How much do you live on per month?

Lucy1010 · 21 February 2011 at 12:47AM

7roland8 wrote: »

Well after bills etc hubby and I (+3 stray cats) have about £70 which is for food, fuel (coal) and anything else like haircuts etc. No wonder I cna't get my credit cards down!

You have £70 p/m live on for 2 adults and 3 cats?

Aesop · 21 February 2011 at 12:50AM

Lucy1010 wrote: »

Lucy1010 wrote: »

Thank you, please can you show me how to join the NSD challenge, what is it? Thanks

NSD is No Spend Day Challenge, here is the link for Feb challenge

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3018522

7roland8 · 21 February 2011 at 1:13AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by 7roland8
Well after bills etc hubby and I (+3 stray cats) have about £70 which is for food, fuel (coal) and anything else like haircuts etc. No wonder I cna't get my credit cards down!

You have £70 p/m live on for 2 adults and 3 cats?

Sorry - late at night - that was weekly! My mistake.

moz86 · 21 February 2011 at 1:59AM

backinbusiness wrote: »

Like Moz86 once my DD's and savings are accounted for, I budget £150/week (myself and 2 teenage daughters). This has to cover food, school dinner money, fuel, newspapers, day to day spends and treats.

My secret is to draw it in cash. I find parting with cold, hard cash painful! It becomes a bit of a challenge to see if there's any left over - if so - it goes to a surplus account for bigger treats. But; when it's gone - it's gone.

You may be struggling just now because of debt repayments - once these are gone will that free up a reasonable amount?

Are you actually doing an accurate budget or are your figures telling you lies?

Omitting bank charges, etc can skew things a little.

Good luck.

BiB

Very good tip! I get my £150 out in cash every week, and the spare literally goes into a tin for a bigger treat.

Makes it much easier to follow, and much more "real" when you spend it.

Superheavy · 21 February 2011 at 2:44AM

I'm a single guy, and once all the DD's have gone out I budget £250 a month for food and petrol (about 60-80 per month), and this includes a few beers or maybe a bottle of whisky.

In terms of how I spend it, I always pay for everything on card, as I'm obsessive about the balance on my account, and I hate seeing anything leaving the account, so tend to be quite frugal. Lots of pasta meals and rice based meals, and I only eat meat once a week helps to keep the costs down.

[Deleted User] · 21 February 2011 at 2:47AM

lvm wrote: »

As a single person living on my own I'm spending at most £50 a month for food (could probably do cheaper if I cooked from scratch but this is all frozen ready meals and I'm not eating anywhere near as much as I should be.)

.

Mind telling us how you do it?

d3mon4ngel · 21 February 2011 at 8:56AM

The NSD challenge is the "No Spend Day" challenge. Basically you set yourself a target of a number of days where you will not spend anything. The link to this months is here.

Keeping a spending diary is the best way to find out where your money is going though. It's amazing how £1 here and 50p there can add up over a month.

Another tip is to set up a seperate "pocket money" account, where you transfer a set amount into when you get paid, and that's your money for the month. Tell yourself "when it's gone, it's gone!".

.... and it looks like I missed the whole 2nd page of replies before posting this lol! Sorry if stuff has been repeated by me!

moneysavermum_2 · 21 February 2011 at 10:04AM

I am single parent of 3 children aged 11, 10 and 4. I spend £60 a week on food (online at tescos once a week) i would prefer to get the cash out and shop but its too hard with 3 children in tow. I spend £80 month on diesel and apart from direct debits and allocated monies for xmas/car maintenance etc no monies left.........

The_Matelot · 21 February 2011 at 10:24AM

After all my bills are gone i put £160 in other account for food (wife pays other 160) this is for the month, and have about 300 left at end. This has to include my fuel but i recently quit smoking (12 days so far!) and am really noticing a difference with regards to savings. We have a 7 and 2 year old boys. Im quite frugal so last month had enough to treat myself to an ipad (took a year saving!)

Lucy1010 · 21 February 2011 at 10:37AM

Great replies so far, I honestly thought I had nothing to live on compared to friends and colleagues but it is comforting to read that those of you with children are managing on less.

I definitely will take the advice on withdrawing cash - as soon as I am paid I will budget £100 p/w and hope for rollover each week.

How much do you live on per month?

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