To ask how much disposable income you have

[PrettyPleaseXo]

I'm trying to work out my budget and figure out if I need to be looking for additional income for a comfortable lifestyle. By comfortable I simply mean being able to pay my rent, bills etc.

I earn £2000 a month and after paying out everything, including rent, utilities, travel, contracts etc and putting £80 into an investment ISA I will have around £500-600 disposable.

Is this a good amount to have left over? I am a single mother with two children.

This is a completely pointless thread.

You will get people with thousands spare a month, people going into the red every month. People with kids, without kids. People in expensive areas, people in cheap areas.

You will just end up feeling like shit

Well by your own definition of comfortable, you have achieved it, with 500-600 leftover.

Have you accounted for everything with that calculation and are you currently living to this budget saving 500-600? Or is this a new job and what you "should" have leftover?

Either way you appear to have some wriggle room so I wouldnt personally be looking for an extra job in your situation.

It depends on the lifestyle you want

£80 per month savings isn't brilliant when you have £500-£600 to "waste" as such

I would save at least half of my disposable

This I'm afraid. 👆

I have zero at the end of the month. Or less.

Good for you if you don't, but in your position I'd be saving as much as possible as cost of living isn't going to get easier any time soon.

Disposable money I wish.

Well you can pay your rent and bills with some left over, so I guess by your own definition you’re ‘comfortable’? £500 wouldn’t even cover our food (family of 5, one with a specialised diet) so we wouldn’t be comfortable on that amount, which is why it’s a bit of a pointless question. Is it enough for you?

There’s been a million of these threads and they’re not helpful, everyone will come on and tell you what they have or don’t have and that you’re super rich to have that money left over OR it wouldn’t be enough to pay for their trip to the Maldives.

I was listening to a podcast the other day when they were talking about money. They said that 50% should go on bills, including food, 30% on things you want, which might be holidays, eating out, alcohol, clothes, and 20% for your future. That might be distant future like savings for your pension, or it might be the future bills you might face such as for a replacement sofa or washing machine.

What would it look like if you applied those percentages to your income? By the way, this was the advice for young single women.

Up your ISA, or open another savings account.

Pointless question. Everyone has a different expectation of how much they need/ want ,hobbies,meal preferences etc

Does the 500-600 not include food then? I assumed disposable income was fun money, after food, everything else, including savings.

Could you clarify OP?

If it doesn’t include food then it should be plenty.

How long is a piece of string............

We are retired we have a retirement of income of close to double your figure, we are debt free, mortgage this figure will l increase when I hit pension age (full pension), we have investments in excess of £300,000, £200,00 of which are tax free.

Like I said, how long is a piece of string.

I think if you’re a single mother who manages to have £500-£600 a month left over you’re doing pretty well.

Does it include food?

The the £500 has to cover food then I don’t think it’s much. What about birthday and Christmas presents, if a large bill comes up, holidays?

After all bills and food costs we have £1400 left over and we save out of that then use some for fun money. They’re two adults that’s split between. I would say we’re comfortable, can afford unexpected bills and mid range holidays but I wouldn’t say we had loads of money.

The 500-600 does include food included in the original budgetting.

I apologise if people thought it was a pointless thread, I was just trying to gauge if it was a liveable amount and thankyou for those suggesting putting more into savings I definately will.

It's completely pointless to ask, everyone's circumstances are different.

Me: £5,900ish after tax, varies because I'm paid in a different currency.
DH: £10k-ish after tax, varies as he is self employed.
Bonuses: varied

Our outgoings are INSANE: prime London rent (extortionate!!), 2x school fees, university fees for DSS, domestic help, plus everything else. We are one of the more "worse off" families in the area.

It also depends on what you want to buy / your lifestyle.

If you feel life is meaningless without designer clothes / shoes / handbags and you think you need multiple items a month for you and the children, it isn’t nearly enough.

If you are living rurally and growing your own vegetables, knitting your own clothes and only eating meat when your chickens stop laying, it’s a lavish amount.

If like most of us, you fall between the two extremes, it may or may not be enough depending on a variety of factors.

What are you counting as disposable? Is that just fixed bills or is it literally everything including food, petrol etc?

It's crazy isn't it? As a single mum living on a council estate with two children, the idea of £16,000 a month is unimaginable

I don't get your question. You want enough money to be comfortable. You define comfortable as enough to pay all rent and bills. You've confirmed your salary is enough to pay everything and have between £500-£680 (as the investment isn't essential) left over. So by your own definition it must be more than enough?

Op why do you need a bunch of strangers to validate whether your disposal income is sufficient or not? Isn't a question for you based on your outgoings and lifestyle ?

Are you happy and feeling fulfilled?

I wouldn't as I do enjoy luxuries however my sister who is far less materialistic than me would be content with this amount . It really is a subjective question.

I think that sounds really good OP especially since your a single mother. What do you do for a living?

In my household we don't have a lot left at the end of the month but we're ok. Only one of us working at the moment as I'm looking after DD.

Do you have a pension?

I would trial putting £200 a month into savings and then using the rest for fun, clothing, trips and miscellaneous (which I am assuming is what they cover).

We currently only save about 6% of our take home but that excludes huge pension contributions and our nursery fees are currently £2,000 a month...so I think my figures are useless to you!!