I Must Buy My Needs Not My Wants

Bluegreen143

I operate the balanced money formula - under 50% of your salary on needs, at least 20% on savings means around 30% to spend on wants. In terms of how I categorise it, wants are anything that’s not bills/groceries/petrol:  clothes, holidays, gifts, socialising, books, alcohol, redecorating, going to the gym. I keep child benefit separate from the budget to spend on the kids’ clothes and activities so I know they aren’t missing out. 

I don’t know that it’s feasible long term to aim
to never buy wants. Better to have a budget pot for fun money, plan for your wants and stick to that budget, even if it’s a small amount each week. Having some of your wants makes life worth living. I also think it’s like dieting and if you’re too strict, you end up giving up on the whole thing.

[Deleted User]

I agree, being tightly disciplined isn't for everybody, for me it's something i've learned and now enjoy, especially as i see the bank account stay at a certain level without dipping all week/month long.


One point re: grocery shopping .......
Never, ever, go food shopping hungry - always go food shopping on a full stomach.

London_1

Indeed this is true , my late Mum always said cover the essentials first i.e. roof over your head, food in the cupboard and heat in the fireplace. Then save a little something every week (weekly pay was more prevelent back then) but always have a 'Happy Cash Stash' no matter how small ,even if it only buys you a small treat and its seperate from everything else.

I am pretty focussed on the food budget and have in my head exactly what I need and write my essential list every Sunday morning before I divide it up into various shops for the best prices.

JackieO xx

YoungBlueEyes

I've mentioned this on here before (or a similar thread). I used to meal plan and buy ingredients for that plan. Now I buy whatever's reduced, stash it in the freezer, and meal plan round that.

Himself said a few weeks ago that as it's now autumn it's stew weather so would I go buy some beef. Aye I will. But when I got to the supermarket there were all sorts of ys items, so I came home with a gammon and a few packs of smoked salmon (fillets and slices) which went into the freezer. I cook whatever my freezer dictates is next to be eaten - I'm careful with stock rotation. So we always eat well and cheaply, but an actual meal plan would upset my freezer ha haa!

The exception to this is Tuesdays. Himself like fish chips and peas on a Tuesday. I couldn't tell you why (?).

Floss

Bluegreen143 said:

I operate the balanced money formula - under 50% of your salary on needs, at least 20% on savings means around 30% to spend on wants...

I wish I could apply this, but unfortunately being a single working home owner there is only about 5% for "wants".

Bluegreen143

Floss said:

Bluegreen143 said:

I operate the balanced money formula - under 50% of your salary on needs, at least 20% on savings means around 30% to spend on wants...

I wish I could apply this, but unfortunately being a single working home owner there is only about 5% for "wants".

Yes, when we were a one income family we definitely couldn’t keep to it either as needs were about 75% of our income and realistically the only way to reduce them significantly would have been to move to a small flat (not ideal with a young family). The formula works out now for us because I went back to work. But it’s certainly not possible for all situations. 

I read about it in the great personal finance book “All Your Worth” and to be fair in the book the authors discuss various scenarios where you can’t quite keep in balance, with their advice for mitigations to help bring it as into balance as possible and what you should do if you can’t. It’s a very helpful read, I enjoyed it anyway. 

Edit - should say - for the sake of being accurate. They calculate it including pension contributions. So for the total salary figure you take your net salary + pension contributions. They are included in your 20%+ savings figure.

Elisheba

Bluegreen143 said:

Edit - should say - for the sake of being accurate. They calculate it including pension contributions. So for the total salary figure you take your net salary + pension contributions. They are included in your 20%+ savings figure.

I like to work my total debt and savings out this way as well.  Technically I pay 6.8% of my gross salary towards pension, but if I add my pension payment to my net salary then its just under 9%  .  And that makes debt repayments and savings about 45 - 50% of my income depending in the month.  

YorksLass

I'm with Bluegreen and JackieO on a bit of fun money for yourself that you can spend without feeling guilty - no matter how small an amount it might be.  Mine's only £2 pw but it soon adds up.  This year I've dipped into it 3 times - a new hairbrush, a tube of hand cream and a couple of bars of chocolate - oh, I know how to live!    

newlywed

Hmmm I think I need to revisit the budget as bills are about 85% and I seem to be spending more on wants than saving ….

food budget needs some more cutting, now that I have some stocks built up.

Floss

Elisheba said:

Bluegreen143 said:

Edit - should say - for the sake of being accurate. They calculate it including pension contributions. So for the total salary figure you take your net salary + pension contributions. They are included in your 20%+ savings figure.

I like to work my total debt and savings out this way as well.  Technically I pay 6.8% of my gross salary towards pension, but if I add my pension payment to my net salary then its just under 9%  

I need to do some sums as my pension contribution is 9.8%