How much do you spend on yourself per month?

[MrsRandy]

Excluding food shopping, bills, rent/mortgage.

How much do you spend on yourself per month on beauty, meals out, takeaways, clothes, going out for the day/evening etc.

Do you have a budget?

What are you hoping to learn from this OP, as the annswers are obviously going to be so vastly different based on income levels / committed outgoings eg mortgage or childcare / supporting dependents etc.

I second @MidnightPatrol

You first Op 😬

Very little. Occasional meals out (once every couple months on average I guess). Never takeaways. No beauty treatments. My hair cut costs £15 every 4 months! Very occasional theatre or concert tickets.
The odd holiday here and there.
I do have a swim membership which is £300 for the year. And DH and I do ballroom dance classes every other week which is £21 per class.
I used to be constantly travelling but it’s all changed now since I’ve had DS, so money spent on myself/evenings out etc are few and far between.

Sorry - I didn’t mean for it to be too deep. I’m just curious as I’m trying to cut back on spending and interested to know how much others spend. I guess it is completely dependent on what people have left over at the end of the month.

I should have maybe worded things differently.

Do you and DH do anything budget friendly for date days / nights?

Wow at the hair cut cost! Mine costs me about £40 every 3 months. This seems to be the average for a simple cut where I live.

I’ve been spending close to £350-400 and believe that’s too much (on average PT wage with 1 child)

I am trying to cut costs

Haircut is around £65 every 6-8 weeks.

nails £20ish maybe every 6 weeks or so.

face creams and make up maybe average about £20 a month

don’t have a gym membership, try and walk.

meeting up with friends, not that often, hard to put a figure on it.

takeaways, occasionally, but that comes out family money

About £50 a week so roughly £200 to £250 a month.

Yoga classes are £50 a month.

I have a monthly appointment at the beauticians and what I have done varies. Pedicure in summer months, maybe manicure for a holiday or Christmas, facials in winter etc. But approx £50 each time.

Hair I only go every few months but then is expensive so it works out at roughly £30 a month.

£20 a month on coffee out and about as I get a Costa most weeks.

Then anywhere from £50 to £100 a month on extra stuff. If I go out with friends for dinner and drinks it is likely to cost me around £50 and then monthly I may treat myself to a new item of clothing or some beauty products. I bought a new perfume this month.

I never get takeaways and if I did it would come out of the family budget anyway. I also don't buy lunch at work I take my own in from home.

350-400 per month? Wow that's nearly our rent. I don't even pay for haircuts anymore I do it myself lol so I can't say that I spend anything on extras for myself, if I'm lucky I will get J2os in the big shop once a month 🤣

Oh I agree. I’ve always been a spender and I need to cut down for sure! We’re looking to move to a bigger house so I need to budget myself.

I feel like being able to cut your own hair must save so much money!

Me and DH have 600 quid each -
our phones /gym /hols and joint stuff we do together comes from a different pot as it were. That’s our own spends for own things with friends or going away with our own adult kids, days out with own grandkids etc
it would be more but we save loads for hols

Hair cut and grey blending around every 6 to 8 weeks.£80 it's certainly gone up but I really love my hairdresser she's a friend so I don't mind so much and don't really do anything else for myself. Sometimes plants but that really varies from 50p to £15

We have £400 per month each & spend it all (savings are a different pot). Up until about 18 months ago we could only afford £100 each & that was hard (lasted about 10 years).

We now both have better jobs & can have this much each

I spend mine on my hair (£100 every 2 months), hair & beauty products (about £100 per month), clothes (I've never had so much - previously my winter coat lasted over 8 years), £20 on beauty treatments etc.

My laptop needs to be replaced soon so I'll be buying one from this money. I also buy fuel for my car from this pot too.

We had been so frugal for so long that it's been lovely having enough money to actually afford nice bits & pieces when I want them, can have lunch out more often etc. So long as you can afford it, it's up to you what you spend it on.

Do you mind me asking for any good budget / frugal tips for managing a smaller budget? I am looking at going from £350 to £200. I understand this is still a lot for some people.

Maybe £400 a month?

Hair is £80 every 8 weeks so £40 a month
Nails £32 every 3 weeks
Prescription skin care £25 a month
Yoga is £40 a month
Massage is £45, I try to get one monthly.
Then rest is clothes, additional personal care stuff, if I go out with pals, etc.

