to ask you how much money you have left per month after you have paid for essentials?

[FlabRaKebabRa]

I am trying to make a new budget (new year new budget and all that!)

How much money does your household have left over per month, after you have paid for all the essentials?

By essentials I mean rent/mortgage, utility bills, council tax, running car, transport to work, childcare, supermarket shopping, mobile phone etc

I am not counting stuff like buying new clothes, going to the hairdressers, gym membership, going out to dinner etc as essentials.

The trouble is that even some of the "essentials" can be changed.
We choose to set our thermostat at 16 and have the heating on as little as possible - so our gas bills are comparatively low.

Equally we choose to buy some nice food rather than the most basic things - so our supermarket bill is comparatively low.

The DC both learn instruments and do clubs which cost money - not essentials, but they are important to us and would be down the list of things we'd cut.

If we needed to save money we would cut our supermarket bill. so for the purposes of budgetting we still need to consider it.

On paper we have a lot of disposable income atm but I'm in a temporary job so we have earmarked a lot of it for saving to tide us over after job finishes. So not really disposable.

MSE has a great budgetting tool. If you want to head over there, I'm sure you'll find it really helpful. Undoubtedly more helpful than being nosey asking what random strangers have left each month.

My salary minus bills = MY disposable income and not yours... So why would amounts help you budget?!

I agree with netguru re budgetting. If you are planning or have the ability to have savings money I would count potential savings as 'essential' and remove them from your 'spending' money that you are budgetting for.

As a guide (because I think actual figures are out of context, everyone is different), I have 20% of my monthly income left each month as spare cash for clothes, nights out, magazines, hair cut, kids clothes, day trips etc.

In an average month, this gets me; 1 item of clothing, couple of kids clothes or a pair of shoes, 1 night out (dinner/pub/cinema, 1 takeaway.

You've had some great replies - particularly NetGuru and RedSkyatNight at the top of this page.
People have such different priorities as to what they would rather spend their money on too.

Hi there,

We have moved this thread over to our Money Matters topic now.

We also have 'commitments' which I couldn't describe as 'essential'... like the dcs' music lessons or to pay for them to go on Scout Camps, etc. Obviously if we didn't have as much income as we do, then our lives would carry on - these things are not 'essential' but, as we can afford them, then I think it's great that the dcs have the opportunity, and I would want to ensure they can do these things and would prioritise them over new clothes or a manicure or buying coffees when we are out or replacing our 16yr old car, or whatever. Everyone has different priorities with their money.

None or less than none. Usually the latter.

OP, you are just being nosy!! Nothing wrong with that at all but no need to wrap it up in a ridiculous question about budgeting.

I am a SAHM, DH takes home a fraction over £6k a month.

A lot on paper, however we do not save as much as we should because I am hopeless at grocery shopping, plus preparing for baby number 2, but I reckon on about £500 a month, probably a little less actually because so much expenditure going on atm,