To ask how much "disposable income" you have per week / month after bills

[princesspeppax]

(Nosey mumma) Watching a programme "rich house poor house" where family's switch homes and budgets for the week to see wether money really does create happiness (both family's seem to be very happy regardless of financial situation) the richest family's have In the region of thousands disposable per week and the poorest have £200 or less to use for weekly food and dc classes social lifes etc so

AIBU To ask what your disposable income is, and are you happy with it

For me and my df and 2 dc we have around £180 a week after all bills to buy food social outings dance classes birthdays christmas etc

Difficult to say as I am on mat leave at the moment. I would guess we have £150 a week left over once all bills and food are paid for. However, I did make all big bills were paid before I went on mat leave (car insurance, etc)

It would be nice to have about £50 a week extra it is quite easy to spend money on coffee/cake/baby activities/baby stuff on mat leave.

Do you feel it's enough to give you a happy lifestyle or do you feel discontent that there isn't more disposable income for you. What would be your ideal? It's not about how much people have per se it's whether it's enough for their needs and lifestyle

I have about 90 a week but 50 of that goes into various savings.

Littlemissdaredevil hope your enjoying mat leave 😊 i personally think thats a good amount but i guess bakingaddict your right more people probably have more extravagant lifestyles but i would say im very content and happy with what we have and count ourselves very lucky

Wouldn't say no to a lottery win though, Lol

£250 a week

I have about £100-£150 a week, depending on overtime worked. It goes pretty far as no dependents and fairly frugal lifestyle.

Bb thats a great amount to save , can i ask out of the £40 you have left after putting the money in savings, has this to do your food aswell or is this what you have left after it all

about 3k a month I think but some of the kids activities are included in school fees etc so not 100%

It doesn't seem like that much and we rarely have anything left, but due to work etc we're always hectic and eat out a lot and buy stuff last min

Less than zero.

None. I'm in negative. My only income is £62 a week Carer's Allowance. Don't get ill , people.

A lot more than we used to. Thank God.

Wow Justabasicbitch that does seem alot but i guess its just we are all used to what we normally get

Afternoon that sucks hope you come into money soon

Fuzzycustard is there nothing else you are entitled to if all you get is carers 😥 like housing benefit etc ?

LoveManyTrustFew glad your situation has improved

We recently moved from very expensive Greater London to a much cheaper area. DP still has his London job and works from home; I took a small pay cut and got a job 10min drive away- bliss. DD is now in state nursery full-time, we only pay for school meals and lunchtime care. We're several thousand pounds better off a month now, thanks to the much lower rent, childcare, and commuting costs. So we have a few thousand in disposable income each month now, though that's put in savings.

It's quite nice to be able to save and go on holiday once in a while! Might also upgrade the car soon; ours is 10 years old. And we're about to complete on a house which is actually affordable around here.

Prior to our move we had a couple of hundred each month in disposable income, but again that was quite recent after some serious pay increases and paid-off debt. Only 2 years ago we were completely skint at the end of each month.

Thanks princess, that's really kind

Oops, biscuit not intended

fuzzycustard have you spoken to a benefits helpline to see if you can get anything else?

None for me individually (DH doesn't either)

We get takeaway once or twice a month, go out for lunch as a family occasionally and DS has swimming lessons and the occasional trip to soft play.

DS childbenefit is mine and DSs weekly 'spending money' for the occasional cafe lunch, train trip (getting the bus is cheaper but DSs loves getting the train), toddler group donation etc.

Aftee it all. It is literally spare money

ISeeTheLight thats great its very crazy how the cost of living can vary so much throughout different places, glad your circumstances have changed from a few years back and hope your enjoying the new area

Should add i have a 3 year old on dla and i receive carers for her. My incomings amount to 2k a month

We have about 2.8K a month after all bills and food. We know it’s a lot and we don’t take it for granted. And I do think having extra money can make you very happy. We never have to worry if something breaks down, we can take the kids on holiday, we have some savings (though we should have more!). We have a good work-life balance too.. but are aware that a job loss or illness could change all this in a heartbeat

Camolina, thats good that your dc gets to enjoy treats days out at toddlers etc

I think to have any amount of spare money once food and bills are paid is a blessing 😊