Is £500 enough?

[boredboredandmorebored]

I know this will be different for everyone and everyone will have different incomes but we are starting to work out finances for when we have a baby. We've worked out without my wage and after bills, food and fuel we'll have around £500 a month spare, is this doable? Obviously this will pay for everything else so to go out and do activities, things for baby, savings, xmas etc.

[meepmoop]

Yep extremely doable

[nobigotsallowed]

I remember asking the exact same question and I'm not going to lie, it was tight. It's fine if nothing goes wrong. I.e, car doesn't need repair, boiler doesn't break down etc, but you can certainly live.

Do you have savings for those emergencies though?

[Outofideas1]

Not ideal, but you will be ok. But probably not enough if you want to do baby groups, days out, etc.

[myidentitymycrisis]

Depends on your spending habits as well

[nobigotsallowed]

Ah, just re read that this is for your savings too. How much of this will you be saving?

[Cuppa12345]

It is enough for us. We have £300 after all said and done but we do have savings we can dip into for emergencies so while we avoid that where we can, it obviously does help. Means we don't get stuck in overdrafts or put stuff on credit cards. Not sure if you have a bit of savings too.

[SmileCheese]

£500 a month to spend on luxuries is more than enough. I cant see how anyone would struggle when every bill has been paid and all expenses were accounted for.

[DonnaDarko]

I think this is doable. DP and I work full time and after paying for everything - rent, childcare, travel, food, debts - we have less than that combined. There are loads of things you can do for free or with very little money, it just requires a little research.

[Adversecamber22]

It depends on what kind if life you want.

The gold thing is your actually thinking about it, look at the money saving expert site for financial planning and get yourself six month slicing expenses saved if you can.

Plus are you married? and are you planning on maternity leave or stopping work?

[boredboredandmorebored]

We are hoping to have a good few thousand in the bank before baby arrives. Atm we are saving over £1200 a month so without knowing how much we will be spending on things I don't really know how much of the £500 we would want to save, if we can save anything at all

[Adversecamber22]

Sorry typos I have just woken up it’s good not gold though I guess gold would assist.

[Adversecamber22]

Also saving not slicing !

[nobigotsallowed]

If you're able to save £1200 a month you'll be fine! That's loads.

[BarbaraofSeville]

If all your annual and irregular expenses will have to come out of the £500 it could be tight, especially if you are spenders rather than savers.

Have you done a thorough review of your budget and minimised all essential expenses - always worth doing if you've not done it before/for a while. If you are paying for TV, haven't shopped around for utilities or insurances before or have a larger than average food bill, it could free up a few quid.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

[KUGA]

Yes it`s doable.
If you find it a struggle at times just cut back on something.

[SpoonBlender]

Yeah, should be good. To make things stretch as far as possible, get second-hand baby gear. You can basically do the first year or two out of ebay, buy/use/sell at the same price once they grow out of it. When they get to toddling they'll trash things more and it doesn't work so well!

[hsegfiugseskufh]

yes, easily! £500 per month for whatever you want? how wouldnt that be ok?

[AmIThough]

Are you taking the piss?

[Purplerain16]

£500 pm after bills is amazing! You'll be fine 😁

[BarbaraofSeville]

It might sound like a lot to people on small budgets, or people who don't really think about what money they spend, but it could be very easy for it not to be enough without appearing to have an extravagant lifestyle.

The OP says 'after bills, food and fuel' but before 'everything else so to go out and do activities, things for baby, savings, xmas etc'

So firstly it depends whether essential 'everything elses' like car insurance and repairs, home insurance, white goods replacements have been included in the bills food and fuel, or do they have to come out of the £500 - it's easy to think of this money as free spending money, but it's not really if you have a load of essential expenses that will crop up sooner or later to account for.

Then it sounds like there are two adults here, and the OP has already said that the money has to cover Christmas, baby activities etc. OK, none are strictly necessary, but if it's £250 per adult per month, that's less than £60 pw, or just over a tenner a day and there will be plenty of people who spend that or more, simply by getting a coffee on the way to work and their lunch in somewhere like Pret.

And we haven't even mentioned clothes for adults, or beauty treatments, hobbies etc. Again, there will be people who spend far more than £250 per adult per month on these things, you only have to look at the Style and Beauty board for proof of this.

[BarbaraofSeville]

No mention of holidays either. Typically, a single week away somewhere, whether in the UK or abroad, mid standard, so not camping/bargain basement, but not luxury either, is likely to cost £100 pm on average out of the budget.

[Outofideas1]

I think if you have to pay for nappies, formula, baby food, baby toiletries, clothes for the whole family, coffee with the friends and baby groups, you will struggle...

[hsegfiugseskufh]

a holiday with a baby doesn't have to cost £1200!

we went abroad with a toddler this year and spent about £700 in total including spends!

a uk holiday definitely doesn't have to cost that much! we are planning on going to the lakes next year for about £300!

[Outofideas1]

Holiday, it depends what you are used to and what you’d like to do on your holiday...

[BarbaraofSeville]

No it doesn't have to cost that amount, but an average week away somewhere will.

What sort of accommodation in the Lake District for £300? You won't get a week in a cottage or holiday flat for that.

What about food? Most people like to eat out a few times on holiday. Lake district pubs and cafes are quite expensive. You'll pay for parking and you need fuel to get there unless you're already on the doorstep and if you are, you probably go for the day whenever you want to. What about activities and entrances to places, again, expensive?

I find it hard to believe you can have a week in the Lake District for £300 that's not camping and cooking all your own food and doing nothing except walks or other free activities and that's not what I used as an example.