disposable income?

Readytochange

Hi,

I am in the process of sorting out our awful finances. After years of thoughtless spending I have lost track of reality.

Can I ask, how much do you have left after you have paid your mortgage/rent, minimum debt payments and other essentials - fuel etc etc.

Thanks

RTC

getmore4less

It will range from zero to £1,000s

Some it will be negative if they are living off savings.

datlex

I guess it depends on whether you are an every penny budgeter. If you are that you won't have a disposable income as such you will have a budget for certain things/

worriedDan

After our mortgage, debt minimums, utilities,food.diesel, son's activities etc we have about £1900 'left over' however we are overpaying the debts and also building up some savings. We try to keep our entertainment spends as low as possible but we still do nice things within budget - meals out etc. We just plan for it now, whereas before we were debt busting we never through about how something was going to be funded - it all just went on cards.

Despite our debts, I know that we are fortunate to have a decent 'disposable income'. Some our debts may start to accrue some interest soon so our payments will go up a bit. The money that we have left over will help to absorb some of the shock of this whilst we try to sort out new 0% deals etc.

Sea_Shell

Everybody's different and all lead very different lives with differing levels of income, debt or savings.

I could tell you we allow £250 pm for "fun spends", but that doesn't really help.

You need to take a close look at your personal current spending and come to your figure. That will depend on how tight you want to pull the purse strings!!?

aimeemum

For us it depends on what our income is. If we're working off averages we have about £20 a week over and above all outgoings (including debt repayments on our schedule) but obviously that's not a massive buffer, so some weeks it's more, some it's less, and some weeks it's nothing. For me, fun/spending will feel a lot nicer once we're debt free so big days out/meals/treats are on hold for the next few months, but in the mean time we do need to be able to buy the odd bar of chocolate without thinking about the consequences.

sourcrates

Readytochange wrote: »

Hi,

I am in the process of sorting out our awful finances. After years of thoughtless spending I have lost track of reality.

Can I ask, how much do you have left after you have paid your mortgage/rent, minimum debt payments and other essentials - fuel etc etc.

Thanks

RTC

Hi OP,


You may as well ask how long is a piece of string, because everyone is different, your SOA is your SOA, others can only tell you what their disposable income is, which won`t help you in the slightest, they won`t have a clue about yours, you need to work that one out for yourself.

DD265

Personally I like to budget £50 a week 'fun money'. I might spend £70 one week and £10 the next, but it's a lump sum at the start of the month based on how many weekends there are. Some months I won't be able to stretch to £50 a week and I cut back a bit, and others I could go over £50 week but I don't and instead I budget the money in another category.

tlc678910

Hi, if you can meet all your outgoings I would just aim for improvement in the amount you spend on disposable income type categories. Look at your previous spending and if for example you spend £100 on clothes for the family then maybe aim for £50 or £60.

Your budget should also reflect your priorities. If, for example, your eating out budget is spent on your social life and is important to you you may want to prioritise it. If you eat out or buy takeaway because you get caught out when are tired and have nothing in you could cut it right down by making sure you have a few easy options in the freezer.

If you try to budget for all the random things that crop up now and then like car repairs, dentist bills and attending a wedding/birthday party you will probably find that you have a lot less disposable income and that will make you focus on what you want to prioritise.

If you don't have enough income to meet your outgoings then you should post a statement of affairs as that will require a different approach and maybe a debt solution.

Tlc

theoretica

Where do you draw the line for 'essentials'? For instance does it include all food or just enough to cover a beans on toast diet?



What about savings? For me, saving for my next car seems very similar in importance to someone else paying off the loan for their current car.

Chandelier.

After I pay all my bills, I have a rather healthy surplus.

However a lot of this is split and put into savings, between three high interest accounts. Whatever is then leftover gets split between annual pots for the year for things such as car insurance/maintenance/tax, emergency fund, entertainment/food/petrol budget etc.

I then end up with another small amount leftover that goes to another account that I use to pay for other things not budgeted for. Whatever is left in this at the end of the month is either thrown at my CC or put towards another category or towards next months spending. I build up a buffer in each of my accounts.

For each account/pot I have, these all have a purpose so I can pay annual expenses and save up for other occasions i.e. Birthdays/Christmas.

It works for me. I could knuckle down and save the additional surplus into other accounts but I like to treat myself occasionally.

I have one CC that I use for day to day expenses that is paid off in full every month to build a solid credit history. I have another CC which is 0% and carrys a small balance which I drip feed payments to each month (I could pay this off straightaway if I wanted to but it's all manageable).

Everyone is different and have different priorities/ways they spend or use their money.

I believe that even though sometimes you need to knuckle down, you need to remember to allow some treats/fun along the way that is manageable.