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How much disposable income do you have

113 replies

dylanjt · 24/07/2023 16:03

Nosey question after a discussion with friends! I'm a single mum of two and after rent, other bills and food, I have £300 left a month. To one friend, this was plenty! To my other friend, this was peanuts! I'm pretty thrifty and manage fine on this and we are happy. We eat out as a treat once a month, eat home the rest of the time and take packed lunches out with us whenever possible. I'm always searching for free things to do. I buy all our clothes off Vinted and love finding a bargain. Same with toys. Ebay is good for toys too. Any money that is left from my disposable income at the end of the month goes in to my savings which usually goes towards Christmas. So, how much disposable income do you have and are you ok with that amount?

OP posts:
Addicted2Kale · 26/07/2023 14:24

£700 to £1,000 on average. Depending on credit card spend that month.

Runaround50 · 26/07/2023 14:22

Oh and I can't spell.. sorry

Runaround50 · 26/07/2023 14:21

None.
Neither I earn a 6 figure salary
I live in the north west
What an I doing on MN?? 😆

Seriously, very little is left over at the end of the month

gallop17 · 26/07/2023 14:05

@Mojitosaremyfavourite no offence to me, it's an anonymous forum no one here knows who we are. I picked up the word boastful from you but wasn't meaning to specifically pick up on you, these threads always go the same way, I was merely pointing out the MN paradox that you can never win between not being grateful enough but also not being a big enough earner.

Mojitosaremyfavourite · 26/07/2023 13:47

gallop17 · 26/07/2023 11:07

MN is a funny place because I can post my disposable income and be told it's boasting or a lie but then on threads where my salary/household income is listed it's "not that much", and not a higher earner (appreciate it's different posters posting but it is funny when you have the same situation being interpreted differently!)

I presume that’s meant for me, as in my earlier post . I can assure you I will
never be jealous and yeah, you are all correct in that op asked a question and people answered. I am lucky that my husband has a great job and that I don’t need to work. Fortunate there as I am disabled .
I still would not announce ( despite it being an anonymous site) how much we have left at the end of each month though. That’s because that’s our business and because as I said upthread, there are people who are literally on their bones of their arse. But hey ho. Who am I to pass opinion. No offence meant to anyone.

Chillichic · 26/07/2023 13:36

None 😔

Minikievs · 26/07/2023 13:00

I am also a single mum of two and after ALL bills and DDs, I have £335. That's after all clubs and subs are paid, food, everything.
So that's basically fun money. I probs spend £100 of that on stuff like hairdresser/waxing/ etc etc so probs £200 a month on eating out/coffee/takeaway/treats etc
Some months it's fine, some months it feels really shit

CuriousLadyBird · 26/07/2023 12:01

Just over 3k when all bills, food and petrol is paid. (We do live in a cheap area of the uk though and that's how much is left but we put some into savings etc).

Bananas1350 · 26/07/2023 11:59

@gallop17 i think maybe it’s jealousy? It is hard to see other people with so much when u don’t have enough. I totally understand that though. I don’t have huge amounts. But I’m happy in my life and what I have so I’m not jealous of others.

I have known and do know people with tons of money and trust me it isn’t all rainbows either.

gallop17 · 26/07/2023 11:07

MN is a funny place because I can post my disposable income and be told it's boasting or a lie but then on threads where my salary/household income is listed it's "not that much", and not a higher earner (appreciate it's different posters posting but it is funny when you have the same situation being interpreted differently!)

Bananas1350 · 26/07/2023 10:42

It also has a lot to do with age. When I was younger and had a small child we had nothing. My son is now 19 has a job of his own. I can work more and my husband has climbed the ladder at work to be a manage. But then compared to others on here my £1700 isn’t very much.

B72 · 26/07/2023 10:25

Desperatetime · 26/07/2023 09:48

Hell have I entered a different universe on here I'm amazed at the amounts some of you have left.

It's all academic though, because everyone's circumstances are different.
Couple A. Two teens, monthly income of 3k. Mortgage, 2 cars, bills, food, clothing etc. £200 left after.

