How much disposable income do you have in your household?

[Niahm]

Now I know that some people are uncomfortable revealing how much money they actually have and that’s fine, but for anyone who’s not fussed I’d love to know how much you have left over to spend as you please!
After reading all the recent breadline vs comfortable threads I’m more confused than ever and have no idea where I fall. I feel like people often tend to include things like owning and running a car, haircuts, clothes, getting the house sorted etc which skews the end results quite a bit.

Personally after rent, food, council tax, energy, water and internet I have £700 for me and a toddler. Definitely enough to eat and get by okay, but it all seems to just fly away from us on travelling, clubs, basic clothes, Netflix, phones etc.
How about you?

That's BEFORE food though.

Once all essentials - mortgage, bills, food, fuel - are gone, I have £300 a month left. Subscriptions(Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon), health (Denplan, contact lenses) phone contract and servicing a bank loan also come out of that, so I probably have about £150 a month of spending money a month. I'm on maternity leave and I have a three year old, so the odd coffee or hot chocolate in the park quickly takes up the rest. Almost never buy clothes new, toiletries etc from Aldi.

I'll probably have to cut all of the unnecessary expenses out as our finances are squeezed (except the bank loan, which is being extended). Occassional big expenses like birthdays and haircuts go on the credit card. We never go on holiday, and very rarely for meals out.

It's getting tighter and tighter, and I'm aware that I am very fortunate in comparison to a lot of people.

£2.5k to cover food, petrol etc

75%. I could generate 5x more if I chose to but I like having a tight budget and living absolutely on my own terms 24/7/365 so I don't. That said, I am not travelling much right now due to disliking the post covid atmosphere. When I did, I often used to run that down to a grand easily.

After everything, mortgage, bills, food (budget of £80 a week for 5 of us for food/toiletries/cleaning stuff so not much fun), we have about £200 left.

That £200 is for everything else. Clothes, haircuts, school uniforms, school shoes. We try to save as much of it as We don’t have any luxuries like TV packages etc, bills are bare bones.

Life isn’t much fun.

Yeah if we're including food I never have a penny left over

After EVERYTHING is paid and I mean everything like nobles and Netflix and food and tennis lessons and clubs and memberships and all the bills. And then what we put into savings…

£1500 disposable for 2 adults and 2 kids.

Now because everything is paid we tend to add a bit more to savings.

That £1500 is used for
Coffees/lunches/dinners out
Day trips
Take aways
New clothes/shoes (strict about this as we buy for the kids as they need but for us, massively reducing due to eco reasons)
Frivolities like a new bath oil or new earrings

About £2000pm after all bills, food and petrol. My husbands income has increased by around 20% in the last year and we are finally free of childcare costs so in a good position at last. A few years ago we had two in childcare, two in school and were earning less and things were a lot tighter

@iamsoreadyforbednow congratulations! Your post made me smile. We are where you are now but hope to be clear in a couple of months. It will be such a relief.

I've fallen into a parallel universe. One minute there's thread after thread with people absolutely panicking about rising costs of food and diesel etc and then there's threads like this where people have 3k a month to save just for shits and giggles! Only on MN

£4300 for two adults after all bills and food, if we didn’t save anything. However, we do chose to save as I always worry about the future!

@monicagellerbing

I've fallen into a parallel universe. One minute there's thread after thread with people absolutely panicking about rising costs of food and diesel etc and then there's threads like this where people have 3k a month to save just for shits and giggles! Only on MN

That’s one of the big reasons I posted actually! I always believed that I was a LOT poorer than the average person, but after all those panicking threads I was left thoroughly confused about where I stand!

I guess most of those who are better off have just been polite enough not to rub it in on threads were people are panicking and feeling crap about money😊

@countdowntonap

£4300 for two adults after all bills and food, if we didn’t save anything. However, we do chose to save as I always worry about the future!

Oh wow!😮 Consider me VERY jealous🤣

Not sure, I've never worked it out !

£300 a month for family of 6.

Very very little. Not saving anything right now. But thankful we can cover everything, for now.

After bills, food, and entertainment budget is taken out I have about 1.5k left. Which I save or use for more fun stuff in the month. Its just me, so no other income comes in. I'm lucky, but I work hard and feel a huge amount of pressure as I have no one else to rely on if I were to be made redundant for example, so savings are super important to me.

I have £300. £150 for food, £150 for leisure/hair/travel. 1 adult and 1 child.

Our running costs are £4500 per month
No mortgage
We could pay school fees but chose not to.
We save £80k a year.
We spend a lot on holidays.

We also have savings but I’m not adding to them now and spending it.

We are late 40’s/early 50’s

After I've paid for all bills, cars, fuel, food, etc, around 1.5k

I'm trying to live off £500 a month ESA. That's it, for every single thing I have to pay for. I live on my own. I have discovered Zilch though which means I can order a grocery shop from Asda and pay it back over six weeks so that's a blessing.

So in answer, no disposable income and slipping into debt to eat.

after rent, food, council tax, energy, water and internet I have £700 for me and a toddler. Definitely enough to eat and get by okay, but it all seems to just fly away from us on travelling, clubs, basic clothes, Netflix, phones etc.

The thing is, phones are a necessary bill (it might only be £10pm but you’re not going without a mobile, are you, it’s basically an essential) as is transport - perhaps not ‘owning and running a car’ but some form of spending on transport, even if it’s the bud or very occasional taxi or train fare, unless you never ever go anywhere not in walking distance. Again, basic clothes are a necessity.

Clubs, Netflix - those are non-essential.

I don’t think it’s helpful to say ‘disposable’ is what’s left after only certain bills.

Wow, some of you are absolutely loaded! £5K disposable income?! That's more than our total income after tax and we're both in voluntary sector management roles with salaries well above the national average.

My disposable income is about £500 a month. That's after all regular costs - mortage, council tax, household bills, food, mobile, netflix account and modest savings come out. I am lucky to own my car outright, but running costs come out of my disposable income. Pre-covid I was also paying £200 a month to commute by train - not sure how I managed to afford that!

@OldTinHat

I'm trying to live off £500 a month ESA. That's it, for every single thing I have to pay for. I live on my own. I have discovered Zilch though which means I can order a grocery shop from Asda and pay it back over six weeks so that's a blessing.

So in answer, no disposable income and slipping into debt to eat.

Have you looked into what else you may be entitled to? If you’re eligible for ESA then you may be able to get your rent and council tax paid for, maybe eligible for PIP depending on your disability/health condition

Around 2-3k per month for two adults after all bills are paid, including mortgage, food, internet, council tax, car insurance x 2, pet insurance x 4 and all utility bills.