Is £100 p/w normal?

[kiana2015]

I work full time, I live with my partner and have a daughter. Each month after I've paid my half of the bills,
Shopping etc I work out my money and I roughly have around £100 per week 'free money' I find I am not managing this and dip in to the following week. Am I bad with money or is this too low of a budget?

Where are you buying your jeans?

Denim is one of the hardest wearing materials that exists for clothing (hence why jeans started off as workwear).

If you care for jeans well, they should last years and years. They don't need washing regularly, just air them out. Over-washing will make them wear faster.

On the clothes point we spend £500 between two of us on clothes per year. This includes one pair of trainers each at circa £80 and any work clothes needed. This covers our needs fine

M&S and Next, so nothing too extravagant.

@elderflowerspritzer (nice username, good drink. A Hugo, right?)

From M&S, other high street shops. The usual.

After 3 or 4 days they are generally mucky, stained (I do a lot of practical work and am not exactly deft, things get grubby) or too sweaty of crotch, so I wash them. They also wear through at the thighs or backside. 18 months to 2 years is pretty much it for my jeans.

Denim in jeans used to be great and hard wearing. It’s got elastene in it now and it just isn’t robust.

Back to the OP - if you aren’t paying attention to your spending and are out and about a lot, it would be fairly easy to burn through £100 a week.

Equally, with a bit of thought it’s be easy to rein that in substantially. It’s noticing where and when it goes; just a habit to develop.

Seems like the issue is that you do need to refresh your wardrobe now as a one off, hence why £100 isn't enough but going forwards it would be ok.

To be honest I personally only buy 3/4 items of clothes a year and don't wear make up. If this is done through choice rather than necessity, it is much easier because it doesn't feel like a sacrifice.

If you feel like you are using your free money on things that aren't really giving you pleasure, then try and work out what actually does, and use it for that.

For a wardrobe refresh.on a budget I'd look at vinted. Can you give yourself a set amount outside of day to day expenses? Sell some old clothes that no longer fit to put the money towards new (2nd hand)?

My daughter had a pair of New Look jeans that are 8 years old that she just threw out because they are now past their best and don't fit properly. My son is still wearing 4 year old Primark jeans.

My jeans from M & S last for 10 years.

Yeah, high street jeans suck. I find it a false economy to spend £20-40 on a pair of jeans from the high street that lasts 18 months, and if they have elastine then you are going to get a sweaty crotch 😁

My jeans last 5-10 years. The jeans I'm wearing now, I've worn regularly for about 9 years they're still going strong. I air them out/ wash them cold every 5-10 wears or spot clean them if they get visibly mucky.

Cotton underwear and no elastine stops sweaty crotch syndrome.

I try to go for better quality - usually have to buy them online in the range of £60-£100 new - or get quality second hand ones.

You can still buy robust, good quality jeans, just not from M&S.

Ebay or charity shops.

I agree that £100 doesn't get you far. Depressing, really.

I usually have about £400-500 a month for my "own" spending, but I try to be smart about it. I buy less but better - so for example, we no longer do dinners or lunches at our local pub (which used to be our go-to when we didn't feel like cooking), because the food was nice but nothing outstanding. We'd probably use 3x£35 a month there. Instead, we just have one amazing dinner out a month at a place that's maybe £70, but still works out cheaper than several "ok" meals.

Similarly, I don't pick up cheap tops or jeans or whatever on the high street mindlessly - I plan and save for nicer clothes. I didn't buy anything for months, but then splashed out at the end of September and bought a wool coat. Again, I'd rather have one great thing than lots of passable ones. My skincare items are a bit costly, but I don't experiment much and stick with the things I know work. I have far less clutter in my bathroom than before.

I think it's easy to get caught in trying to get as much as possible for your money, quantity-wise, and thinking, Oh well, that nail varnish is just a fiver, but really it's better to get just the few really nice things you will love with your "personal" money

I agree I’m left with around £60 pw by the time I deposit money for mortgage etc

DH and I set aside £100 ‘pocket money’ each per month. With the rise in prices we have been contemplating upping that to £125 per month. It’s plenty to buy clothes/shoes/coats and use for small personal expenses but wouldn’t include meals out or hair cuts (we aren’t high maintenance though). DH will buy maybe a coffee a week but I begrudge paying for take out black tea.

I buy from a mix of shops but being really determined to buy second hand designer or B Corp over the past year or two. That said, I have a good sized wardrobe so I’m not starting from scratch like you OP. I’m just buying add-on pieces to mix up with what I already have. Sometimes I have to wait until the following month to take a purchase and that gives me a bit of sensible breathing space to reflect on how much I want something.

