Money left at the end of the month?

[DrHousecuredme]

Hi! Out of curiosity really I have worked out my finances for the coming month and worked out that, on paper, I will have £350 left over. It sounds a lot but I never feel well off so.
If you had £350 left after bills, food, petrol, savings (modest, could be more) and holiday payments but clothes, make-up, hair appointments, presents, going out, things for the house and pets etc are not covered.

What would your money end up getting spent on and would you consider yourself well off?

It might not be the one you mean but I have found You Need a Budget to be amazing.

Completely turned my finances around and helped me build up savings etc.

I'd recommend giving the trial a go OP if you are sorting out your budget.

The other people who appear to be doing better than you will either have more money to spend/account for the things you talk about within their budget, are in debt, or spend less, either because they get things cheaper or buy less of them.

The cost of the things you talk about are 'how long is a piece of string' and vary enormously, as does the amount of money people have to pay for them. What others do doesn't help you, their available income, circumstances and what they do and don't buy are almost certainly different.

What matters is that you are careful what you buy/don't fritter on things that are unaffordable and/or aren't important to you and you get the best price for things where possible.

Out of the things you mention, I spend nothing on make-up, not very much on 'things for the house', my hair costs about £30 every 2 months (cut and finish at the village salon plus a box dye a few times a year), pets come out of the basic budget, I buy clothes about once a quarter but might spend about £200 each time on a few items of mid-price high street stuff (eg M&S) that I will wear for ages, we eat out quite a bit, but tend not to regularly buy lunches and coffees and only go 'out out' about twice a year.

You need to analyse your spending and reduce anything that costs a lot but is poor value for money. If you spend a lot on lunches, coffees, cafes on days out with DS etc, take your own food and drink more or go to cheaper places (eg buy a supermarket meal deal instead of burger and chips at the attraction as cost will be about half).

If you buy a lot of clothes, do you need them all? Can you buy second hand? Can you sell anything to increase the amount available to buy different clothes?

Does his dad pay his fair share of things like school uniforms, presents for DS and when he goes to birthday parties etc?

YNAB looks like hard work and costs money. You can achieve a similar aim for free by splitting your money into pots (either within the same account, or using a few separate accounts). Move your money on pay day and only spend from the right pot, putting as much as possible on direct debit.

Once you've set it up it pretty much runs itself except maybe check each pay day that each account has the right amount of money in it. Means that everything essential or extras that you struggle to have money available for like holidays, Christmas etc is covered and you have a defined pot of money left over that can be spent freely on non essentials on a 'when it's gone, it's gone' basis.

If I had £350 left after essentials I would try to save as much as I can

Essentials is a much broader category with a lot more heading than you are allowing for.
You really do need to think of all the things you spend on over a year and out a monthly amount into a separate account or pot, so it is there when you need it.
My annual account gets £350 a month, and is all used

Only buying what you need is a bit subjective too.
Do you need more than one pair of winter shoes? Do you need a cut and colour, or just a cut? Do you need a £100 winter coat or will a £40 one do?

I have about the same left over, I put it on a separate pre paid card at the beginning of the month and work out what it will need to be spent on that month.
Once its gone its gone. Anything unexpected but essential would have to come out of savings.

I do put away for the kids clothes and shoes into a separate account though.

I have only ever bought clothes and make up if I need them, nothing to do with wanting.

I have to buy Clinique as I have allergies and it’s not cheap but I only buy when running out.

You have a totally different mindset to me, I have always saved as much as possible. Are you someone that enjoys shopping? I never shop for pleasure or browse. Items bought this year have been hiking boots and a tin opener because both items totally wore out/broke.

Over £100 of that would go into a savings account I have for presents. We worked out how much we budget for each person for birthdays and Christmas and added it all up (it was a scary amount!) And then divided by 12 and that amount goes into savings each month. So by the time Christmas comes around, it's all saved up. The amount fluctuates throughout the year as each time there is a birthday, some comes out.
And I try to leave myself £200 'fun money' each month for meals out, take aways, haircuts, clothes, toys for the kids, days out, etc etc.
So out of your £350, there would be maybe £30 left after my 'fun' budget and present budget.

I tend not to buy "luxuries" or only a small number of carefully thought out ones. (Another person who prioritises saving).

But some of the things in your list are not luxuries.
If you have a pet you need to budge money to care for it. Essential clothing is not a luxury (another pair of shoes when you already have lots might be). I budget for a certain number of hair cuts a year at a place I think is reasonably priced (for me and my budget).

It sounds like you’re in a similar position to me. In theory, I should have about £300 left at the end of the month, but I never actually do, because of, well, life!

What has worked well for me is using a Monzo account and having ‘pots’ for everything. So at the start of the month, money is siphoned off into:

• totally separate account for all regular bills

Pots for:

• saving for holiday
• haircuts
• school uniform
• house improvements
• ’unexpected’ costs (car maintenance, boiler repairs, etc)
• food shop
• Petrol

Things still feel ‘tight’ at the end of the month, but I feel much more in control of it than I used to.

YNAB is a fantastic app. In 2019 we were using a credit card to get to the end of the month and bickering about money. Now we have a significant bank balance (not going to say what it is because it's only in the context of our salary, what it is for us might not be for you, and vice versa, can't save what you don't earn).
We pay things like annual insurance, Christmas, oil (comes out a couple of times a year) without blinking now.
We have saved far more than the cost of the app plus the bank feeds.

I think where you get caught out is the yearly/every few months/every term expenses.

I was a single mum, and what I did was add my DD’s yearly expenses: school bus, DT supplies, school trips, non uniform days, school meals, haircuts, swimming lessons, uniforms etc, then divide the total amount to 12. It came to £100/month, and what I did was pay into a separate account named DD, on the day I got paid, £100. So every time there was a DD related expense, it would come from there.

