To ask how much disposable income you give yourself each week?

[m1ssB]

Just interested in other responses. At the moment I don't know if I'm giving myself too much/too little to spend on myself each week so want to see what others say..

Please share

Maybe a tenner?

We are currently in the process of paying off all of our debt, plus buying a new (to us) car, so those are priorities more than spending.

[quote Sasuma]@Polkasquare I don’t break my spending down to weekly but in a month I’d generally spend at least £1.2k for example on:
One or two items of clothing or one bag or one pair of shoes: £200-400
Other shopping - bath stuff, skincare: £100
Hair cut: £75
Facial: £100
Meals out/coffees/drinks: £400
Gifts (most months it’s someone’s birthday): £100
Random stuff like something for the house: £100

If I’m on holiday that will be more or if I’m having a quiet month it will be less.[/quote]
It is funny, I went to lush and spent 37 quid and bought everything for the family for months. Even if I tried I couldn't spend £100 on skin stuff.
No judgement, just astonished :)

On shoes: which are your favourite shoe brands? Normal, everyday no heal shoes. I'm willing to spend good money on shoes, but am tired of sketchers and converse (had these brands for almost 20 years.... )
For reference: heels - I prefer Kurt Geiger and Clarks. Really comfy and last for years.

TBF I can turn the clock back 25 years when we were heavily mortgaged, ds1 was poorly and I'd given up work and I allowed myself £5pw. A treat for ds that first year of not working was a 20p mini milk.

Wow reading these replies made me feel poor

I'm quite jealous of most of you but hope to be there one day. Only in the last 2 years have I been breaking even but now have about £60 a month after bills and food.

Right now we are earning a lot more so currently got 490 a week left over after bills etc.

Varies. Maybe 200 a week. Whatever really

Not sure why you woukd want to spend so much on stuff.

I love ALDI skin care, most of my clothes are from charity shops.
Buying stuff and overpriced coffee gives me no pleasure.
Big brands, labels, fancy handbags costing £££ just don't do it for me.

Jesus. I have £1.60 a week if I'm lucky and spend it on a magazine. Course if I haven't got it I don't get the magazine.

"It is funny, I went to lush and spent 37 quid and bought everything for the family for months. Even if I tried I couldn't spend £100 on skin stuff.
No judgement, just astonished"

Definitely more amazed by this claim about Lush than the monthly £100 spend on skincare and bath stuff. If you wanted a bath bomb a week that would be £20 a month alone!

@Clappingforjoy

Your all doing quite well threads like this make me wonder where all those people that are using food banks are and the ones waiting for their next universal credit payment to buy a washing machine

Right here. £5 a week is good personal spends for our house. Disabled on ESA too much toll on my MH to apply for PIP. No skin care routine here or horse or haircuts for that matter.

KilljoysDutch are you eligible for PIP?

@TheSunIsStillShining see I could go to Lush and spend loads 🤣 Their moisturisers and bath bombs can add up! Not so bad for things like shampoo bars though which last me for ages.

I do invest in shoes and bags - I’m vegan so I don’t wear leather and buy from vegan brands. Last month I bought an Angela Roi bag. Next month I’ll get either a pair of Bhava or Beyond Skin boots as I want a new pair of boots for autumn/winter. I tend to buy one or two items a month that I really like and will last for ages.

@speakout not everyone who spends money on clothes and accessories likes ‘big brands’ and ‘labels’ by the way - sometimes it’s about good quality rather than something obviously expensive or flashy.

KilljoysDutch- sorry it is off topic, but there is help available to help you fill in forms for PIP- I know the process seems daunting but there are people to help you apply.

@AnEleanor yup cross post! Basic skincare and shampoo doesn’t have to be expensive at all but if you buy ‘treats’ - stuff like a few Lush bathbombs or fancy bath salts, or some nice hand cream etc it can all add up.

@AnEleanor

"It is funny, I went to lush and spent 37 quid and bought everything for the family for months. Even if I tried I couldn't spend £100 on skin stuff. No judgement, just astonished"

Definitely more amazed by this claim about Lush than the monthly £100 spend on skincare and bath stuff. If you wanted a bath bomb a week that would be £20 a month alone!

• 3 bottles of juicy shampoo - discontinued so I bought all the ones left.
• 2 bars of soap
• 1 big bomb (it is 4 servings in my opinion)

But you are right, I will be buying some random soap in about a month.

We use shampoo, no "hair care products". We have 3 creams: 1 aloe vera for healing things, 1 e45 for random and I have some "40+, will make you look perfect" scam cream - no "skincare regime". I don't wear makeup since I'm home all the time and even before that not really a fan (used to be)

I usually make bath bombs (2 mins. sodium bicarbonate and citric acid + smelly thing that you like), but have ran out of essential oils.

