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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Should we be this broke with £750 disposable income?

93 replies

Lionking1981 · 15/03/2017 23:33

Just this. We have 50 pounds left and it has to last us 9 days. I keep pleading poverty to my family because i find it so hard to make ends meet, my mum gives me the odd tenner to help me out but we have just worked out all our bills and food and we have 750 pounds disposable every month. I don't feel we overspend. I feel a bit ashamed of this. Dh doesn't think it's a lot and it's normal for us to be struggling. We have 2 dc. What do you think?

OP posts:

gamerchick · 15/03/2017 23:34

Sounds like lists of all spends are needed. You'll find your black hole.

NapQueen · 15/03/2017 23:35

Dont you track what you spend? Seriously - for a month write everything you spend down. Both of you.

We realised most of our money was going on food. Takeaways, big shops, top up shops, lunches out places. Ridiculous amount.

LurpakIstheOnlyButter · 15/03/2017 23:35

What is this 750 going on? Can you cut back?

I don't have 750 after bills childcare food and petrol, but I'm not poor

Justmuddlingalong · 15/03/2017 23:36

Disposable after what, is that after all your bills and shopping are paid?

coconuttella · 15/03/2017 23:36

What kind of stuff does the £750 go on....

I don't expect you'll get much sympathy as many only have around that income to cover bills and food!

EnglishGirlApproximately · 15/03/2017 23:36

What does the £750 need to cover? We're a family of three and have about £800 after outgoings and it's plenty for us, we manage to save a bit and have holidays etc.

brasty · 15/03/2017 23:39

You have £750 a month after bills and food? You need to work out what you are spending money on. That is plenty of money.

Winterc00kie · 15/03/2017 23:40

I think its worrying your declaring poverty when your obviously throwing money away.

notapizzaeater · 15/03/2017 23:40

You need a diary to see exactly what you are spending £750 on .... Write every little thing down - it's surprising how quickly the odd £ here adds up

Riderontheswarm · 15/03/2017 23:44

It may be that you are forgetting to count some bills as bills and have less disposable income than you think. Are you including things like car insurance, car servicing, TV licence and other expenses that don't have to be paid monthly but still have to be paid? What about school expenses, kids activities, petrol, Christmas? If these aren't budgeted for they can soon eat into 'disposable income' before it feels like you have had any.

LineysRun · 15/03/2017 23:45

I did an 'audit' for a friend's family. The dad alone was spending £300 a month on coffees and lunch snacks e.g. Costa coffees, bought sandwiches, pasties, cakes.

They'd not really faced up to the full cost of running the car.

They had takeaway (for four) at least twice a week.

That's where their money was going.

gillybeanz · 15/03/2017 23:46

How can it be disposable when you are skint?
It would be better looking at it from not having £750 disposable income.
Once you've disposed of it / spent it on goodies, then it's no longer disposable.

Budget properly and cut back on non essentials and you'll have your£750 disposable income, to spend on what really matters to you.

brasty · 15/03/2017 23:47

But it does depend what kind of kids activities you are paying for. Some can be very expensive.
Are you the kind of people that are always popping into a cafe for lunch, coffee and cake, buying clothes or anything else you see that happens to appeal to you?

Macaroni22 · 15/03/2017 23:48

I would dream to be in your position!!!!

In the nicest possible way you need to learn to respect money. How on earth can you be spending that amount and still be 'broke'?! What on earth does it go on?!

AlmostAJillSandwich · 15/03/2017 23:49

I'm assuming you mean after mortgage/rent and bills like utilities you have £750.
Food can be expensive with 2 dc's, i wouldn't be surprised if you're spending £400 ish of it on food. Does the £750 also include mobile phone contracts, Tv packages? Those can gobble up money unless those are factored in to bills and not paid for out of the disposeable.
A meal out for 4 is easily £60 plus. Clothing if you're not shopping in budget shops, £750 can either stretch really far with good budgeting, or not far at all if you prefer more high end shops etc.
You are absolutely ridiculous to cry poverty though. As said, some of us get £750 or less a month as our total income!

brasty · 15/03/2017 23:50

No OP says after food and bills.

goose1964 · 15/03/2017 23:54

Next month write everything you spend money on, those coffee shop coffees etc soon add up.

JonesyAndTheSalad · 15/03/2017 23:55

My friend was like you. I went shopping with her for her weekly food shop...which was for two adults and one toddler.

She spent 300 pounds! She bought everything from the "best" range, she added about three bottles of alcohol to her trolley, DVDs, clothes, toys.

This was a typical "food" shop for her.

Are you doing similar? Or spending a lot online?

unfortunateevents · 15/03/2017 23:55

You have £750 after all bills are paid? So utilities, TV package, mobile bills, insurance etc? That seems rather a lot of money then be so broke at the end of the month.

Permanentlyexhausted · 16/03/2017 00:01

£750 after bills and food is loads tbh. Are you sure you've added everything in? Petrol? Have you remembered to pro-rata any annual or quarterly bills (car insurance? holkidays?) Are you buying lunch/coffee and forgetting to include that in your food bills?

Agree with others that you need to keep a diary to see where your money is going. How do you usually pay for non-bill things? Cash or card? If you use your card it should be pretty easy to see where it's gone by looking at your statement. Even if you use cash, you must have a good idea of what you've bought in the last couple of weeks (clothes? shoes? meals out? days out?)

Your DH is wrong. £750 is masses. It's about what we have as purely disposable income per month and I don't feel it is ever a struggle to find the cash to pay for whatever we want to have or do (not a stealth boast - it may be that we have less extravagant desires after many years of having a disposable income of more like £40 a month)

GraceGrape · 16/03/2017 00:03

Do you do activites and extra-curricular clubs for the children? A lot of my "extra" money goes on these, which is something you can cut back on.

Jux · 16/03/2017 00:08

It is quite a lot of money.

How much do you spend on coffees a day/week? Lunches? It's the little things which catch you out, you notice the bigger ones.

Original poster

Lionking1981 · 16/03/2017 00:12

Thank you for your responses. I know this is not quite right and am seriously going to look further. I didn't include work snacks, clothes, take aways, meals out and kids activities in there. They are part of what I class as disposable.

OP posts:

lalalalyra · 16/03/2017 00:19

Do you top up shop? We did a budget a couple of years ago and says our food budget was £500 per month, but when we included random bought lunches and the total cost of grabbing a pint of milk it was almost £200 more.

PigletJohn · 16/03/2017 00:21

you might be embarrassed to carry a notebook and write all your spends in it, but at least take all the receipts and put them in your purse.

If you use cards, just use one for a while. Sign online every day and look at the transactions, while they are fresh in your mind, and write down what it was.

You are going to have to keep a spending diary. It is easier in a book than creating a spreadsheet.

You will find that you and your partner "forget" to write down chocolate, fags, capuccini, drinks in the pub, cream cakes.

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