I then had a budget for yearly expenses, house related: car and contents insurance, service, MOT, boiler service, etc, added that all up and divided to 12. Again, standing order, every month on the day I got paid, all in an account I named ‘Service’.

Another account for holidays. Which were mainly visiting family abroad, but still. I save 12% of my monthly income just for that. And I always buy my perfume, mascara etc abroad, either in duty free or in tax free countries, I cut my hair when I get to my holiday destination, it’s always cheaper. I also would have a facial and a massage when I’m there. In effect, I pay myself a 13th salary, feels like free money, and that’s where my clothes budget is too. Which are always bought in the January sales. Because I can’t quite shift that mindset of: anything I’d do for me is a luxury 😂.

I have a £1000/month budget for bills and mortgage, that’s another standing order in a separate account, and it includes overpaying the mortgage. £150 for food in another account.

So 2 days after I get paid, all my standing orders have gone out and I’m left I’m with a realistic amount of spare money. I work shifts, so the amount varies. I have a regular saver with FD that pays an interest of 7% and one with NatWest that pays 6%. I pay the maximum in those. Sometimes I get left with £30, others with £70. I bung the lot into a flex online saver, and that’s what pays for the occasional theatre ticket, my once a month pub meet up, a book I might want, a coffee with friends, birthday presents for friends etc.

For expensive months, like DD’s birthday or Christmas, I do overtime. I incorporate in this paying for Christmas parties, a new dress, more food etc. I do overtime in January, February and November.

Hope that helps. It’s a tedious and very controlled way of living, but when you’re on your own, you’re on your own.

I agree - clothes are essential (you may not need new clothes every month, but you will probably need to replace an item or two a year, so you need an annual budget for it);if you have pets then their costs are essential.

This isn't £350 of "spare" money, it's £350 which had several essential outgoings to fund.

Whatever you actually have left at the end of the month can go in savings, but putting money into savings and neglecting your pets as a consequence would not be a good plan.

Id save for when things like hair presents etc were NEEDED rather than spend for sake of it

Well I currently spend, on average, about £150 per month on hobbies/classes, and £50 per week (£200 per month) on going out/socialising (this includes meals out, takeaways, cinema, any activity).

I don't think that I would want to cut back on having a social life and spend less than £200 a month on going out, so if my max was £350, I would probably drop the hobbies and spend the £150 on 'stuff' clothes, makeup etc).

I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.
I put every penny into savings and scrimp and save the rest of the month.
I don't go on holiday because I have pets I don't want to leave and prefer my own home.
I do overtime Saturdays so I can put 1k in savings a month.
I don't feel relaxed if I don't have a good amount of savings to back me up.

I would say that for most adults, clothing is a luxury. Most adults already have enough clothes to last them a lifetime, and new clothes are definitely not needed every month!

I accept that there may be exceptions (e.g. people who are really struggling financially and genuinely don't have enough clothing), but I would say that this is a small minority. For most, who are just keeping up with the latest styles/trends, it's a luxury.

That really doesn't sound a lot if it is to include all those other things. You need some extra savings pots for these other things to truely know how much u have left.

I put money away monthly in separate savings accounts for:

Family Xmas/bday presents
My kids bday/Xmas presents
Car account - covers off tax, service, insurance etc (I also put home insurance costs in here too)
Clothes for kids (i spend way too much so can help me control it)
General savings account - we take money from this for holidays or anything we want to do in the house.

I take our combined income, add child allowance to get our total. I then take off all bills and the things above (apart from the general savings) as well as food and petrol.

I then work out how much money we have to save for holiday. So if we have £800 leftover. I know I need £420 per month for our holiday. I'd probably put £500 in savings and use the £300 left for meals/activities or days out which would be almost £70 per week.

Agree with this. Pet money should be classed as essential spending.

The holiday, on the other hand, isn't, and should be classed as luxury spending. I would typically pay for a holiday out of my long term savings, not my monthly budget. If I didn't have enough savings then I wouldn't go. It's definitely not an essential.

OP said that she has £350 to spend AFTER savings, so she is saving too. Most people want some kind of life too!

I'd transfer it to my savings account otherwise it would just get spent on bits and bobs over the month. If I needed to buy something I'd then transfer that amount back to my current accout

*If you buy a lot of clothes, do you need them all? Can you buy second hand? Can you sell anything to increase the amount available to buy different clothes?

Does his dad pay his fair share of things like school uniforms, presents for DS and when he goes to birthday parties etc?*

His dad is great to be fair but ds has two lots of everything so that doesn't really help my expenses. His dad does pay for extra things like lunches, tutoring and clubs that I wouldn't be able to afford.

I only bought one new dress and a couple of things on Vinted for me last year, rarely (twice a year) get hair cuts and hardly buy make up.
Obviously ds needs more than that but isn't particularly demanding yet.
I'm a fritterer though, especially on snacks and things. I'm also a teacher and do spend a lot of money on resources and bits for the kids. So I could do a lot of tightening up I think.

OP said that she has £350 to spend AFTER savings, so she is saving too. Most people want some kind of life too!

Yes I do try to save "for a rainy day" too, unfortunately I had a very "rainy day" last year when my bathroom flooded and several things in my house broke. So my savings were pretty depleted.

We always save it.
But we’d never save unless we had all our debt paid off first.
We paid off all our debt before we started to save.

After savings and bills including petrol food etc, I probably have about £400 and I feel quite frugal. If it’s a busy month, I can whizz through it quite quickly. For example this month I have 3 good friend birthdays so I have a spa morning, a theatre night out and a meal out. That’s coming to around £200 in itself!