Is £300 enough to live on for a month?

ARN92_

enthusiasticsaver said:

I have £300 personal spends each month as does my husband. This is separate from bills, food, fuel, etc so purely for hobbies and personal items like haircuts, nails and clothes etc. I also pay for my walking holidays out of there and save about £50 a month for things like new phones, iPad etc so I would say £300 is plenty even with theatre trips, etc. hHowever if you go to the theatre every week and eat out a lot it may be gone but those are not essentials. If I had debt I would want rid of it. Are you paying interest? Why not pay £250 off now and then if you still have some money left mid month pay the rest off then?

I would go to the cinema say about 2-3 times a month, and the theatre once a month, but it all depends what’s showing.

I do need to cut down on buying takeaways, as I must splurge out on takeaways twice or three times a month.

I am paying interest on this debt which is a loan - £1 interest gets added on daily.

theoretica

It sounds like you aren't sure where your money is going or how much you want for different things.  You might find it helpful to start keeping track of what you are spending - just write down everything you spend for a while and add it up (weekly/monthly) in the different categories that make sense to you.  Then look back over where your money went and decide if you want to change anything.  Was it worth it? You also probably have some spending which comes up predictably but less often (Christmas, friend's birthdays, visiting relatives) so you need to work that out by the year rather then the week or month.

beanielou

Time to get rid of the debt soonest.

ARN92_

Yes, going to get rid of it Monday at the latest.

Don’t care if I have £300 leftover or not - I’m trying to spruce my financial situation, and this is just the start of it IMO.

My biggest fall back when spending money in say a physical store or online is looking back at my bank account to see what the current balance is. I’m sure theirs a term for it. So as @theoretica said, I need to write down what am spending each week/month to see where my money really is going, that way I’ll have a much better picture.

beanielou

A spending diary is a great idea.

enthusiasticsaver

if you if you are paying that much interest I would resign myself to buying less takeaways and watching some films on Netflix rather than the cinema so you can clear that debt this month. 

ARN92_

enthusiasticsaver said:

if you if you are paying that much interest I would resign myself to buying less takeaways and watching some films on Netflix rather than the cinema so you can clear that debt this month. 

Yeah I’m getting rid of it Monday, and then debt free.

enthusiasticsaver

ARN92_ said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

if you if you are paying that much interest I would resign myself to buying less takeaways and watching some films on Netflix rather than the cinema so you can clear that debt this month. 

Yeah I’m getting rid of it Monday, and then debt free.

Good plan. Maybe going forward budgeting and saving so eventually you can live independently? 

Singlespeeder

ARN92_ said:

I would go to the cinema say about 2-3 times a month, and the theatre once a month, but it all depends what’s showing.

I do need to cut down on buying takeaways, as I must splurge out on takeaways twice or three times a month.

I am paying interest on this debt which is a loan - £1 interest gets added on daily.

Surely this comes to under £100 ....
If you can afford to clear the £500 AND have £300 left ... just do it then be debt free and start saving. £300 a month personal spending is fairly generous. 
Maybe you could help your parents out and give them a realistic contribution. I'm guessing you're fairly young.

EssexHebridean

(Removed by Forum Team)

ARN92_ said:

Thanks - was getting worried in case I’d be skint by day 28th of September (before payday) despite just getting paid

 But this is where a budget comes into play isn't it - so you decide that you want to go to the cinema three times this month, always on the £3 tickets. Allow for a bit of travel to get there - that's a maximum if £25 perhaps. A single theatre trip - ticket and travel - £30 there. Dog treats, snacks & takeaways - budget £50 for that for the month. That means you can easily save £150 0f your entertainment budget and still have a bit of slack for contingencies. Does that make sense? 

Get the debt gone by all means - but also then put a plan in place from month 1 of debt free to really start saving too - you won't regret it in the long term.