To ask how much spare money you have per month?

[littlebee333]

Hi

I am re-budgeting for the new year and some other expenses which will come our way. There is just myself and my husband and a cat. Our children have grown up and left home

After our mortgage, all bills, food, petrol, car payments, plus money we will save for Xmas, birthdays/occasions, holidays, hair cuts, cleaning products, personal care products, Spotify, MOT & servicing, vet clubs and life insurance etc, we will have £350 a month to put aside for home improvements/maintenance and £400 each totally ‘spare’

Do you think this is a reasonable amount? I think my husband would prefer to have more and save less for home improvements. I think it’s enough. I think he feels we should have more as we get paid enough to have more, however, as above, I like to save for all the other expenses in ‘pots’ so there is no need to pull out for this separately

This will be to cover any eating out, cinema, nights out, gym membership, magazine and beauty box subscriptions, gaming, clothes/shoes and any bigger personal care items like make up or aftershave etc.

Is anyone in a similar family dynamic?

How much do you have per month totally spare? Really interested to hear how much others live on. Thanks :)

After bills I have about £2300. After bills and outgoings like food, hairdressers, meals out, travel, clothes, toiletries, books ( ), netflix etc. it's £1600. After bills, outgoings and money put aside for annual expenses such as Christmas, insurance, car tax, presents, holidays etc. it's about £1000 a month.

I love how Netflix is now a norm/necessity in most houses. 😬🙄

Do you really love it? I don’t see anyone classing it as a necessity, but I’m not surprised by it being a norm, given how long the tv license has been a norm (and over twice the price!).

Wwhat on earth do those of you do for a living to have over £1K left over each EVERY MONTH AFTER you've paid the mortgage, Internet, electricity, water, council tax, mobile phone bills, Netflix or whatever, TV licence, car repairs, food, toiletries, cosmetics, dental costs, optician's bills, vet's bills and the rest? Or are you just in vitally important jobs where you get whopping bonuses all the time? I'm genuinely curious.

The obvious thing to point out is not everyone actually has a mortgage. So that might account for the £1k on its own.

About £4k-£5k per month 'spare' between DH and I (no kids and tiny mortgage)