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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask how much 'surplus' money your household has at the end of the month?

217 replies

SeiShann · 14/06/2015 16:10

This is not a stealth boast. I was brought up in a poor family. Single parent mum on benefits in council flat. I started my own adult life in a similar fashion, ended up a single parent on benefits in a council house. Somehow I managed to sort myself out though, went to uni and became a nurse. Not great income but more than I ever thought possible. My fiancé also earns a decent wage although we're not 'loaded' by any stretch of the imagination.
Anyway the point of my post ... I want to buy a car. It will cost £9k and I will pay for it by selling my current car (£2k) and saving up £3. The rest will be credit. Fiancé says we can't afford it and are not as 'flush' as I like to think. Just being nosy really and wondering if I'm missing something. So after all bills are paid and the groceries bought, what surplus do you have?
We spend £100 a week on groceries (2 adults, 2 teens). After that and all bills we have around £2000 surplus. I don't think that's bad myself but coming from a crappy background, am I missing something? We have no debts

OP posts:
butterfly133 · 15/06/2015 13:05

Apols if I missed this
Is this completely surplus, I.e. At the end of the month, after paying all bills and fir fun stuff, you have that left to save?

If you do, then buy a car. But if you're saying its a theoretical figure then I'd need to hear the actual. And know how much you have in savings. I'd overpay mortgage with the spare.

Gemauve · 15/06/2015 13:12

I'd overpay mortgage with the spare.

With interest rates as low as they currently are, it would make more sense to pay the surplus into a pension scheme in order to take advantage of the tax relief. Presumably if they've got two grand spare at the end of each month at least one of them is a higher rate tax payer, so the government giving you four pounds for every six pounds you pay in will massively outstrip any benefit from repaying mortgages with interest rates at 2%.

TTWK · 15/06/2015 13:25

We have about £1,200 coming IN ffs! Work bloody hard for it too. The World is a very unfair place.

It is indeed. In Africa and Asia there are tens of millions of people working 16+ hours a day in dreadful conditions of about £30 a month, and you have a whole £1200 coming in!

FirstOfficerDouglasRichardson · 15/06/2015 14:24

Gosh there are some really harsh posters on here. OP you don't have 2K surplus if you're spending it, that's not surplus, that's disposable income. How much is actually left in your account at the end of the month and how much are you saving? If your surplus was 2K you'd have 24K in your account in a year, I suspect this is not the case. Only you and your DP know what you can afford. Write down all your outgoings, work out where your money is going, then you'll know if you can afford the car or not.

Glindathegoodwitch · 15/06/2015 14:47

What you have on paper, is never what you have in the bank. Nobody ever considers the little dashes to the shops, the money that you may spend on holidays or little getaways, the extra pair of school shoes for DC's, the school trips for DC's, birthday cards and presents for family members, that £50 that you withdraw from the cashpoint on your day off and don't really have a clue on what you spend it....

We would be in the same boat as you on paper, certainly doesn't feel like it though at the end of the month.

As for people who bite or comment stealth boast, really what does it matter about what anybody else earns or has left over at the end of the month? I couldn't care less what the guy sat next to me at work has left over at the end of the month let alone a forum poster using an anonymous name Hmm

Cancookdontcook · 15/06/2015 14:51

Saving up to buy a car strikes me as old-fashioned these days. How are ordinary people driving around in the latest top of the range 4x4? Leasing or finance. I pay £160 pm for my new car (not a 4x4 btw) and in three years time I give it back and get another newer model. Eeeeeasy.

In your case op you could save up for one but I still don't know if I would if I were you.

The issue you have is that your husband doesn't want to spend that kind of money on a car.

We all have different priorities don't we. Some people spend thousands on family holidays; I haven't been on holiday for years.

Shockers · 15/06/2015 14:55

I haven't read the thread, but keep scrolling past it and having a little chuckle to myself at the thought of 'surplus' money...

electionfatigue · 15/06/2015 14:57

Haven't read the full thread but just a point about the car- we saved up for one and could have paid cash, but they gave us an extra £1000 off if we took the finance and made 3 payments before paying it off. The interest was around £100 so it was a no-brainer. I think they get huge commission from the finance, more than from selling the car!

