Pocket Money for bf/gf

claire1234

your fella spends over £250 on clothing, games, take aways & beers a month!! wow i wish i could do that, i would have this part of guilt screaming at me, i feel guilty going to primark lol

so why not rent some dvd/games off lovefilm? theres plenty of free 3 month codes about or its about £10 per month, try before you buy!

clothing well could this be cut down to the min or special treats?

drinking -- buying in a few creates doesnt cost much now, why not get some invite the lads round tell them to bring some canns and a few cheap nights!
espically with the warm weather coming!

take away, home cooked must be better surely? or buy in bulk pizza`s so theres always one there when he fancy`s one.

whens he`s out and about in the van coudnt he take loads of stuff with him, i often go to morrisons at end of date and buy loads of stuff at daft prices then put in a carried bag and stick it all in the car for my fella, stops him from buying anything.

the one thing i would reccomend is buying the biggest freezer you can and doing a bulk shop at somewhere like heron or farm foods that way theres always something you fancy in,
Get a big cabinet in your garage for other stuff, this will be stuff like:
washing powder / cleaning products / tinned food / cereals / toilet rolls / drinks / pop /
If you have a avon lady buy lots! keep in credit with her so say if you total bill is £6 give her £10 that way your £4 in credit the next time so it always feels like your getting loads and helps if one week you dont have enough money, hide everything away in drawers upstairs very handy with baby in case you run out of anything.
shop at boots and when you run out of something buy 2 instead of 1 so you always have a spare.

you can do it just do it slowly and in small amounts, i always panic!

vixarooni

oh my word.

I feel quite bad reading this. My boyfriend and i probably spend about 4 figures on ourselves, with our both wages combined. We live at my parents and my boyfriend pays a bit of rent to my mum and i dont pay anything cos im a student. I spend my money that i get from my part time job and his and vice versa.

oh dear, i think this thread has made me want to re-assess what i spend and whether i actually need to.

jak

£300 pcm is loads! And he only puts 87% of his money in the joint acount??? Doesn't that mean he actualy spends more than £300?
Blimey! We don't have spends as such as we are paying down debt but when we do I was thinking in the region of £40 each a month. We need savings and our family MUST come first.
Good luck. It might be time to try and re-educate him. Try a spending diary and do a budget together.
J
X

PasturesNew

I usually live on £300/month (or less)

After rent/basic bills I eat, buy everything I need (haircuts, trips, clothes, things) and run a car - and I rarely spend that much even when I am driving to work daily and eating lunch out!

I live alone, so everything's down to me. There's nobody sharing the cost of any purchases or outings. Nobody going halves on journeys or anything. Nobody doing little jobs for me, if I want something doing that I can't do, I pay for it.

£300 is a lot really. That's £70/week.

zoelouise88

i dont really have an ammount to live by the time thh bills, food, and my sons stuff (nappies etc) are paid for i dont really have alot left over maybe £20 if im lucky and that usually gets spent on my son (clothes from primark and if hes lucky a cheap toy). the last time i treated myself was last week as i ran out of mascara so spent £10 on some but that was out of a voucher i got from pigsback.

i dont go out drinking and only buy make up clothes etc when i really need to.

Glen0000

We have £50 a month each personal spending money. We, like you used to spend stupid amounts, but with the economy the way it is we have started saving in case one of us loses our job We have both lost weight too and feel so much better with less booze/takeaway rubbish.

Lillibet_2

We have £60 per month each personal spending money, this has to cover things like clothes, going out, hair cuts, "expensive" toiletries which can't be bought in a supermarket etc That said, with a near 3 YO our going out is very limited to family outings which tend to invovle picnics & parks!
I think a lot of it depends on personal circumstances but in your budget you have made no provision whatsoever for saving money despite having surplas, only spending it. Taking into account your planned £200 per person spending money & £112 surplas you have over £500 to play with. I would want to be saving a large chunk for a rainy day. say £250 & having £125 per month each spending money. You could even not spend your savings & keep that £1K safe in case you need it for something important.
HTH;)

Mojisola

vixarooni wrote: »

My boyfriend and i probably spend about 4 figures on ourselves, with our both wages combined. We live at my parents and my boyfriend pays a bit of rent to my mum and i dont pay anything cos im a student. I spend my money that i get from my part time job and his and vice versa.

You don't pay anything "because you're a student" but you have that much money to spend on yourself! Don't you think you are ripping off your parents?

OrkneyStar

vixarooni wrote: »

oh my word.

I feel quite bad reading this. My boyfriend and i probably spend about 4 figures on ourselves, with our both wages combined. We live at my parents and my boyfriend pays a bit of rent to my mum and i dont pay anything cos im a student. I spend my money that i get from my part time job and his and vice versa.

oh dear, i think this thread has made me want to re-assess what i spend and whether i actually need to.

Personally I think you should be giving your mum some rent, but if she refuses it (some mum's do- mine didn't lol) then put it into a savings account. Even if you just blow it all on a holiday or something in the summer and then start to save again after, it gets you into the habit of saving something. We don't have much money but I save even £5 a week or whatever then at least we have something toward any emergency that might arise! Often spending is more of a habit than a need, I certainly spend money I did not need to when I was younger and more carefree (not that I am ancient now, mind).

pollyanna24

Cor blimey! Thanks for all the responses.

Even in my little tight state, I never realised that £300 was that much. He accepts that it's going down to £200 which is good, but is that really that much money? £50 a week? Or have I been spoilt all these years?! I manage to spend my £200 most months (although like I said above, this month have only spent £60).

I know someone said that we could halve this £200 and save the extra £200, but I really don't want bf thinking that he works all these hours just to pay bills. Surely we can enjoy ourselves a little. I guess at least there is a little leeway if we need to drop what we give ourselves.

At the moment, we are earning quite well and have lodgers, so we have over £15,000 in savings (this again is all down to me, he probably would have spent it all). The reason I haven't accounted for savings when the baby comes is because we are literally going to be down half our income, so I figured it could recommence maybe when I go back to work.

He just thinks that we have limited ourselves for so long even with our "good ish" wages. I keep telling him he'll be grateful when the mortgage is paid off.

Maybe it will all change when we have a kid, I'm hoping that I've organised enough so we don't have to worry.

PS for the student above, don't rip off your parents. My bro is 30, on £40K a year and pays my mum £100 a month. Earn his money, but don't turn into the way he treats my parents!