How much disposable income do you have a month (including what you might put aside to save)?

[Greeendsyys]

I’ve been watching this show where people change lives for a week. £1,900 a week disposable income is expressed as extremely rich. Of course I know that’s a LOT of money spare. But surely that’s not really ‘rich’?

What do you have spare a month (before any that goes to savings)? And do you think you’re rich?!

Me, as I know people will ask, around 2.5k a month disposable but I save 1k.

Some of us are not in the uk though…

Do you mean fun money?

I think by ‘Rich House, Poor House’ rules it’s after all regular monthly payments. So after car payments or a travel pass, but before ad hoc payments so food, bus fares, electric top-ups have to come out of it because they’re not the same each month.

Give or take a £ here n there (per month):
Income £3500
essentials (not including food or petrol /
commuting costs) £1300
savings £500
remaining £1700
single income, single adult

Why would people lie on an anonymous forum?
And just because the average income is £36000, it doesn’t mean that a representative group of women use MN and then post on this thread (which hasn’t been active for long enough to get a reasonable representation to post).
Plus those that earn more are more likely to post on this type of topic.

Our expenses are entirely joint so it’s difficult to comment. I know that bills and expenses are hugely disadvantageous for single people - council tax, rent/mortgages, fuel etc.

The UK average wage is 39k take tax, ni and pension out of that you are probably left with £2600 a month, take out £1000 for rent or mortgage, £200 for bills, £600 for food + cleaning products etc, then say £100 for phones - subscriptions and £100 for car tax - insurance and £100 for pet food and insurance. That leaves you £400 for petrol/bus fares and the odd day out. I really can’t seem huge amount to save there.

Currently -£1400 as DH recently lost his job. Thankfully he got a good payout which combined with our savings means we can continue to live at our usual level.

Pre job loss, we had £2400 left over after all household bills were paid. Household bills included netflix, Disney etc as well as a set amount each month to pay for children's clothes and shoes and extra curricular activities as well as childcare costs. The household bills also included a 'pot' specifically to pay for Christmas, which some people would consider savings I guess.

Out of the £2400 we would allocate some toward personal spends (my clothes, coffee or lunch with friends, meals out as a family or couple etc) and the rest was long term savings, short term savings (i.e for specific things like holidays) and then stuff like the washing machine needed replacing or we were going to a wedding and need to fund a hotel etc.

Until very recently (thankfully) we had some debt which took up a fair amount of the 'spare money' but that's paid off now.

The average UK salary is £39k, not £36k.

And MN skews middle class and above-average wealth (and always has done).

After bills but before food about £2900. That’s not saving anything.

About £3 , give or take.

What do you mean by that?

My husband does the big shops and I get top ups and if we eat out or have a takeaway, which tbh is about once a month. I walk to work so costs are lower as don’t need to buy petrol as much. I used to be wasteful with my money when younger so nowadays I try to be more careful as I feel like I’m behind.

After bills, rent and petrol £400, so that's food and literally anything else.

They’re big estimates though, my phone and car are only half those amounts and I don’t have pets so there’s another £200!

After rent and bills I have just under £200 a month, I'm one of those people raking it in on disability benefits.

Yeah my phone is £7.90 a month on sim only plan. car tax is £20 a year , insurance works out £30 a month ( pay annually) No tv or subscriptions

On paper, a good amount. We bring home about 7.5k pm between us and regular bills are about 3-3.5k But I am still waiting for payday each month! 3 kids and live in central London which maybe doesn’t help.

Income - £4300 after tax etc

bills, food, animals, car everything I have to pay is about - £2300

so about £2000 but try and save at least £1000

there is always something coming up though, new fridge as last one broke, heating oil!!!!!, car repairs etc - all last month!

some months I have £1000 to spend nicely other months I'm withdrawing from savings to make it to the end…really depends

Maybe, but I lowballed the bills. Do you pay £200 for gas, electric, council tax, house insurance and water or is it a lot more than that? For example my council tax is £361 a month, my electric is £120 my oil (no gas) is £100 a month and my house insurance £50 a month.

Everyone is different. I’ve also got a sim only phone, but my council tax is £400 a month, and my gas/electric is £200. Some people have a high monthly car payment, others won’t. Some have a big mortgage, some people have paid them off.

DH and I have about a 1200 quid of 'fun' money after bills, dogs and food. Struggle to spend that so usually get to save 700 quid of that a month.

I feel pretty minted 💰

after bills, food, debt payments and everything that HAS to come out every month petrol etc... about 500 but i save 225 of that (50 birthdays 100 christmas 75 anual car bills) so pure disposible income 275 a month or 68 quid a week

That's incredibly expensive. Are you in a mansion? My CT is£120 on a band C property

Gas/ electric about £50

Band G. It’s only 4 beds but it’s in an expensive area (by northern standards). For comparison, Band C is £237 here.