How much per month for personal spends?

[WhenWillWanksWildly]

We’ve always had our own personal ‘pocket money’ set aside from household and joint expenses. We were recently clearing out a drawer of paperwork and found my personal account bank statements from 2007! It was fun to look back at what I used to buy but it struck me that the £100 per month we had has never been increased.

We both work full time and our combined income is pretty decent. We are going to review our spreadsheet and give ourselves a raise this year. Inflation between then and now suggests £162.82. Does £150-200 feel about right?

If you are managing without the extra why do you feel the need to increase, what does it go towards I mean?
If you haven’t raised it have you been saving more, overpaying the mortgage or something?

This is going to be so different for everyone as people adjust according to income. What was this include? Clothes? personal care? Entertainment?

Why do you need to set a particular limit OP?

I save X a month, pay my bills and commitments and generally buy something or do something if that’s what I want to do.

It’s important to have a budget and good practice to account for every £$€. imo

Basic hair cuts, basic toiletries, gym classes, joint/family cinema type trips come out of household budget but we are both pretty low maintenance. Clothes, weekend trips away with friends, fancy beauty products etc. come out of personal spends.

Spent the intermediate years spending on kids mostly but recent wage increases mean we’ll have some extra without feeling the pinch so much I suppose. Sometimes it has felt like a pinch so a bit more freedom would be good.

We do £300, I'd prefer £500 but we've got some other priorities to sort first and then we'll hopefully up it. Depends on your income and outgoings though obvs...

Yep, every pound has a job. Always been budgeters and likely always will be.

@WhenWillWanksWildly - then no I don’t think that’s too much at all. Edited to say: A good face cream (depending on your age) can set you back almost £100 these days.

If you can afford more, give yourself more, £100 is very little, I think £500 is more reasonable but it does depend, why not try an increase and see, maybe to £250/300 at first

I think it’s just what you’re used to - dh and I have vast personal spends per month compared to £100 but we’ve just gradually increased everything as the years have gone on. Used to put x amount into savings and now it’s more. Used to pay the mortgage and now we overpay. Used to have cheaper budget holidays now have more luxurious ones.
I’d not be able to continue the lifestyle I do on £100 per month but once upon a time it’s all I had and i managed.
You just cut your cloth. How often are you buying clothes and having weekend trips away with friends and buying nice skincare? Do you feel the need to do it more? If so, increase your spends. If you think you’d be wasting the money for the sake of it, don’t bother!

Patronising much.

I budget, but I live well at the same time.

I’m sorry you felt I was patronising - it was not my intention but of course online you can’t always tell the writers intention. I was giving my opinion on the subject not passing judgment. Just to clarify I think that a budget includes personal spending so you can as you stare live well at the same time - budget allowing of course.

My attitude is - I work hard, I'm an adult, I won't have my spending curtailed and I'll buy what I like! For context, I'm a high-ish earner, have very low fixed outgoings and no debt.

DH and I put the 'bulk' (an unspecified amount) of our monthly earnings into our joint account, then I take an amount I deem appropriate from that and put it into our joint savings. But if I want to spend £700 on myself that month, then I will.

Only if you’re easily persuaded by ruthless marketing. A ‘good’ face cream can cost as little as £4.99 from Aldi. It’s the one that causes the least amount of irritation on my sensitive skin. Believe me I’ve tried plenty of spendy creams over the years!

£100 per month seems low to me (if you have a decent income, obvs some people have to manage on less!) I give myself £500 and this doesn’t include holidays or gifts which all come out of separate sinking funds. I easily spend it every month.

You weren’t being patronising. It’s amazing the number of people I know who do t actually budget and account for where every coin they earn goes - then complain that they never seem to have any money despite earning a decent salary.

And you must do what is good for you for sure! Every time I have tried a cheaper brand than my usual one I come out in spots and redness. Tried them all! Olay, Nivea, n7, Lancôme, Lidl, eucerin, Vichy, avena you name it! So I have to stick to the brands I know work for me.

We have £500 each a month but I never spend that tbh. In fact I put £100 straight into my ISA and £30 to charity and still don't spend it haha...
I'm not bery high maintenance though, haircut every 6 months, don't get my nails done or anything. Most of what I spend is going to the pub and buying gifts...

We do £600 each and that covers clothes, haircuts, going out with friends, toiletries over and above anything we get from the supermarket, gifts for each other / friends.

Sometimes spend all of it, sometimes roll some over a few months. I tend to spend most of mine each month whereas my husband spends nothing for a few months but will then splash out all at once on a piece of tech or expensive suits.

We do £400 each a month and sometimes that’s spend and some months it’s rolled over.

It covers

lunches/meals/coffees/days out/holidays with friends
hair cuts and beauty stuff
clothes
shoes
mobile phone
Charity donations
books and magazines

It’s interesting to see what people consider personal spends. My DH buys daily (subsidised) lunch and weekly coffees out of joint money but I very rarely buy either because I’m a natural cheapskate and am not paying £2 off for a cup of hot water and a tea bag lol. I probably only buy a lunch once a month. I get a beauty box sub out of personal spends but his gym supplements come out of joint money!

He is most definitely the spender in the relationship. No doubt he’ll have a higher figure in mind than me and we might meet in the middle as is always the way.

If you made it higher I’d negotiate your dh buying his things out of personal spends!

we have £175/200 each, but it buys everything personal and some months it’s a struggle. I would love to have more available.

I don’t actually know how you’re affording the things you say you are out of £100 to be honest.

Dh and I have separate accounts. I wouldn't want to not be able to spend what I want. We both earn roughly the same (around 60k each), but no mortgage and just pay separate bills that equal the same amount.

I spend a lot on myself more often, him less so but when he does it's higher value things.

Sounds like you’re getting the short end of this deal!

Blimey. I easily spend £2k a month on stuff that's isn't joint (we share everything in one big pot) ...feeling a bit of a cow right now..... partner is a simply man, some ciggies and a football season ticket is all he ever asks for. Oh dear.