »

Um, are you classing yourself as lower earners when you have £900 going spare each month? :eek:

I would probably put a few beers and snacks for him in with the regular food shop each week as part of that budget, but then stick with what you're doing. £200 pocket money is plenty.

We are low earners, (under 25k for both of is joint) but due to circumstances until June we have £900 a month spare.