How much "mad money" do you have?

[DecemberGoneWild]

Assuming that you are comfortable-ish. I know there are plenty of people who dont have anything. This is for people who are fortunate enough to have some.

By "mad money" I mean "pocket money" or "selfish money" ie money that is set aside for you to blow on whatever you like and doesn't have to be accounted for.

And what do you spend it on?

I get £400 a month. It's meant for haurcits, clothes, nights out etc but I currently fritter it away on crap and then have no money to buy things I need (I need new trainers but spent it all so am currently wearing trainers that are worn and give me blisters).

Sadly I also ran up £3000 on my credit card (mostly non-essentials) so most of my £400 going forward will have to go towards paying that off next year. So I'll still be (relatively) broke!

We have collectively got 35 grand in savings and add collectively £1100 to it monthly not including pensions.

we still don’t have “mad” money. We get £150 each a month to fund anything discretionary including going out or takeaways. When it’s finished it’s finished and we wait till the following month.

My boyfriend and I both have £400 a momth to spend on what we want. It avoids the "how much did you spend on that?!" discussions. Everything else goes into joint bills, savings etc.

Yes I work bloody hard thank you and I earn that money.

So much judgement

I agree with this. I spend what I want rather than a predefined monthly amount.

since you asked I have no debts a beautiful detached house in lovely area with no mortgage, about 150k in savings and enough pension to have about 2k disposable each month.

edited or type

1400 into joint account
1000 into savings
700-800 for me.

Nothing really.

Not saying we don't have treats or a social life, but it's not to be spent in the way you describe.

If we had £400 a month spare we could have a nice holiday every year, instead of being sick with envy of all our friends jetting off all over.

We have £350 each here.

That covers all hobbies, phone bill, personal spends like clothes hair and toiletries, gifts (except for DC), travel that isn't family travel eg weekends away with friends, food and drink bought for ourselves.

A weekend away, a new pair of glasses / shoes or a hair cut and colour wipes me out!

Because I was stupid. I spent the £400 and more. 🤷 It's not hard to understand that.

Presents for my boyfriend and family generally come out of it but no hard rules with that. I dont really buy any other presents but if I did, they would probably cone out if it.

We don’t separate out money like this but I reckon we probably spend around £800-900 a month average on the things you mention, days out, meals out, clothes, hair cuts, sometimes less, sometimes more. It hasn’t always been that much, used to be less, but if we had credit card debt then we wouldn’t be spending that- it would all be going towards paying off the debt.

I think that once the cc is paid off next year, I'm going to start a savings fund. We have joint savings and savings for our children. My boyfriend has savings. I dont and need to address that. But the cc is a priority.

Yes, once the cc is paid off I need to start using that money to create savings. Hopefully a year of spending significantly less than the £400 a month will put me in the right frame if mind.

i get about £250 a month? Husband the same. Everything goes in the joint account and on pay day savings go out, bills (obviously) we get our £250 each and then whatevers left is the buffer/ holidays/days out kids extras etc.

I love the £250 as it doesn’t matter i don’t need to think urgh xyz comes out of this if it runs out hey ho its usally just frittered on rubbish tbf but i don’t have to justify spending it or think that would be better spent elsewhere. My husband feels the same so it works for us.

If the credit card is really a priority, as it should be, then you should probably withdraw your other post asking people what to spend your Christmas money on.

And your answer to my question is...?

I have £500 month to use for clothing, entertainmet, top-up foodshop, travel, nights out etc.

??? Does 2k per month disposable not answer your question?

Well yes but you will note that it was with regards to specific query and the person who gave it to me will want to see evidence of how I spent it.

🤣🤣

Sort of as much as needed, as I live alone so don't share my income. £4K comes in and is roughly £1750 mortgage, food and bills, £1250 credit card, £1K savings. The credit card is all my every day spending:
250 going out
250 clothes or things I want
200 travel costs (for work and to visit people)
125 gifts and charity (this includes costs of eg christmas spread over the year)
100 exercise classes
320 medication and medical / beauty treatments

You clearly don’t have as much “ fun/ mad “ money as you think you do OP. You have a CC debt!

Also, you “ get” £400?

no idea - all my money is mine to spend as I see fit, and I buy what I need/want after I've paid all the bills, put some into savings etc.

I don't think of it as "mad money" and I try and buy less and less as I want less & less.

So I buy whatever I want but I dont want much IYKWIM. I'd rather save ££ & spend it on a great holiday.

Nope. We have about £1500 disposable income a month after bills etc are paid. We could spend that on what we want but chose to save/put towards holidays/home/joint stuff etc. That's why we get £400 as mad money.

Before anyone asks, no I cant use that money to pay off the cc. I need to get myself out of that.

I don't have money to spend on crap. I do treat myself occasionally but its usually things other people would consider essential - haircut, mid-price skin care, take away. I can't remember the last time I bought something just for the sake of it. Its all thought about and budgeted. I guess maybe some extras on the food shop like a bar or chocolate or some posh cheese that would be just for me.

my New Year’s resolution is to have some mad money - maybe £4-500 a month. We’ve always lived frugally and don’t really need to anymore. So I’m going to start spending some money on myself. I started last month with a personal shopper and it was amazing.

I just buy whatever I want whenever I want out of the 2k disposable and save the rest.