Couple B. Childless, monthly income 3k, mortgage, 2 cars, bills, food, clothing etc. £400 left after.

Couple C. Monthly income 3k. Kids left home, no mortgage, 1 car, bills, food, clothing etc. 1.5k left after.

NB. These aren't actual figures, I'm just using them off the top of my head to give examples.

Desperatetime · 26/07/2023 09:48

Hell have I entered a different universe on here I'm amazed at the amounts some of you have left.

TheChosenTwo · 26/07/2023 09:34

Quite a lot after everything has gone out.
dh I’m presuming has similar, we get paid into our own account, put the relevant amounts into the bills account and then savings accounts (we have joint ones for household stuff, savings, ones for the dc and then our own separate savings) and the rest is our own.
I don’t really need to watch what I spend and whatever is left over the day before payday goes into my own personal savings.

Iwantmybed · 26/07/2023 09:30

All our money is allocated to renovations as we live in a doer upper, but if it is useful, I have worked out what we have left after bills, food and fuel. It has slowly increased over the years due to payrises.
2023 £3761.99
2021 £3011.16
2019 £2076.13
2017 £1343.39
We are both on very average wages but we have low outgoings and are always looking to reduce them. We don't eat out often and I'm happy to wear Primark and Matalan clothes.

mondaytosunday · 26/07/2023 09:29

Not enough currently! I have relied for years on savings and extra cash from selling assets ( I used this flip houses at one point), but they are dwindling. My youngest has just turned 18 so I've lost not only child benefit but also widowed parents allowance which was over £6k/year. I'm having to budget much more carefully these days.
So I'd say we have about £400 after fixed bills and food to spend on petrol and incidentals. It's just me and two teen kids.
I've started a side hustle but yet to make any real profit.

littlehattie · 26/07/2023 09:28

After mortgage, bills, investments, savings, food and travel etc we have about £2.5-3k left a month. We don't have kids yet though. We put most of it aside for holidays

backtogrey · 26/07/2023 09:04

No idea. I just spend what I want. Sometimes I have a spurge and spend loads and other months not so much. I’ve always money in my accounts though so clearly I’m not overspending.

B72 · 26/07/2023 09:01

All of my take home salary and most of my husband's, so quite a lot.

Zipps · 26/07/2023 08:59

We're retired now so no mortgage. After bills, food vehicles and all the other necessities are sorted we have £3000 a month. Most of which goes on holidays, days out and social life. We also have savings in an account for the house/vehicle replacement/clothes/emergency fund and also premium bonds/Isas which we don't touch atm.

ahipponamedbooboobutt · 26/07/2023 08:54

Separate finances here.
Once I've paid all my bills/share of the bills I've got around £900 left, but I try and save half of that and budget £100 a week for fun stuff. To me this is loads, as up until recently I had a lot of debt and every spare penny was going to pay it off.

Shokd · 26/07/2023 08:48

Mojitosaremyfavourite · 26/07/2023 08:18

I have seen plenty where people boast on here. That’s up to them. I just find it distasteful when there are millions on the bones of their arse struggling with the COL crisis.
I just won’t comment or look on threads like this anymore. I don’t need the likes of you jumping on me.

Jumping on you? Nothing aggressive at all there, just pointing out it would probably not be what OP is looking for if only people with a certain amount left commented, or people with over X amount didn't post.

noworklifebalance · 26/07/2023 08:43

Mojitosaremyfavourite · 26/07/2023 08:18

I have seen plenty where people boast on here. That’s up to them. I just find it distasteful when there are millions on the bones of their arse struggling with the COL crisis.
I just won’t comment or look on threads like this anymore. I don’t need the likes of you jumping on me.

How do you know if anyone is boasting? What would the point be on an anonymous forum?
OP asked and PPs have answered -she/he hasn’t said: don’t bother answering if you have a lot spare.

LlamaFace19 · 26/07/2023 08:34

We have around £700 after everything has been bought/paid for.

UrsulaIsMyQueen · 26/07/2023 08:33

About £1200.

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