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

MyDc thats a great amount and i imagine it would bring more peace of mind knowing that you would have money to fall back on if something was to unexpectedly break etc

I have no disposable income whatsoever at the moment. Not a penny. Everything I have must go on bills and food, to the pint where every slice of bread has to be rationed out and I spend hours making spreadsheets to cost out meals so we don't go over budget or the kids have to go without a meal (I go without regularly). Still, at least I'm not sliding deeper into debt every single day at present, so things are on the up if I look at it that way... It only takes an unbudgeted expense of a quid or two to bugger it all up for the week though.

My washing machine broke yesterday and I can't afford to fix it so you're not getting my cheeriest response, sorry. Also the car is off the road (again, no money to fix it) so I couldn't drive to a laundrette even if I could afford the machines there. Stuff like this is a disaster when there's no leeway at all.

After mortgage and bills we have £300 for food, petrol, socialising, Christmas savings club, breakfast club and dinner money - after school clubs are paid with the child benefit money usually

That's per week I meant to say

Roomba fingers crossed your situation improves very soon, is there no financial help you may be entitled to i know some councils etc sometimes give loans to help people get things fixed? It may be worth a trip to citizens advice or money matters (apologies if you have done this) i also write down meal plans and budgets so same as you to make sure i know all bills are covered without getting in to date. Previously i have posted about "feed your family for £20" this saved me a small fortune when we were struggling when our car also broke and needed a small fortune of repair work

I have about £1k spare after mortgage, all bills, food etc. Although I am a single parent, I consider myself very, very fortunate.

It can end in a heartbeat though. 3 years ago I got made redundant and got £72 a week in benefits and was out of work for 5 months. Had to use my savings and DS's savings and a credit card to keep a roof over our heads. It's taken a while to get back to having spare cash to play with, but am so relieved to be in work on a good salary again, in a job I love.

It was the scariest 5 months ever.

We have £2500 left per month after all bills, food and petrol. We don’t really worry about money at all, but given that DH and I both grew up in fairly poor families, we certainly don’t take it for granted.

To answer a previous poster about financial commitments, we both pay a reasonable amount in pension and have quite a big mortgage (£1400 per month). However beyond that our expenses are quite modest as we pay limited childcare now (kids are older), drive cheap cars, shop at Aldi and I have a small commute/often WFH.

However, it was only a few years ago that we were really struggling and had no disposable income at all - mainly due to high childcare costs. We ended up having to borrow money when’s the boiler broken suddenly and I eventually took on a second job for 2 years to make ends meet. A couple of promotions later and with both DC now in school, we are better off than we’ve ever been (despite the increase in mortgage).

About £2000 a month after bills and business expenses, but before food and petrol, (which varies so haven't factored that in) but we do have huge rent (but big house too) and hence big council tax as well and big heating bills.

Lucy thats great how you have managed to get yourself in a great financial position again well done i imagine they months would have been very hard

Strechout thats great, nursery seems to be a massive factor in everybodys finances

We put £800 a month in savings and have £300 a week disposable

About £50 per week after everything is paid. I can't 3ait to be able to afford to go back to work once DS gets his funded sessions next year.

That should be £50 after bills and food. Anything else ie clothing/shoes/school trips/fuel etc has to come out of that £50.

Mo its hard with the nursery its such a massive financal strain but so worth it i also will be glad when we get funded sessions

Just wow 800 savings per month is fantastic

£2,700 a month. Seems a lot but we end up spending it all.

I think childcare is the killer for a lot of families, especially if you’ve no family help. We have spent at least £80K over the last 10 years on childcare. Not that I’m complaining - our childcarers have done an amazing job and enabled us to progress in our jobs. It’s still been hard financially at times though.

Childcare is total killer. We only do two days nursery a month and it’s £700. I’ll feel really well off when DS goes to school next year.

After all bills are paid but no food, around £350 a week. Bills includes some things that are luxuries such as DC hobbies and Netflix, and doesn't include putting anything into savings or much in the way of pensions. We also have bonus type things etc that don't get paid on a regular basis, so those are income that runs well into the four figures annually but we try not to figure them into our calculations. I'd like to put that money straight into savings when we get it, but there always seems to be a new washing machine needed or something!

I vary between 600 and 1100 dependant on the month ive had at work than hubby has his own disposable income too

Quite a bit - any leftovers all goes into our retirement fund. We're pretty frugal though - not many takeaways, no babysitter so no made nights out, where i work there's not much in the way or restos so we take lunches etc.

4.2K per week

Per month! Sorry

Nothing used to manage to budget £20 for my sons hobby, but wonderful landlord has decided to disconnect my gas fire as he can't be bothered to fix a potential flue issue, so rather than heating and sleeping in the living room when cold I have to use the central heating which means I need an extra £20 a week for gas and electric. Seriously pissed off as he recently increased the rent by £50. Really worrying about the cold snap as its a case of money for food or heating

What's disposable income? Not hard it for years

Roomba

Broken washing machines are the worst. I applied to the welfare fund (Scotland) and got a community care grant for washing machine when ours broke. Took about a month to process though and couldn't get a crisis loan which would have taken days because it apparently was non essential
Was a fun month of handwashing the bare minimum on the bath.

After all bills and food and paid for, I'm left with about £300 in my account, DP the same - so probably about 500/600 between us per month.

This would typically be used for days/meals out, new clothes etc.

DS leaves his private nursery in September to go to school, our lease is also up on the (ridiculously expensive) car in March so hopefully this year we will be a bit better off.