How much money do you have leftover per month after paying all outgoings?

[williaminajetfighter]

After you pay mortgage, bills, credit cards etc how much do you have left to last you for the month?

This month I've got £600 which has to cover food and travel too.

Am honestly just curious to see what people cope with.

[supafish]

Nothing at themoment :(

[stressedHEmum]

jynier, it is impossible, to be honest. I'm behind in everything, just so that we can eat.

we don't drive, don't go out, don't drink or smoke, don't have subscription tv, don't buy clothes, get hair done or anything like that, don't go trips etc. with kids, kids only have 1 club (BB and GB). There is nothing left to cut back on.

The worst of it is that DH changed jobs about 4 years ago to try to get a more secure salary. The next year the pay freeze came into effect and he hasn't even got the incremental rises that he should have, so his wages are about £4,000 a year short of where they should be. The other problem is that once you take travel to work costs off, he only sees about 40% of his top line - the predicted increments were supposed to take care of that.

On paper, we get a few pounds a month over the cut off for things like housing benefit, but in reality, we have nothing like that.

However, we have a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs, plenty people don't, so in many ways we are blessed.

[OhHullitsOnlyMeYoni]

Actually forgot one of my biggest ones! Nursery fees £150...so no wonder the last 2 months have been a nightmare as have been going over drawn.

[OhHullitsOnlyMeYoni]

Max of £800 in per month
£200 on council tax
£180 on gas/elec
Got rid of landline thanks to nuisance calls
Mobile £30-40
Usually £100-150 for food
No rent thankfully :)
So about £200 left over for travel, clothes and day trips

[Signet2012]

It's swings and roundabouts.

Having being ttc for 3 years we spent the savings on doing the house up and got into debt to get the kitchen done as it was dangerous. (Dodgy wiring plumbing and units falling off the wall) I don't regret getting it done because the week it was completed I found out I was expecting dd and now she is 8 months I can happily let her in the kitchen whilst I work without fear of something coming off the wall. That's 200 pounds a month on interest free loan.

Couple that with me taking a demotion and hours cut reducing my wage by 700 a month ill be earning the same as smp so had we not commited to the kitchen we wouldn't have been able to do it again now.

I manage. I don't go out, I don't get my hair done, I don't buy clothes. We don't drink or smoke and we meal plan.

I make sure dd has all she needs and then some and although I've missed a few bills I quickly get caught up.

My priorities have changed since having dd and I'm quite happy. A little security would be nice though.

[CockyFox]

Well at the end of the month we have 0 give or take a few pence. However this includes putting £25 into savings for car tax etc. We have the luxuries, cable TV, broadband, 2 cars and extra curricular activities fir the DCs so although by lot of standards we are not well off I actually think we are as we live to our means.

[Ragwort]

Tend to agree with Net and never quite sure of the point of these threads: if you are asking 'how much is left after paying credit card bills' - some people put all their expenses on credit card so, for example, if you have bought an expensive holiday, new clothes, huge car repair bill or whatever on your credit card and then paid it off ..... you will have a different approach to someone who never puts anyting on a credit card. Similarly, some people have huge mortgages - some have none. Some people have lots of children & pets to feed, some have only one child.

We are self employed so never exactly sure how much 'income' we have, however we have savings so we can use these if necessary to 'top up' our income. We have no mortgage so our outgoings look very low compared to some people. Equally, our 'usual' income is below the average household salary (is that about £30K?).

I think we are comfortably off, however I am more than happy to buy clothes at charity shops which I know some people wouldn't dream off.
So long as I can afford decent expensive coffee I am happy .

[pizzaqueen]

After all outgoings I have about £60-£70 a month left to spend on whatever I like: haircuts, clothes, family gifts, socialising. My DH has roughly the same.

This probably seemed like pittance to some people and a luxury budget to others, it's all relative to circumstances isn't it?

And in outgoing I include mortgage, food shop, utility bills, Internet, love film subscriptions, two cars on the road, petrol, a gym membership, phone contracts, nappies, commute train fair, childcare, love film subscription, buildings, contents and life insurances. It doesn't include holidays or birthday/Christmas, clothes or days out. We need to make savings elsewhere for these but somehow we manage it. My partner works 32 hours a week and I work 21.

[Netguru]

"A hole in t'road' piece comes from a relatively well known comedy sketch where people compared hard luck stories constantly besting the one before (by saying they had it tough).

My point is on a thread like this it is likely that only those who consider themselves poorly off will post. Those who are very comfortable would, given the nature of MN, be accused of bragging. So the thread is automatically self selecting and biased towards reporting lower incomes.

[jynier]

stressedHEmum - Your situation seems impossible financially; so sorry. Best of luck!

[Monty27]

And I count my blessings, although I wish I could give dd at uni more. I don't give ds very much at all cos he's gotta be 'hungry' to sort himself out iyswim. And I'm determined he does.

My friends pay their kids' accommodation and all sorts, I can't.

[Monty27]

Signet :(

Thing is I'm watching this thread for comfort, some aren't saying how many in the family who they have to feed and other outgoings apart from debt and direct debits.

I think I have about 600 gbp a month (don't have a pound sign on here), my dd is at uni, my ds is 17 and currently dropped out of 6th form. There's always something on top of bills, ie we need new passports, I know I know, I'm too scared to look at the tax disc on the car, and then something else will crop up. I smoke too and the house is starting to look shabby.

But I know there's always a lot worse off.

[AdoraBell]

We're currently experiencing negativity in the "left over money" department. House is on the market and savings are taking a bashing.

[Signet2012]

Minus 63.67 pence exactly.

[ruthyroo]

We have about 700 euros after all bills and food shop. That has to cover all travel, car and petrol costs, saving for rainy day, coffee or lunch out, trips for children, haircuts, house furniture etc, shoes etc. It soon disappears.

[stressedHEmum]

Almost nothing - have to feed 7 folk on about £40 a week, have to juggle all bills and pay month about. The whole thing is a nightmare and that's with Dh working 6 days a week. I can't work because I have ME.

Everything is going up and up and DH's wages are frozen until 2019 and have been for the last 3 years.

[Millie2013]

Quite a bit at the moment, as OH is doing contract work, that pays v well. But current contract ends soon and he doesn't have another lined up yet, so we will be living on what he's stashed, for a while.
I am about to go into SMP too, which is quite a big drop in earnings

[AnyFucker]

What is a "hole in the road" piece

[Nerfmother]

Same as umlauf. Would be 1300 after food actually 200. Massive debts - four years to go. Sigh.

[Umlauf]

We would have ?2000 but as we are desperately trying to pay off all our debts before our baby's born its actually about ?500 pm. It does feel good to see the accounts crawling back up to 0 though! In July my mat leave starts (unpaid in my country) and it'll drop to about ?6/700, not too bad but we desperately want to save for a deposit to buy a house.

[SummerRainIsADistantMemory]

None.

Less than that actually, bills go unpaid so I can buy food most weeks.

[ellajayne]

About £200. I spend £20-30 on food for four per week then dog food on top. We don't go out, eat out or have very much of a social life right now. Hopefully it will turn around soon!

[Netguru]

A lot more than most. Not sure of the point of the thread though unless it is a 'hole in t'road' piece in which case I'm out.

[GibberTheMonkey]

Erm about £500 for family of six. We're always robbing Peter to pay Paul

Worse this month as dh was made redundant and we have two weeks between last job finishing and new one starting and job centre were complete dicks when we asked if we could claim jsa. They said no as he has a new job. So we'll live on air instead.

[ginmakesitallok]

I don't know, but enough