If you give yourself 'pocket money', how much?

[shouldaknownbetter]

I'm trying to rein in my spending by giving myself pocket money out of my monthly salary which is for all personal expenses with the exception of food bought at the supermarket (so any extras grabbed on the run would count).

I have been trying to stick to £50 a week but it's hard! It seems to go in no time. for example this week I've already spent £35 odd on a cardigan, a haircut a replacement gym locker and a couple of notebooks for work.

And I've not even had any socialising yet - can't afford to!

Is this a reasonable amount of money for personal spends? It doesn't include food bought as part of the family supermaket shop, although it would include food/drink purchased spontaneously, and it doesn't include fuel for the car either. It does include clothes/toiletries/hair cuts etc although if I needed something really big like a coat that would be budgeted separately.

Dh and I have £100 a month each which does not go far at all.

Mine has to include;
Clothes - I buy in H&M, Sainsbury's, New Look and dream of purchasing clothes in All Saints/Whistles/Reiss

Make up - buy foundation every six months. Lipstick/mascara/eyeliner is bought in Boots

Hairdressers - £60 every two months

Coffee/meal with friends - I try to arrange no more than one meet up a month

Coffee/lunch at work - I make coffee in the office and bring lunch from home (definitely get fed up at times)

passthecake - yes, I am ''allowed'' to spend that money, the point is that I'm not allowed to spend any more than the limit!

I have no problem with allowing myself to spend a moderate amount of money on myself, as I can afford it... it's about having something in place to monitor and control this to avoid spending more than I would ideally want to.

I think that £300 sounds like quite a generous amount. If you manage to limit your coffees/snacks to 50, or even 100, then you'll have a good amount left for clothes or make up.

Our pocket money is now very generous but a few years ago, I allowed myself £250. As long as I kept coffee and snacks to a minimum, I did have enough for some beauty treatments and nice clothes with some planning.