AIBU to ask what you have left monthly after bills?

[Manth0914]

Hi all, I know this is a VERY broad question but AIBU to ask what you have left each month after all bills. Money you use for food, fuel, clothes and so on? I ask as a single income mum of 2 with a part time job. Just wondering with the way things are how people are getting on?

We have about 2.9k left each month after bills. Food, holidays, savings etc come out of that 2.9k.

Minus £220. Nothing spare at all. I take home £2100. Plus have an extra job to help.

After mortgage, council tax, energy bills and phone, broadband, gym etc we have 7,500 ish. But we both are high earners. As a % we spend about 28% of our income after tax and pension on mortgage and bills.

Between us we get £3400 (ish) a month.

£1200 rent
£160 council tax
£200 gas/electric
£170 maintenance
£200 petrol (2 cars)
£60 car insurance
£55 Sky
£200 savings
£30 savings (child)
£95 holiday
£50 water
£45 sky mobile
£60 (subscriptions like Netflix, prime)
£250 shopping
£160 daughters activities
£95 IVA
£100 Credit card
£15 tv licence
£100 car payment

we don’t buy clothes every month, and don’t have birthdays every month.

£3245 total outgoings so we have £155 left over. Which usually goes towards things like extra petrol, birthdays etc.

when worked part time, I got £416 a month but the rest was benefits as I worked 20 hours a week; but that was 20 years ago….. and I know times have changed, but I rarely had anything left over. I always remember putting away £10 for emergency taxied and enough for a day saver bus ticket so I could see my mom once a week.

The day before pay day, so after absolutely everything has been paid for, under £100.

I'm a single parent earning 40k/year. I haven't been able to save since November. There's very little room for unexpected expenses and it makes me very anxious.

If i have a "perfect" month where all goes to
plan (and I stick to my £200 a month spending money) then:

£3.77

However I am a planner so I am saving up monthly for things like:

passport renewal in 2027
new tyres; I will need new eventually...
boiler service
etc

you might say i micro manage my money!

£250 on food is great. I’m a single mum of 1 and spend at least £500 a month on food but we do have play dates. I’ve tried to cut it down, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong 🙈

Similar:( single income (well i work nearly full time and have a side hustle) /solo parent. I dread a disaster /unexpected bill. Relying on vinted sales to make up deficit and trying to find a 3rd job:(

After bills/food etc there is nothing left :(solo parent. Do 2 jobs and earn c 50k but mortgage is 1200 a month and rest just piles on. Its hard but I always go with life works out eventually

It massively depends what you are counting as 'bills'

In my head there are the 'core' bills which have to be paid, no matter what:

Mortgage
Council tax
Water
Elec and Gas
Car insurance
Home insurance /life insurance

After these core bills we have several thousand left but there is still a lot has to come out of that.

The there's a whole lot of other bills which actually if we were completely completely skint and in real trouble we could cut:

TV /Internet package
Kids private tuition costs (not private school fees, stuff like maths tutor if struggling with gcse)
Kids extracurricular costs like sport/drama/music clubs
Memberships of professional bodies
Other subscriptions for phones, small subscription type apps
Union membership costs

This sort of stuff takes out probably another £600 - £700 per month

Then you have stuff like food, petrol, clothing, transport costs, which while not technically bills? Have to be paid, they are essentials, and they are pretty big sums for most people. If you really include everything, like food, car fuel, haircuts, dentist, optician, clothing, money for birthday and Christmas gifts, school trip costs, even modest amounts for little bits of socialising.... This is going to be easily £1500 for most families, half of it alone will likely be food/petrol. You also can't avoid home maintenance costs which might be irregular but do have to be paid eg boiler servicing, the washing machine breaks and you need a new one etc etc.

So while it would be easy to say there's thousands left after bills that would be naive, the reality is a lot less than that after real essentials are paid, and that's before luxuries like holidays, some will have luxury lease car costs.

I’m a single mother on UC living with my parents who are in their 70s and my DS3.

I have no rent or bills to pay other than my mobile phone and food for me and DS.

My income is around £815 per month and I end up spending £450 and saving the rest. I used to spend £1000pm but had to cut down drastically by not buying clothes anymore, no coffee when out and about and no take aways.

I basically don’t buy anything for myself and only spend money on food or bus travel. I buy everything for my DS on Vinted, my coffee is free with a Waitrose card or £1 with Vodafone at Caffè Nero.

Despite all of the above, I am quite content and feel comfortably off. I’m able to save around £350 as a safety buffer.

Ironically, I feel happier now that I spend £450 a month rather than £1000. I feel more satisfied with what I have. Now I know why people who earn £100k a year feel poor- it’s because every time they get a raise, their expenses go up too - shopping at Lidl for £50 will fill you up the same way as £350 from Ocado but you’d have low self-esteem when your next door neighbours are buying everything from expensive supermarkets.

Pennies, if that much!
Being disabled and having to try to exist on benefits doesn't leave anything spare.

Very little, I've got 47p today and I get paid tomorrow :-)

I do include savings and a decent pension contribution as a bill though so I suspect that would be the case whatever I earn as I'll just up those.

I’m sure we’d all feel happier if we had no outgoings other than food and a mobile phone with an income/ accommodation provided by others!! But yeah, you go ahead and lecture others in how to spend their hard earned cash!

£2850 every month.

I shop at Ocado because I prioritise my family’s health, not because I’m trying to keep up with the Jones’, Ocado has a broader organic and whole food range and frankly because I’m a high earner with a demanding job I don’t have time to traipse the shops in person. Absolutely nothing to do with appearances.

(No I’m not saying you can’t make healthy choices in Lidl before I get pounced on for that).

I'm jealous of the numbers I'm seeing 😅I could only dream to have so much money left over each month.

I have zilch left over, but that includes all recurring bills, gas, and groceries.

500 after bills/food

Haha a big fat fuck all. Makes you wonder what it’s all about sometimes

Wow, what jobs do you have? My brother is a GP partner and his wife as advanced nurse practitioner and I don't think they have this much left after bills and 4 kids (mind you she does like to spend, spend, spend....!)

After all bills £452 for 2 adults 2 cars 4 kids 4 pets but from April it's going to be tougher as rent and council tax are going up oh and fuel has already increased a lot never mind we are happy for now no debts just gotta keep it that way 😊

After nursery, mortgage, internet, council tax and utilities we have £4K between us. After food, necessary expenses (clothes, gifts, pet care) we are closer to £3k, which we are saving at the moment.

Pilot (140k ish) and civil servant (80k ish). We didn’t borrow loads on our mortgage - only about 450k which is 2x salary rather than the 4.5 x salary we could borrow. So our mortgage payments aren’t that high for our salaries which makes a big difference. We are in Scotland so pay higher income taxes than England and Wales. Currently TTC so if successful we will be spending a lot on childcare eventually but we have enough flexibility in our budget not to stress about this.

That’s also a valid reason that I failed to mention.
The thing with Organic food is that it makes one’s life a bit better, not 300% better, which is why it’s a cost that one can do without if you don’t have the means and are trying to save for a deposit on a house or just trying to survive.

Is CB child benefit? I thought you had to pay it back if you earn over 50k?