1,5k disposable income a month is enough

[Myglorioushairdo]

AIBU to think that a disposable income of £1,500 a month is enough for a family of four? That is after all living costs, fixed monthly bills and food/household essentials.
DH and I were a bit unfortunate and made a major life change just before the pandemic, and this is what our household income has now been boiled down to.

DH is majorly stressed out and says its not enough, I say it's OK for now. We are able control all the other costs with careful planning and even save a bit! We don't live in a big city and our kids are still primary school age. What do you think?

@sapnupuas

I don't understand posts like these, other than "stealth" boasting.

No one on Mumsnet knows whether this is enough for you. No one. Only you know what you need a month so only you can know if you've got enough.

Honestly, these posts are sickening. Do you know how many people are struggling to live on close to nothing right now?

Fuck off. Just fuck off.

This exactly. There are people who only get £1500 a month total to pay rent and live off and you have that just as spending money?? There are 4 million more people facing redundancy next month when furlough ends who are going to have a huge shock living off benefits. And then someone asks if they'll manage on over £400 a week just for eating out and buying new bikes ?? Grossly insensitive especially at the moment with so many people facing such a difficult time.

Agreed Santa. Its unnecessary

@Ladybird345
Well said, I’m not bitter or a low earner but I have empathy for ppl hence why I volunteer.
Santa Claritas attitude is just nasty and arrogant and devoid of any understanding of anyone less fortunate.

It's enough, Myglorious. You'll soon be back on track so please don't worry.

clothes, petrol, toys, bikes, hobbies (if the kids want to got to a swimming school act..), car servicing, things breaking, birthdays, christmases

Clothes - Being extremely generous at £150/month
Petrol - Don't know your circumstances - £300/month
Bikes - Say one £100 bike each child per year - £17/month
Hobbies - Say £150 each per month - £300
Car Servicing - £600 per year - £50/month
Birthdays - £40/month
Christmas - £1200 - 100/month

Even being extremely spendy, that's less than £1000 per month, leaving you £500 to put into savings for things like repairs.

Fucking hell. You didn't mean to offend anyone? I'm sure you didn't mean it but the post was really thoughtless. You've managed to piss me off and normally I'm not bothered about anything like this and how much money others earn.
1500 a month disposable income is more than enough. Fucking hell, if I could even earn that much in a month I'd be thrilled. Fucking Corona has put a massive hole in my business as it has done for many others, never mind all those extra people unemployed or people on furlough not knowing what will happen when the scheme ends.

After all fixed bills we still need to pay for possible hobbies, clothes, petrol (we have the option to not use the car too much if need be), occasionally eating out, holidays (we haven't had one for years), toys, birthdays, new bikes as kids grow etc etc..

Actually, you don't need to pay for any of that. You could live without all of that if you had to. Plenty of us are having to at the moment.
However, I'm coming across as a right grumpy fucker. I don't begrudge you having this money - I just feel your post was very insensitive.
The disposable income should be enough to spend on things like that and if it isn't enough for everything you want then you will have to choose which of those things are the most important eg. the clothes. You can also buy second hand.
Your DH needs to get real.

Babyroobs - that's not what OP has said. She has clarified she hasn't included half her monthly bills so its not for going out at all.

My DH was furloughed and made redundant in lockdown. We lost more than half our income at one point but I can still understand what the OP is asking and reply in a reasonably kind manner, being skint didnt turn me into a cunt.

SBTLove
the ones who are nasty and arrogant are the ones like you, posters insulting the OP who dared asking a question.

It's a very slippery slope to have a suddenly reduced income and not budget properly. No one even ask you to have any empathy, but the abuse on this thread are pathetic.

Stop with the "less fortunate" bollocks, there has always been less fortunate, you just didn't care when it didn't touch you.

@bluebluezoo

Money can easily get frittered away if you don't plan. Is he buying lunch everyday? Coffee etc? Is he always the first person to buy a round?

£1500 in a month is a lot of frittering.

Our household income for a family of 4 is £2k. That covers mortgage, car, bills, food, everything. It’s enough.

I agree it would be a lot for us - we would love to have that much, but we are saving right now and have kids needing childcare which is eye-wateringly expensive. Don't forget that some places, such as tourist towns have higher prices. Food in some rural areas can be very expensive if there isn't much competition.

I think the issue here might be the husband trying to continue a London lifestyle on a non-London wage. Does he have lots of hobbies? They can be very expensive and men are very territorial over their hobbies! As a family we tend to pick hobbies where the initial outlay might be a big more than we want to spend, but once you got the kit you are good to go. We mainly get second hand too. Ditching the clubs with the membership and weekly costs is a good idea if you want to save.

