Am I a Scrooge?

[Giraffapuses]

Hi - long time reader first time poster!

I am proposing my partner and I have spending money of £300 per month each so that we can save aggressively for a house. This is from a total monthly income of £5,500. My partner thinks this takes the fun out of life. Am I being unreasonable?

We are in our early 30s and don't yet own a home. After all bills we are left with about £1,300 per month. So I am aiming to save about £750 per month. We have no children.

We have limited savings. About £5,000.

I wouldn't just pick a number out of the air, look at what you spend now, what you'd be willing to cut back on and what kind of savings that would deliver.

Alternatively decide on a date by which you'd like to be able to buy, then work back to see what annual and monthly savings that means.

I don't think you're being a Scrooge exactly, £300 is fine in a good month but you'll struggle if you suddenly need new shoes, have to go on a trip somewhere, several birthday presents to buy etc.

If your goal is to save for a house then that seems sensible. However you both have to agree to this. If your partner does not have the same goal then it it’s a bit pointless.

No! You won't regret having your own home. Good luck!

£300 each to spend?! Many people would be ecstatic with that amount of excess money!
Tell him he’s being a ridiculous and that he needs to grow up a bit and think of the future.

Go through your bank statements together and work out the extras which you could drop.

Depending on where you are it will take you a long time to get together a deposit if you’re saving £9k a year. I think you should look at reducing your outgoings- if you jointly make £5.5k a month and have £1.3k left after bills you’re spending £4K+ without having a mortgage? That sounds like a huge amount, can that not be reduced?

Your bills are very high. Are you paying off debts? £4000+ a month on bills is a lot of money. Is there any chance of cutting back on bills to increase both saving and spending money?

With an income of £5500 and bills taking up over £4k of that, I'd be looking to review everything more thoroughly to see if there is any more money to be freed up - that's a lot of money to be spending on basic living expenses when you don't have any DC.

How much is your rent, it must be very high? Are you spending a lot on commuting costs/car leases? Do you have any debts? How much do you spend on groceries?

What about leisure/hobbies, holidays and days/nights out, lunches at work, grooming, clothes etc. How has coronavirus affected your work situation? I assume that, as you have a decent income, that you've continued to be paid as normal throughout lockdown, but you should have been able to save more than normal as won't have been able to spend much, if anything on leisure, eating out etc?

How much are you planning to spend on a house? With that income, I'd expect it to be quite an expensive one, so you're going to need a lot more of a deposit than you currently have, so a year or two of saving at least, which is fine, because I don't think there's any rush as prices are likely to fall or stagnate in the short term due to financial impact of COVID-19.

Have you also got lifetime ISAs? Lots of useful info here:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/first-time-mortgage/

Your bills are £4200 a month?!

Covid has meant no nursery and me taking stock of finances and I have saved in the last 3 months twice what I would normally. If you have a goal for what you want to achieve its important to keep at it. There are other pleasures in life that don't cost loads. You are not unreasonable.

I agree. What are you spending 4K on a month? I also don’t think you are being Scrooge. An excess of £300 a month each, £600 between you, to spend on fun is a huge amount. I think you should cut that right back. No new shoes, no trips, no buying of expensive birthday presents.

Thanks so much for all the comments. Bills are high because of the following:
£420 per month on counselling - we both see a counsellor.
£250 per month to our parents per month (they live on a very low income)
£400 per month - commuting costs

Also, our rent is £1,300.

Surely your commuting costs have been zeroed during the Covid crisis?!

What’s the other £1800 being spent on?!

I think your £300 a month goal sounds fine (although agree with PP doesn’t leave much wiggle room for unexpected expenses) but I think you should also try to look at other savings too within the £4.2k.

Not necessarily Stay, they could have still had to go to work, eg if they are medical staff, supermarket managers, hands on in infrastructure, construction etc.

Not everyone is able to work from home.

You have both got to really want to prioritise savings to make it work .

Does your DP really want to save for a home?

Buying a home was always a huge priority for me (& we had paid off our mortgage in our early 40s) ... maybe it's just not that important for your DP?

£600 a month as a couple seems (to me ) a huge amount as 'fun money' ... but I am incredibly frugal & view a coffee and a bun out as a treat .

@STAYTHEFUCKHOME

Surely your commuting costs have been zeroed during the Covid crisis?!

Eh? Do you think all the countries workforce are able to work from home? What sort of bubble are you living in?

I’d have a very careful look at your spending. Your mortgage lender doesn’t just look at income - it will see these have the levels of expenses and take them into account when saying how much you could borrow.
Also - are those costs above between you or each? Are you going to continue to prop up your parents when you own your own house? Counselling - I don’t know - that seems high but I don’t know your circumstances.

I’d personally be miserable on £300 month, particularly if you’re used to having more.

Thanks for the lively debate. We currently have almost no commuting cost at the moment. This money is cureently being saved. During covid we are saving approx £1,500 ! Month.

£300 to spend on fun is an insane amount to spent each month.

also, after taking rent and the other costs in account, there is still a lot of money left over. you seem to burn through your income.

I think, you could save a lot more but without knowing, where all the money goes it is hard to give advice. can you give a detailed breakdown?

@heyheyho - no, but there is a very strong correlation between higher salaries and the ability to work from home. And the OP has confirmed this.

in the end you have to decide what is your priority - buying a house or living a life where you spend your income have have an easier/more fun life in the short term.