How much do you spend each week?

[ramanw]

So after all bills, food, essentials are purchased, how much do you spend/allow yourself to spend each week?

I am terrible with money so have recently started giving my partner a chunk of money at the beginning of each month and then getting him to send me a certain amount each week.

I tried living off £40 a week but it turns out that I can spend that within a few days. I spend it on things like coffees, food with friends, snacks and I also might need to buy something for the children. I'm going to up my weekly amount to around £60 but wondering if even that is enough!

How much would you say you spend each week?

Surely kids clothes and toilet roll should come from joint money (assuming your partner is their other parent), not your personal money. Mine varies enormously, I'm pretty good at day to day keeping to a minimum, i.e., WFH I spend nothing, at office I take lunch, snacks, and make coffee there. Spend much more on big things like yesterday booked a package holiday, train tickets for some upcoming weekends away etc.

Varies, only myself, catless currently and hoping that changes very soon, this month highest vet bill to put my old cat to sleep, and treatment before that £620.
Now awaiting to adopt a new one, so cat tree/scratching post, litter, few new toys, and calming spray, things not bought in years.
Average week varies, on food budget as-to what is needed , sometimes eat out budget wise

What counts? I've spent £20 on a birthday present for a family member. I can't think of anything else this year. I don't buy coffees or lunch out unless out we are on a planned day out all day. I would add a bar of chocolate to the weekly shop.

According to my budget I spent on average 110 a month between now and jan 2022. That’s including my ‘allowance’ (we all get money each month that we can spend on whatever we want) and also money I use for add needs workshops and also money I use when I go out with my friends. But that’s also included things I have saved up for like an Apple Watch and more expensive pyjamas

And loungefly bags. Which are my nemesis lol

I don't buy treats, snacks or coffees out generally. Nor takeaways or meals out.
I sometimes about once a month might have a coffee out with a friend. I don't buy clothes unless something has worn out and I need to replace as I hate clothes shopping. I would say £10 a week covers anything I might buy eg a newspaper every now and then, but as I rarely carry cash I don't tend to spend!

I used to reckon for £50 pw for pocket expenses, to include top up shopping, extras for the dc, the occasional pub visit/ coffee or snacks out, clothes for dc (mainly boot sale) any outings and cigs when I smoked.
These days, i very rarely spend outside the supermarket shop, I don't go out much but when I do it's theatre/ cinema/meal so not really unplanned spending. I gave up smoking years ago, DC are grown up, and I hardly ever have coffee or lunch out, I take my own to work. I don't buy magazines any more and barely drink. I don't really do unplanned visits to the corner shop any more.
I do spend more on clothes than I used to, this month £75, and I'll probably buy more before Easter.
So actually factoring all that in it's probably still about £50 pw.

Since November, I have a massage once a month, nails every three weeks (gels) these are resolutions I am sticking to.

My Mum died twelve months ago and I inherited a six figure sum, (not a million but closer to 200,00 than 150,000. Some of it will go on home improvements, the rest will be invested. Some of it is going on me, just me. Well DH is joining a golf club as my gift to him, but this all about ME, just Me.😂

I am crap at prioritising myself, but from here on in I am L’Oréal (worth it, if you are old enough to remember the tagline or maybe it is still going) my wine habit comes out of the household budget, I am not that daft. 😂

Re the massages, I was in danger of letting them slide so I have paid our regular guy in advance for ten massages, more likely to call one down, than put yourself to the bottom of the pile.

So that is about $65 a month, (can’t find the pound sign,) and in March I am off to London to the opera, (cheap ish seats) but then it could be six months before I stray outside of my 65 a month habit spends.

£££££££ Found it but at the expense of the hash key, me suspects…..🙄

Its fine they are needs not wants 😂well that's what i told my husband yesterday while explaining why i got 2 more

We have £125pm each from our joint account. That's for going out, coffee, clothes, buying eachother and our own close friends presents. This is our own personal spending, but if we decided to have a day out, coffee or meal together, that'd come out of our joint account.