I spend a ton, but I can and I enjoy these things. Plus, I want to look my very best for work.
Weekly, I get my hair washed and blow-dried - I am no good at blow-drying and just decided to stop doing it. This is probably my biggest indulgence.
I have membership to a pilates studio and to a nice gym. I have private sessions with a trainer three times a week.
About every two weeks/10 days, I get a manicure and pedicure.
Sometimes once a week, sometimes once a fortnight I get a massage. About once a fortnight, I go for acupuncture.
Monthly, I get a facial.
Twice a year I get a genius treatment at the dermatologist - it is micro-needling with laser. Twice a year I get laser treatments such as fraxel laser. At the end of summer, I have a PRX peel. I don't get botox or fillers (as while they can look amazing, there comes a point, as people age, where it no longer looks natural - it's just not for me), so I really focus on skin-care and skin-treatments. I also am committed to particular brands of skin-care and shampoo and conditioner, which are expensive.
Twice a year - so spring/summer, then autumn winter, a stylist I love shops for me. I go up to the city, and try on the clothes, bags, accessories the stylist has chosen and we fill in gaps in my wardrobe. During the year, if I realize I need a particular item, I call my stylist and she finds it for me.
We take several holidays a year, including a winter sun holiday (and generally a ski-ing holiday) too, which I really find helps with the dark cold winters. For flights over 4 hours or so, I always fly business or first, which means I feel more lively when I get there.
So yes, a ton, and an indulgence, but I can easily without it impacting any other saving or spending priorities. (My husband is REALLY low maintenance. Cheap hair-cut, bar of soap, simple wardrobe).

Honestly, if you can afford it - go for it!

I am very jealous that you get a wash and blow dry every week. I can fully imagine this saving me so much time and complete indulgence xx

I think it depends on the chapter of your life. Until recently mine was around £100 a month. But I’ve now got more income and fewer outgoings so I’ve decided to spend some money on myself and have budgeted £400.

This will cover hair, clothes, beauty treatments. As well as things like getting a cab to meet up friends so I can have a glass of wine wine. And buying good quality clothes that are actually made and cut well.

Holidays would always be additional as that’s a family cost rather than a me cost.

I spend about £400 on my horse. I don’t go out for meals, buy clothes, have solo days out, get hair/nails done any of that stuff on a monthly basis. I might have the occasional coffee out. So £50 max on coffee or cake or I need some lip balm or whatever or last month I needed to buy flip flops. There is no budget. If I need it or want it, I buy it. But I don’t buy much beyond the essentials often. Except for the bloody horse. He lives a life of luxury. 😂

beauty: haircut £50 every 8 weeks; nothing else.
meals out: maybe £60? (Two lunches out plus random coffees)
takeaways: none at all
clothes: often nothing; occasionally big investment spending of between £1-2k (every other year or so)
going out for the day/evening etc: excluding days out with the kids, which are not for me: nothing at all when we don't have money and as much as possible when we do.

I use YNAB and it has revolutionised the way I relate to money. I track everything I spend. It has meant that I am very certain that we spend money on what we value and nothing else. I would much rather spend money on theatre tickets than meals out, for example. Takeaways are expensive and not good for you so I would rather spend money on raspberries and organic chicken breasts. When we are feeling comfortable I spend a lot of money on food but almost none of that is at a restaurant / takeaway / out.

I budget £550 a month. Hair and nails are in addition to this at £20 a month for nails and £150 every 10 weeks for hair.

I’d say about £50 - £100 month average on everything (hair / body / skin care [I don’t have any beauty treatments apart from haircut/tint], clothes / home stuff, odd coffee / lunch out, rare theatre / concert ticket). I don’t go out in evenings much as have a young dd and I get up early. I do free/ at home exercise & have hot tub at home.
DH generally pays for meals out / takeaways / treats me to stuff.

It's budgeted last month was £200 which is higher than average, it includes clothes, skincare coffees out , my income varies so personal spending is last line on budget so if had a bad month it could be as low as£50 but I rarely spend it all in a good month. It doesn't include phone bills but if I wanted new phone it would come out of it. Family treats are a separate line on budget.

If you want to cut your spending OP and set a budget it's worth looking at where the money is currently going to know where you could cut back.

For me, takeaways was an easy one to completely cut out. They are expensive and often not that good. I would give myself permission to buy anything I wanted from the supermarket instead. It is still much, much cheaper.

I'm happy to pay for yoga because I get a lot out of it and want to prioritise keeping flexible. But I got rid of the gym membership I used to have and I go for a walk or cycle instead.

Clothes I've worked hard on as I'm trying to dramatically reduce the amount I have. So many items in my wardrobe weren't getting worn and I realised I don't need 20 dresses. So I buy much less often but then am happy to spend a bit more if I see something I love and will definitely wear.

With skincare I stopped buying the expensive brands, I used to be loyal to Elemis but now I treat myself to whatever is under a tenner at TKMaxx instead. It means I get to try different things and I actually enjoy browsing the items. I have noticed absolutely no difference in my skin so I don't think the more expensive products were any better to be honest!