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

PasturesNew

I'd feel well off if I had £200/month to spend after rent/council tax/basic utilities. So if I had £200/month to spend on 'essentials and needs' such as food, work clothes, keeping the car on the road to get to work ... and everything else.

I've never reached a stage where I have purely "spending money"

FBaby

Ok so birthday presents for family for example that would also be included in that amount? Does it mean that both you and OH also budget for this amount as some months are bound to be more expensive than others?

paulineb_2

The bottom line is as I said somewhere earlier in the thread, you have to make do with what you have. If it comes down to it and in 6 months time you have £150 each to spend and not £200 I am sure you would manage.

I dont have kids but my spending money consists of the occasional cheap night out, the occasional cheap haircut and for the first time in a long time last year a very cheap weekend away.

As you said yourself, if your bf didnt have money for beer, hed have to make do with cola, thats reality at times. I run a small business and money has been very tight at times, but you manage.

The necessities are the main thing, of course its good to have money left over for treats but if one month you have 200 quid to spend and the next month you have 100, youd get through it.

Kayalana99

Birthday presents would be within the £200 - or thats how we have done it, I did think we should get a savings pot for this as well if we had enough spare but we have alot of empty savings pots that we need to focus on.

I think in terms of budgeting savings this could get confusing as I have savings for holidays and things and budgeted for other things like car insurance and christmas all on the same spread sheet... hum ho.

Kayalana99

paulineb wrote: »

The bottom line is as I said somewhere earlier in the thread, you have to make do with what you have. If it comes down to it and in 6 months time you have £150 each to spend and not £200 I am sure you would manage.

I dont have kids but my spending money consists of the occasional cheap night out, the occasional cheap haircut and for the first time in a long time last year a very cheap weekend away.

As you said yourself, if your bf didnt have money for beer, hed have to make do with cola, thats reality at times. I run a small business and money has been very tight at times, but you manage.

The necessities are the main thing, of course its good to have money left over for treats but if one month you have 200 quid to spend and the next month you have 100, youd get through it.

Yup completely true, we will manage and this is the bottom line. Probably putting to much information into this thread now.

paulineb_2

I do have an online saver account and a couple of savings plans elsewhere but my bank account isnt divided into different pots. If I have it to spend I'll spend it and if I dont I dont. If you need to save for Christmas for example, its a matter of putting a fixed amount every month into another account, takes two minutes to transfer money from one online account to another. It could be very easy to make life more complicated than it need be when it comes to savings.

hgotsparkle

Kayalana99 wrote: »

That's not really fair - if you've only got £30 a month and he has a couple hundred surely he should be helping you out?

Low earnings for you but not to him by sound of it.

No, he does, he pays for my half of the food bill or gives me petrol money or pays more of the utility bills if I'm struggling, he always pays when we go out for a meal or cinema etc.

treeze

Reading these,I'm very glad I'm single!;)I don't have much money but at least it's mine and I budget or spend as I see fit with no-one spending my hard-earned for me and whining about beer money!:)

happy35

I think £200 is fine, we have about £400 or £500 each left after bills and food etc. I dont spend £200 each month OH usually does as he goes out 1 night per week and has a pizza takeaway on the way home, he may also get in a sneaky lunchtime drink when I am shopping.

I tend to only spend about £80 or £100 per month as dont drink much and my hair is done by my sister for free, although this would cost abotu £100 per month as is relaxed and coloured if I was paying

Lunar_Eclipse

It's a personal decision.

We are (comparatively) high earners and allow ourselves £100/month each for pocket money. It's mainly for going out (coffee, lunch, pub) or books/music. Mine tends to include clothes.

I think it's plenty, despite spending a lot more than this in our pre-children days!