We pay into the joint account so that after all the bills we have £150 per week in there for food and everything else. Then for my personal spending I play a bit of a mind trick where I put all my money in the highest-earning instant access account I can find, and I mentally allow myself £200 personal spending money per week starting on a Friday, but I can’t carry it over, so if I only spend £40 that week or whatever, I would only need to top myself up by £40 the following Friday to reset it - the rest goes into savings. I almost never spend anything close to the £200 weekly amount. For some reason, mentally allowing myself a large amount of spending money helps me spend less. Obviously this is only possible because we have a good income - when I earned less, my weekly budget was income minus set savings and bills, divided by the number of days left til payday, times seven. I just used to check the app and work it out as I went. You have to do the savings bit first though and treat it as a non optional bill.

I give myself allowance of 50 quid + I put away 25 for hairdresser (it costs me 100 quid so I prefer to do it this way). I rarely get takeaway coffee for myself (I used to a lot, but it's got too expensive). When we go out together, it's being paid from food budget. I used to spend more, but life got very expensive now and I'm pregnant, so my financial priorities have changed. I put at least 500 quid monthly now towards baby stuff+maternity leave, so no room for any shopping apart from vinted or cheap make up and only when I need it, not because I'm bored or just fancy buying something to cheer me up.

Sorry, I should have said 50 quid+25 hairdresser is MONTHLY, not weekly as in your question.

Not including hair as I go once a year!
I try and only spend once a week
So one week might be a coffee, next week a takeaway and I try to keep it to £50pm if not much less

If its not half term then £20 would cover me meeting for lunch with a mate. £10 for treats for the kids so £30 to waste in a week.

I'm also not spending anything on clothes but that's very intentional right now. I'm not getting my hair cut either. I trying to save to go on a decent holiday and we can live without clothes for a year

It all depends on how much you have in the first place surely as everyone spends within their means (or should anyway

I agree.

Sometimes I spend nothing. Very rarely, I spend thousands.

Take your savings out first, don't save what's left.
We do this for joint savings and for DS, all bills are accounted for including food shop and a spending account for DS (that ebbs and flows depending on growth spurts), plus contingency floor household necessities.
We then get what's left divided in two, for fun money. I have spent more of mine this month than usual because I'm back at the gym and to motivate myself for new trainers (old ones very tatty) and a lovely microfibre quick dry towel, but usually have some left over which I put in a separate short term saving pot that's just for me. So I've got money for weekends away with friends, expensive perfume etc.
DH used to blow through his after a week even if it was more than £400. The key then is that all essential things are covered in another account, so there's no NEED to spend anything else, it made for some boring weeks for him, no coffees, impulsive purchases etc but the lesson was learned quite quickly. He's now pretty good and often has money left over from his disposable at the end of the month has actively cut down on unnecessary hobby spending etc.

I used to have money left over for things like take aways, new clothes, days out but at the moment there’s nothing left. We did eat out yesterday and it cost £40 (me and 2 teens) as a single parent it’s pretty tough and eating out or having a take away is probably a once a month treat.

I am financially very comfortable so don’t need to have a strict budget. But I can easily go a week spending nothing extra and it’s just grocery shopping. Then again I spent 1k on a hobby a few months ago without a thought. Last item I bought was 3 weeks ago, £150 walking boots and we had lunch out. I rarely buy clothes but when I do they are really good quality. I clothes shop twice a year, that’s it but I utterly despise shopping. I’m going next week, buying complete outfits for three events, a black tie, a wedding and a graduation.

Easily £200 a week. Lunch in work plus a nice coffee three too four times a week, lunch out with a friend on Saturday, hair cut, new hair dye and foundation, new swimsuit for upcoming holiday, birthday present for a friend, two new jumpers...that's what I've spent since Saturday this week. Life's for living, money's for spending! I work hard and always have, and all of these things bring me pleasure. I've been skint in the past and it's miserable...I don't choose to deprive myself. I have a house that will be paid for in 10 years and a good public sector pension so not totally irresponsible!

I transfer 1k a month onto my monzo which is 'fun money' but what I do is not relevant to anyone else.

I aim at £0 and see what happens.

This week £16 on a parkrun milestone t-shirt that I've waited 6 months for.

Last week was £0

Week before was £72 in the sales.
Week before, £84 for cut & colour

So £43 a week this month. 🙂