Sitdownandshutup · 15/06/2015 15:07

After mortgage, all bills, travel costs (DH and I both commute on trains everyday to work) and 'fritter' money (e.g. lunches, coffees, random tat) we have about £2,200 'surplus' each month although this is all currently being spent on doing up our house.

Once we've done all the work we want to do in the house, we'll be using the 'surplus' to over-pay the mortgage until that's gone. We're hoping to have the mortgage paid off in six years time.

I don't think we have particularly brilliantly paid jobs (DH is on £30K and I'm on £34K) but we both work in sectors where we'll progress and get regular pay increases.

We're both 28.

Sitdownandshutup · 15/06/2015 15:14

Gemauve That's interesting to read about pensions, thanks.

Favouritethings · 15/06/2015 16:08

Strange post. Surely it's startling obvious that you can afford it. Not quite sure what responses you're after here.

Ipigglemustdie · 15/06/2015 18:09

-£299 on a good month

LotusLight · 15/06/2015 18:15

Buy a car for cash and who needs a £9k car? Pay school fees instead. Buy a decent house. Those are good investments. Spending money on a silly expensive car is a ridiculous priority even if you have substantial savings!

As for what is spare it just varies as I work for myself. I probably earn and have more surplus than most mumsnetters which is one reason my 5 children have/will graduate without any student loans etc etc.

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 15/06/2015 18:18

Is 9K really an unreasonable amount to spend on a car? Really?

LotusLight · 15/06/2015 18:25

In my view anyway. We are all different, I like to buy houses and pay school fees. Other people prefer cars. Some people can afford both.

WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 15/06/2015 18:33

£9k would get you less than a years worth of school fees though wouldn't it?!

butterfly133 · 15/06/2015 19:11

LotusLight - the OP probably has all those things already?

Apatite1 · 15/06/2015 19:34

Eh? Where do school fees come into it? £9k wouldn't pay for a single child around our parts anyway. You can afford it OP, your husband just doesn't want to.

Custardcream14 · 15/06/2015 19:56

If you have that much spare you shouldn't be buying anything on credit.

LaLyra · 15/06/2015 20:22

Do you actually have a 2k surplus each month? Or should you have a 2k surplus?

What we transfer into savings each month isn't even the same as what we should transfer over because of things that crop up during the month.

You need to speak to your DH again, find out why you are on such a different though process over this. Is is that your DH just doesn't want to spend that amount or is he right and you are not as flush as you think?

TTWK · 15/06/2015 20:29

Is 9K really an unreasonable amount to spend on a car? Really?

Not at all. People seem to get upset about it because they can't even dream about spending £9K on a car. Well I can't afford a million quid, but I do not think a million quid is a lot of money for a private jet! A million quid for a jet would be very reasonable I should think. People need to get a grip.

TTWK · 15/06/2015 20:32

Buy a car for cash and who needs a £9k car? Pay school fees instead. Buy a decent house. Those are good investments. Spending money on a silly expensive car is a ridiculous priority even if you have substantial savings!

If it gives you pleasure, and you can afford it, and you've worked hard for the money, who the hell are you to say it's ridiculous. If you don't want an expensive car, don't effing buy one.

NinkyNonkers · 15/06/2015 20:33

Saving up for a car is old fashioned?! What an odd idea! I overheard a conversation about cars the other day at riding and there was a lot of talk about getting finance etc and it struck me that yes, a lot of people do have stuff 'on the tick' as my dad would say. We have a mortgage and nowt else, some big purchases we put on an interest free cc that gives cashback and pay it off once the cash back hits.

I really don't think that loads of loans is a good idea! Unless you are being smart and juggling interest rates. With that level of excess saving wouldn't take long.

I must admit I would pay down a mortgage, long term save, pension it as a priority though. Maybe I'm old fashioned!

Noggie · 15/06/2015 20:34

We have nothing left over- fairly high mortgage and childcare costs Shock

mrsruffallo · 15/06/2015 20:40

I think it's very easy to spend, say £300 a week on not much if you are not careful. Iafater posting a similar thread to you I wrote everything down and stopped the 'pay day' mentality that I didn't realise I had. As an earlier poster says, it is about not spending the spare but taking savings seriously.

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