Can I be nosy and ask how can you spend 100(s) on beauty products?

As with everything, it depends on how you define it.

I budget for most things, so whilst some people might pay for a meal out using their personal spends allocation, I've already accounted for that expense out of a different pot. So, whilst my budget for personal spends might quite seem low given the sort of job I have and the income you might assume I have, it's because very little actually falls into that category. I budget for things like dental appointments and clothes separately, they don't come out of personal spends.

Personal spends to me are things for me that are whimsical, fun and unanticipated. I allocate £49 for this, but there's an expectation that I don't actively try to spend it. It's there if I need it, but if I don't touch it at all, it gets reallocated to savings.

Last week for example, I spent £6 on books as an impulse buy. The week before, I spent £26 on a random gift to cheer up a friend. (I only budget for presents for family members' birthdays and Christmas - things for friends are more ad hoc, so they come out of personal spends.) That means last week I reallocated £43 to savings and the week before, £23. I don't roll forward fun money, if it's not used, it goes to savings.

I don't know. I find I spend more some months on household stuff and things for the kids, or birthdays or whatever..: I buy what I need or want afterwards (generally spend some on socialising but lockdown has made me temporarily a bit better off).

[quote Sasuma]@TheSunIsStillShining see I could go to Lush and spend loads 🤣 Their moisturisers and bath bombs can add up! Not so bad for things like shampoo bars though which last me for ages.

I do invest in shoes and bags - I’m vegan so I don’t wear leather and buy from vegan brands. Last month I bought an Angela Roi bag. Next month I’ll get either a pair of Bhava or Beyond Skin boots as I want a new pair of boots for autumn/winter. I tend to buy one or two items a month that I really like and will last for ages.

@speakout not everyone who spends money on clothes and accessories likes ‘big brands’ and ‘labels’ by the way - sometimes it’s about good quality rather than something obviously expensive or flashy.[/quote]
Thanks! There are some interesting ones at Bhava.
For leather stuff (obv not vegan here) I go to Camden Market :) There are fab things there!!! Probably my absolute fav place in London. I go every year once - with only max 50 quid cash. And every other year my husband comes along and he treats me to something I fancy (or need). That we I never spend loads there...

"...about £400 pounds a week."

Either this is total BS, or it’s so off the scale of normality that it’s totally unhelpful. It’s hard to tell on MN! grin

We don’t have a limit, but in terms of what we spend on ourselves it probably works out at less than £10 a week. There are enough household and DC expenses to cover first and personal spends is not high on our priorities at the moment (young family, one income!). I would have thought £30 would be reasonable in an average household but would depend on so many things!

Why should that be bullshit? Plenty of people earn high salaries and will have a few hundred quid to spend on themselves in a week: going out to eat, to the cinema or theatre, having a haircut, a few drinks at the pub, takeaway coffees, a new pair of shoes, gym membership, a weekend away, etc., etc. - it's hardly outlandish or "off the scale of normality".

Less than £10 a week seems a minuscule amount of money to me (and I'm by no means a high earner) - does that mean I should say it's bullshit?

thanks @LongPauseNoReply, I find it really interesting & would love a female high earners board.

@TheSunIsStillShining I don’t know if your nosy question was directed at me 😉 or not!

But if it was, I’d say it’s likely that I spend more on individual items. And probably use more variety of items that you use.

So for example you make bath bombs, I’d buy them. You said you don’t use hair products, I do. I use a few different skin care items (cleanser, vitamin C serum, hyaluronic acid serum, acid exfoliator, SPF, plus body lotion, foot cream, face masks etc) and maybe you have a simpler routine with just one or two items?

Someone might buy a £1 body lotion and I could spend £20 on mine.

I wouldn’t spend £100 on the same things every month but most items I buy are maybe around £20-50 each so running out of 2 or 3 items a month could easily total £100!

I’m aware it’s a luxury, I never had money growing up so I do appreciate it.

We get $50AUD a week each. This is for coffee, sushi, play center or day trips for my son, if I wanted a random thing like a magazine or whatever. It’s plenty! We often don’t spend it all, and even get less out the following week. I could spend LOADS more if we didn’t want to pay our mortgage down, but certainly could never spend what some here do!

About £100 a week, but that does cover things like haircuts, picking up bits and bobs like milk, and dental if needed. It doesn’t cover my contact lenses or magazine subscription, because those come off by direct debit. It used to be £200 a week, but DP has been made redundant so I am covering 100% of bills, food etc currently.

Pre Covid I used to draw money out of the bank weekly and only ever use my card online. I feel like I fritter money with contactless all the time.

@TheSunIsStillShining and yes Camden Market, definitely fun - sounds like a good tradition you have there!