Do you make a list of what you need? This will limit the randomness of any purchases. I use Pinterest to get ideas of what I can mix and match together.

In short, I do think £400 per month is plenty and like a PP said if this isn’t bringing you joy your money is likely being spent in the wrong place.

Just to add, I went real life shopping yesterday and could have easily dropped £100 or more in Sephora but have decided to wait for Black Friday offers and put a few things on my Christmas list.

Ditto a gorgeous knitted dress in Reiss which I will stalk in the sales after Christmas. They did the same dress last year so no FOMO. In fact a lot of the styles in the shops were from 20 years ago! Ruched side dresses? Yup, still got the originals!

FOMO was a huge factor in me being unhappy with my pocket money a few years back.

I buy all my makeup and skincare by basically waiting for the beauty boxes/edits/ calendars to release picking off what I want and selling the rest on ebay to pay for it/nearly pay for it. Unless you are only into a few specific items it's never worth it to buy at full price for a single item in places like Sephora.

I myself loved buyin clothes, making up and clothing are my fulfill life. I do refresh my wardrobe every month but mostly from charity shop, I wearing makeup everyday but they are from boots or supperdrug. my spending are far far away from £100/w.

Absolutely 💯

I have said this a lot lately, but you need to buy what you need, not what you want. If you are trying to be careful with money, then you need to look at every single thing you spend.

I would keep a record for a couple of weeks, of where your money goes, and then look at things you can cut out. It's nice to have a treat, but not all the time if you can't afford it.

This is about what we have and it goes quick. Two adults and a child. I try to make sure we have low or no spend weekend to balance it out and we have annual passes to cover some days out

Look at what you are spending, do you need all those coffees and lunches, can you restrict a bit: one takeaway coffee a week, one lunch out for example same with make up. How much do you have already?

Look at your clothes, have a sort and see what you actually really need. Then you can start to budget breaking it down even further rather than just ‘£100 a week’.

Put money aside for clothes savings so you can go out and get set things you actually need not a whim purchase, a small amount for make up/toiletries, an amount for food/coffees/lunches and socialising. This would be dependent on what you need/want etc. Jusr being more mindful.

I can spend around £400 a month often a bit sometimes less and this is how i look at it very roughly but i save before i give myself this. Any unexpected bigger spends can come from savings.

Yeah I agree with you. And it's also a risk because you can't return if something is off doesn't suit/fit right. I've also had things arrive stinking to high heavens of smoke. So I've been really put off. If you don't have much money it's really disheartening to feel like you've then wasted your fun money.

Gosh I have that for a whole month. Rarely buy clothes, Vinted or charity shops if I truly need something but probably spend about £100 a year on clothes. I buy some supplies for my hobby fairly regularly, the rest of that £100 goes on exercise class fees, my own toiletries, dental costs and prescriptions where needed, birthday and anniversary gifts for DH. Makeup about £100 a year too. If I want something in particular or am going out I have to forego other things and save up 🤷‍♀️ I’d love £400 a month.

£100 goes on exercise class fees, my own toiletries, dental costs

Looking at yours made me realise how high my monthly basics are! They're about £316 a month. This is something I'll have to think about.

I pay £40 a month towards family exercise app.
Psoriasis and hypersensitive skin so my skin care and psoriasis shampoo etc. are approx £12.
My dental costs are roughly £100 a month, even with insurance. (I don't have fabulous teeth, I have lifelong bad teeth that need a lot of expensive maintenance because I abscess at least once a year.)
Averaging out my optician costs and eye care, that's £25 a month.
My clothing purchases in a year are underwear, socks, and either a pair of sports shoes or shoes. Approx. £14 per month.
Gifts, subscriptions and outings are £600, so £50 a month
Charities etc. £75 a month.
There's an eyelash serum that I like but it's about £5 per week unless you can buy it duty free so I can't justify it.

A £5 coffee a day is approx. £1800 a year. There's an estimate somewhere that, on average, mindless spending (the sort you don't notice like a magazine, coffee, cake, Amazon) is about £28 a day which is £10,220 a year.

What I have left will vary week to week but it isn't £100pw usually £15-40 a week I don't buy new clothes I use vinted
Won't buy coffees out
This thread has just made me realize though that Amazon prime is costing me a fortune and I only really use it for prime video so I will be reconsidering not renewing that now and finding a alternative