Disposable income question

louby40

It's called
Joined 31.05.16 - Poor Single Lady

GirlupNorth

Hi, Ah sorry I thought you meant it was an external blog...will check it out now, thanks!

Ps - just writing a budget out for the Christmas break, will stick to it!

EssexHebridean

You're thinking about this all wrong. That £700 is NOT "disposable income" if it needs to pay for food, travel and "general activities" - whatever is left after those are accounted for may well fall under this heading, but you need to take account of food (assuming just you, £100 - £120 a month absolute max) £30 a month travel, and, what, £150 a month general spends first. That should leave you with around £400 a month to set aside to overpay debts, or to stash into savings if there is no benefit to paying the debt down early.

Can I suggest redoing your budget in the form of the SOA used on here (on the main DFW page, in the "sticky" post at the top) to make sure that you're not forgetting to include things, athat then tells you what surplus you should have at the end of the month, and if you don't have that left over,m then a spending diary is the way forwards to tell you where it's going.

Apps like YNAB are good, but do remember ultimately they are designed to make a lot of money for someone else - if you can find a free option that works for you then that's a more MSE way forwards. You may well find a combination of excel and the SOA on here might be enough for you in combination with a daily check-in to your online banking.

Florence_J

I am prioritising paying as much as I can to my cards, and count the monthly food budget and my weekly football training sessions (and the train fare to get there) in my monthly bills.

In terms of money leftover that is for everything else, like toilletries, or going out, or clothing etc I have about £100 monthly disposable income, with £20 of that being put in my savings.

As a result I have to be very, very careful with how I spend my money. I still go out but I do have to say no to a lot of things, and if I am going to something like a big gig then my OH will usually buy the tickets and I will pay him back in instalments.

I price compare everything and have found the best deals for everything. I do surveys and have apps which I use to get amazon vouchers from so that I can still get my friends and family birthday and Christmas presents without it costing me any money.

I have never been very materialistic, and don't give a hoot about brand names or labels though there are things I am partial to.

If I can't afford something one month then I hope to have the money for it next month and if I don't...well then I don't get it.

I haven't had my hair cut since last January as I haven't been able to afford it since then but because I don't use styling products or things like straightners and I let it dry naturally and it is a very simple cut my hair is still in good condition and I don't even have many split ends.

I used to be a member of the zero hour contract way of life, so now that I have a full time job I am very grateful for my secure monthly wage. After taxes, Pension and Student Loan repayments it is a little over £1200 a month, which to me is huge.

However, out of this I spend just under £300 a month on my season train ticket as I work technically in a different country to the one I live in (I live in Cardiff, I work in Bristol)

So getting a similar paying job in Cardiff would do wonders for my disposable income, it's just the getting it that is proving hard.

I don't feel I want for anything. I am passionate about playing football so take the money for that out of my wages before I even think about disposable income. I have my monthly food budget covered, so I don't need to worry about starving.

As far as I can see it I have everything I need covered and I have the money for the things I'm not willing to give up, so to me £100 ish disposable income is plenty. I would obviously like to have more of a disposable income, and more money to save, so I can say yes to more things, but I figure this will happen in due course when I get a full time job in Cardiff.