@Littlejacksmummy oh which reply? And what made you feel sorry for me?
I've apologised for coming across insensitive, but it really wasn't my intention.

Like I've mentioned we earn £2500 a month jointly, so in all honestly I can't see how that might be worth boasting about. It's just that I am good at budgeting and we have low living costs. DH is used to seeing more money than that landing on his bank account every month in our previous life, so it's a shock to his system that this is what we now make jointly..

Seriously, that is a LOT of money to have left. We have a very good household income, live in the SE and live reasonably comfortably, but we have quite a bit less than that left over each month.

as other people have noted - £1,500 total disposable income is fine

But

clothes, xmas, holidays, savings etc, petrol/travel etc for many people would count as essentials - i.e. your kids shoes are not optional as their feet grow, same with their clothes. petrol for going to work is also not optional. Some would count holidays/savings/pensions as not optional, house maintenance is also essential for many people.

i think the bigger question is whether this is in the short term or forever.....personally I decided that £1,500 after all bills/mortgage/food was not enough if we are talking forever (in our case it was in relation to our salaries v size of the mortgage). I like to have savings plus would want to take DC on holidays and have Xmas'. But if this is for the next year or so then totally doable.

titchy ... car expenses £18,000 will definitely cover car expenses though 😂 ..... and OP also said she was able to use the car less if needs be. She could buy a new car every year with her disposable income and still have plenty left!

OP - the more you post the more you sound like you’re boast. Everyone has said you can more than manage ... I’d quit while you’re behind ...

If you don't know where it all goes, I highly recommend opening a Monzo account. My DH and I opened a joint account with them in June and the budgeting features are extremely helpful. £1500 is plenty of spending money!

Maybe show your oh this post and see what he thinks.

@Viviennemary

Good idea LovelyLovelyme. Also selling a few bits on eBay can help when times are hard.

It’s all relative isn’t it. What’s a struggle for some could be others absolute dream. OP has had a change in circumstances and is allowed to ask for advice on managing her lower budget! No need for posters to be bitter and rude because she has more than you so how dare she complain

It's a lot but I think you should include all the other bits in to your budget because once you add those on you'll have a better idea of your true disposible income. I would do a spreadsheet with him just to show that while you both earn less you spend less.
Once he sees it in black and white perhaps he will be calmer.
However it's still a lot we're a family of 5 surviving on less than that. Even when I go back to work we won't have that much more than your disposible income.

Up until recently we had a similar amount of income after bills/food etc. I was putting £1000 a month into savings and we still had a nice lifestyle in terms of takeaways, days out etc!

Then I lost my job due to covid so now it's more like £200 a month excess after food. We've cut down on spending, working on cutting food spending down and cut out socialising/ hobbies etc (easier to do during lockdown!) etc. It's DH's big birthday this month and plan is £20 pressie from me, £5 pressie from each of the kids and a £12 M&S meal at home with wine and home made birthday cake for afters - max spend £50 it'll be fine.

I'm very happy and grateful that I've got £10k tucked away in accessible savings and although I don't want to dig into that at least I know if DH's hours are cut (hopefully won't be but is possible if we go back into lockdown) we'll be able to pay mortgage/ bills.

I'm very lucky to be in this position I know a lot of people aren't. That amount of 'disposable income' is more than plenty - start saving while you can.

unless you have 2 quid a month and 1 chicken to feed family of 16, you don't post on MN asking about money.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Why are you even posting this question? FFS are you for real??

Jesus.

Yes it's enough.

Depends how many handbags a month you need to buy though so do be aware of that.

That's £300 more thank my whole monthly pay and I work full time. I have to use that money to pay our bills and have a small amount left over. It is definitely enough. With so many people being made redundant I find it a bit silly that you are worrying about disposable income. It's a luxury.

Anyway, OP you really need to start budget very carefully, check where everything is going and plan for everything that you need to spend money on - and yes, Kids Christmas and birthdays too.

It's a vicious circle otherwise and you end up frittering money on false economy items (buy cheap shoes that only last a couple of months will cost you a lot more than buying 2 decent pairs you alternate and keep for years.. and so on).

A lower income means you need to cut down on things, it's a simple concept. If you do it from the start, it will barely be noticeable.

Jeez that's more than my monthly income!

Only you will know if it's enough - what do you normally spend money on once you've paid for mortgage / bills / food / fuel?