How would you budget £1,200

[Ang3leyes]

If you had £1,200 to live on after rent, council tax and water how would you budget that

By starting with a list of my other regular payments

Are you asking for advice for you specifically, or is this hypothetical?

You’ll need to share more info if it’s for you - kids, cars, subscriptions, hobbies, illnesses, commitments, current savings, savings goals….

There are lots of things to budget for after those expenses. Money saving expert has a free budget planning spreadsheet.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet

List out your existing essential commitments

• childcare
• food
• utility bills
• car loan payments
• any other loan payments
• insurances
• car tax, MOT
• commuting costs
• phone/broadband/tv

Then discretionary spending

• gym
• classes
• etc

I'd review everything I spent to cut the cost where possible, or remove the spend entirely to make my money go as far as possible. Also obviously consider what is essential and what is optional.

Have a look at:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Also, as your life stage is relevant - a single renter, a parent who's a homeowner with a mortgage and a childfree older person would have very different needs for their money.

https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

I’m just looking for ways that others would budget that amount if they had that much to live on. I have been wasting it with nothing to show for it and struggle to budget.
so how much would you spend on food, and other essential/non essential costs with this income is what I’m asking

It doesn’t really matter what we would do? If I tell you I’d spend 600 on shopping, 500 on savings and 100 on coffee, that’s not going to be relevant to you if you have 3 kids, a dog, a car, and a loan to pay off.

List what you spend, your life circumstances (kids, transport, subscriptions, clubs), and then people can help.

Food costs vary but willing to cut back.
Currently I have a debt of £200 that can be paid in instalments.
I have a dog.
I do want a small run around car but I would pay monthly for it then pay it off. That would be later in the year.
I currently have the heating on a lot but can stop doing that so much as I’ve bought warm things to wear.
no subscriptions anymore, no tv and no internet
I have a phone with unlimited data for £10/month

No-one can say without a lot more information. People can give numbers, but it won't necessarily be the best way of allocating your money.

Read up about how to budget and apply what you've learned to your situation.

Be honest about needs vs wants and prioritise appropriately.

Allocate money for annual and irregular costs.

Spend less than you earn.

Be aware that a small regular spend can add up to a huge amount of money over time.

A fiver every working day is £25 pw, £100 pm or over £1000 per year. If you cut down to once a week, you'd build up some savings that would mean you have money put aside if you need to replace an appliance or go on a short break etc.

Are you single, this money is just yours and for you?

You need to work out what spends are necessary and how much they cost and then divide it over the amount of pays you get in a year

Gas

Electric

Phone

Internet

Transport costs

House/health/income insurance

So dog - food and insurance - or if no insurance some money in a saving pot

Dentist - do you have a dental plan or do you need to save monthly

Do you need glasses or contacts

Savings

Christmas and Birthday Pressies

Groceries

Socialising

Charity contributions

Clothes

Hair dressers

Beauty

Holidays

Those are the sort of things I have to budget for, others may have other things on their lists , everyone will have differing amounts in different pots, but its a starting point, something to make you aware of what needs to be budgeted for

Someone with a high powered office based job or a teacher for example will no doubt be needing to put more towards clothes and beauty then me, who wears chef whites in work and jeans and jumpers out of work and rarely wears make up . Someone cash rich and time poor may be putting a lot more towards. the food shop if they are buying ready meals and take aways then myself as I have time to cook from scratch every day

Budgeting is a very personal thing and only you can work out how much to put where

Insurance, travel and childcare, tv licence, phone bill, utilities and food - the later three you may be able to reduce by looking for better deals, cutting back on gas/electric use and choosing cheaper food options/shopping around. I'd also try and put something aside for household emergencies/vet bills if you have a pet.

The rest of it depends on what you've got left and what are your priorities for yourself. We both have £150pm a month and I easily manage that for my exercise class, meet friends occasionally for coffee, the odd hair trim, presents for DH and my friends. From that point of view, it might help if you give yourself a monthly allowance for things like the above and hobbies and make sure you stick to it.

Hi OP, if you have £1200 after rent, council tax and water, that's a great start. Do you have a pension? (Auto-enrolment at work?) Can you pay more in and will your employer match it? That's very tax-efficient (it gets taken off your gross pay before tax, so you are taxed on less) and if your employer matches any extra contribution, that's free money for you later.

There's loads of personal finance podcasters/bloggers/YouTubers around. I like Claer Barrett, Jason Butler, Damien and T, Ramit Sethi. Good old Martin Lewis and the BBC in general. Have a rummage around and find ones you like. I find them great for information and motivation. Also, for creating a 'crew' - if you don't have family/friends who like talking about money, an online equivalent can really help.

Advice you will often see says split your budget around 50% for essentials, 30% for wants, 20% for savings/investings. If you were to split your £1200 like that, it would be:
£600 essentials (utilities, debt repayment, dog care, insurances, food, fuel, transport for work, phone, essential tech, etc).
£360 wants/wishes (- hobbies, clothes, beauty/haircuts, holidays, days out, saving towards your car- I'd probably set up pots for each of these, because some have longer time horizons.
£240 savings and investments. First thing: build an emergency fund - aim for your first thousand, then work your way up to 3 months essential expenses, then 6. Somewhere along the way, you should start investing into a stocks and shares ISA.

Have a good look at your expenses and lifestyle, have a think about what you like doing, what you could happily live without if it meant more of something else.

I start with income:
In -2750
CB-280
Benefits-177

Total: 3,207
Then I deduct my house bills and other direct debits so;

Rent 1400
Electricity 120
Life insurance 40
Internet/tv/2 phones 86
Bin charge 23
Apple 20
DS club 25

Total 1,714
Leftover 1,493

Then that 1493 goes to;
500 food
240 fuel
200 savings
50 kids clubs/school trips etc
100 treats
100 clothes/shoes
50 birthdays/gifts
50 prescriptions/medicines 1270
100 holidays/trips
I know this essentially leaves 123 but it gets eaten up somewhere usually and if not it’s put into savings. Unless I’m leaving something out 🤣

It’s easiest to start by tracking what you are spending. That way you’ll have a realistic picture of where your money goes.

If you just want a rough idea of budget for food I’d ask ChatGPT for ideas. It’s good for that kind of planning