Budgeting / bills / savings

[JJJxox]

I’m trying to be more on top of my finances… I find that I’m always living pay day to pay day covering bills/treats etc but with only a little saved away.
I have started to set a portion of my monthly wage to go in to a savings account.
But am nosy/curious to know how much do you save each month? How much do you leave for treats/activities?
if living with partner how do you split the bill payment’s?

People talk about 'savings' differently.

Is this for a target for a big purchase ?

House deposit ?
For something you are going to fund in a few months (Christmas /holiday / car) ?
For those bills that come annually (MOT / insurances / etc)
A security blanket in case you are unable o work for a while ?
To begin to save for things you know will need to be replaced in 3 years or so (boiler, phone, car)?
For home improvements ?
Pension ?

I mean, you don't need to tell us, but it is about getting it clear in your own mind. Have you got all those things covered ?

Then there are things like paying into your pension, or over paying your mortgage (if you have one) which people don't usually count as 'saving' but is really important and long term saves you a lot of money.

As to how much, that is generally dictated by the amount of money coming in to the household, take away the amount of money you are committed to spending. The fact one person on MN saves £20 a month, and another saves £2000 a month isn't really going to help you.

Thank you for responding.
its more of saving as a security blanket so i have something to fall back on or dip into to cover bills if i need to.
I have a pension which I pay into monthly, I already have a Christmas savings account which I also already count as a bill payment… ( I count these as bills so that I always ensure that I have the money to pay them. If I know it’s a bill I won’t touch it 🤣)
I understand what you’re saying… I suppose to word my question better I’m asking what is a good security blanket to have? Like how many months bills do people usually have covered?

We always have 6 months worth of bills saved in one account which we don’t touch. We then have different saving “pots” for Christmas, home issues, pets etc

Like how many months bills do people usually have covered?

I think people tend to say you should aim for 6 months.
but obviously that might be a bit of a dream for many people.

It depends as well what both your job security is like and also what the sick pay is like in your line of work.
{Massive generalisation alert incoming} Historically, working in the public sector has given you much lower pay but that is balanced with much better job security and better / longer sick pay vs the private sector who headline wages tend to be higher, but it can be less secure. Of course some roles have very good packages to balance that out.
If you are self employed, then you would have to arrange your own insurance which (I presume) is going to be more expensive if you are a roofer rather than a nail technician.
The question you are asking is, If I were diagnosed with something serious / hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow a) how long would my work still pay me for when I wasn't able to work, and b) how would I pay my bills if work stopped paying me.

Yes, it's a very much 'it depends' question where everyone's circumstances are different and as well as income and income security varying, costs and preferences also differ significantly so percentages needed for each category vary and also some people prefer to 'live for today' while others go the other way and try to save all their spare money for the future and the 'what ifs'.

But the best approach is probably somewhere in middle where you have savings for the future but not at too much detriment for day to day living.

It sounds like you're on the right track, recognising that you need to save for annual and irregular expenses but amounts and percentages are something you need to decide for yourself based on your own circumstances.

The financial flow chart is a good guide to thinking through what you need to consider and in what order, especially in relation to budgeting at the basic essential level if you don't have much security or are in debt but then adding in more discretionary spending later when you've covered emergency savings etc.

https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

This is really helpful thank you 😊