How much "mad money" do you have a month?

[AManWalksIntoABarOuch]

This IS the year I get my finances in order. I want some actual savings at the end of the year, even if it's not much.

How much do you have per week/month to spend on non-essentials/ frivolities eg clothes, hair cuts, meals out etc? I waste so much money on... who knows what?! I will be writing everything down as well.

Probably about £100 a week at the moment but need to cut that right down in 2018. Will aim for £150 for the month in January to v law back some of the Christmas spending!

£10/week for me and DH so roughly £80/month between us. There isn’t a huge amount of disposable income in the house but that gives us a bit that we can spend without consulting the other.

I’d say about £1000 a month is spent on non-essentials as you describe. We need to cut back and maybe half this.

The best way to do it is transfer some via direct debit after you get paid to a separate account.

Myself around £600 a month and hubby around £400. God knows what it goes on. We need to tighten up and start saving more this year.

I think the fact you are even asking this question is one of the reasons your finances aren't in order. If you give yourself a budget for "mad money" then the temptation is to spend all of that budget, even if what you are buying is totally unesscessary.

What works for us us is looking really really hard at everything we buy and recognising that the amount we spend will vary from month to month. We save what we don't spend.

Tinkly beat me to it.

Do NOT budget for mad money! Especially mad to budget it based on what randos on the internet say. Mine's £500. That does not mean £500 is a good amount for everyone!

Budget for everything that keeps you living and breathing, AND a chunk of your income as savings. Don't look at the rest and spend it, look at the rest and think about what you need.

If you need something, think the following:

How cheap will do?
Do I really need it?

If you want something - buy it next month.

When I earned a very low wage, I put £200 into an account for savings - 1/5 my take home pay - and I did have about £50 spare after other bills. But I could wait another month for that jacket I liked. I could say 'I'll go next week' for a meal out.

Practice deferring pleasure, and you'll get a lot better at managing your money.

£0

I can't even afford to get my hair cut, people think I wear it down to my waist because I want it that way. I don't.

I don't do mad money, mad money is mad.

"Mad money" - that's a new one for me!

It sounds like you need to look at your own finances with a microscope. How much anyone else has left over is irrelevant to you anyway.

you want to save. You need to look at where your money is going and how much is left over after essentials.

I don't allocate a set amount weekly or monthly for what I fancy, if something comes along that I want to buy, yes i might buy it but I don't think "oh I have £40 spare this month".

Also, I'm a firm believer that most of the beauty industry stuff is nonsense. I'm just saying this as I have friends who have budgeted for expensive skin care as essential. I also cut my own hair etc. Saves a fortune.

Have a good look at stuff you already have btw and remember that old T shirts etc can be cut up for cleaning cloths. Depends how extreme you want to be but I think it's worth doing stuff like that.

I think the fact you are even asking this question is one of the reasons your finances aren't in order.

Exactly!

Op you’re liking at this completely the wrong way round.

Do a budget of necessities, rent/mortgage, bills, council tax, food etc.

Then see what is left, decide what you will save THEN whatever, if anything is left is your money for “luxuries”.

We’ve had times in our life where we’ve had very little “mad money” because we’ve decided we want to save as much as possible over a certain period of time.

"Mad money" is a scary phrase. I wouldn't dare put that in the DCs' heads -or DH's--

I think some people for various reasons feel the need to spend every last penny they have each month, it's like it's burning a hole in their pocket.
Buying stuff is such a short lived buzz anyway. Try and find a buzz that doesn't cost anything.

I don't have "mad money". I have money leftover after I've paid for all bills, travel and food, and saved.

So my "surplus", as I prefer to call it, is usually about £100 per month. I do usually end up spending it all because our budget is kind of tight anyway.

What's wrong with a bit of "mad money" if you can afford it? If bills are paid, essentials covered and money put aside for savings and there's extra left over why not treat yourself to things you like?
It's one thing not having hair cuts, beauty products new clothes because you can't afford them, it's another to think you shouldn't just because some random person on the internet thinks it's a waste.

I'm currently lucky to be able to treat myself regularly enough to all of the about. I've had years and years when I couldn't and who knows what the future will bring.
I know I look and feel better for been able to have decent hair cuts, good skin care and clothes that fit and aren't thread bare. I won't apologise or justify feeling like that.
Some people are joyless and seem to consider all extra money as some sort of God that must be preserved. There is a middle ground!

And I'd disagree with saying that buying stuff is a short lived buzz. That's only true if you buy unnecessary stuff you won't use or need. When you buy stuff that's worth while you'll get months/years out of it.
You just need to make considered choices and not impulse buy.

None. I regard haircuts and clothes as essentials and budget accordingly. I suppose i do budget about a fiver a day for coffee, lunch at work but i try where possible to make my own coffee at work, take lunch in 3/4 times a week. However, i like to have £50 in my purse as a minimum and i don't use my card for spends of less than £20. Much easier to see wbere it's going that way.

None i budget to the penny. I save and budget savings as though they are a bill, im on a no spend on clothes and im going to have a no spend on household items too soon, so every penny not budgeted for something is saved.

I budget activities and day trips as otherwise wouldnt just get up and do them at a drop of a hat. For instance i have budgeted £36 pm on skating and £50 pm on day trips. If we dont go then that money gets saved.

Takeaways come out of food budget of £60pw but currently having no takeaways. I track the spend by listing each shop in my phone as i leave the store and i was averaging 40-50 pw plus 15 - 20 takeaway but i mean 6 or 7 in mcdonalds/subway or 5 at local corner takeaway .

I refuse to pay for coffee, i have never had a costa or starbucks. My kids get them themselves if they want from their pocket money and i have been to costa twice with them but i didnt have anything. It was just £3 too far, i could have afforded it but i didnt want to spend £3 in that way.

Mad money isnt a concept to me some months i budget £5 for magazines and some years i subscribe as that works out at £2-3 per month.

I budget for skincare and clothing and everything has a category.

Do you need to that level of micromanaging or do you enjoy it?

None.
It would not occur to me to waste my money on stuff.

I like meals out but make sure that I have put money into savings first

After mortgage, bills, food, pension, other essentials, we have about £2,500 a month left over. This is not “mad money”- before it even hits my account on payday, £1,600 of it goes into a savings account. £400 goes into a credit union account and is used to save for holidays and Christmas. This also covers small emergencies- for big things, we’ll dip into the main savings account.

The rest is used for discretionary spending. At the next payday, whatever we have left goes into savings also.

I used to be really bad with money but did a full overhaul several years ago and haven’t looked back since.

Flirtygirl, yes, I did similar when I was in my 20s.

Now I've got enough habits that I don't need to track stuff, if you see what I mean, it's ingrained.

I think your post, flirtygirl, is going to be very helpful to OP or anyone else looking to save.

when people say "I don't know where my money goes" I think, that's a pity, because you've basically given it to someone else without any further though. it's one thing to say "I spent £70 on this jacket and I love it" but it's different than "I don't know where my money goes".

if you are that easy going about it, send it to me

Thanks Snowdrop, i think the same. If they are spending money and have no idea where it went, then ill put it to good use.

If i didnt know where it was going id be worried. I do like being frugal as i love it when ive added things up or saved money or even bought something at a great discount.

lonesurvivor - yes, it's fine to have money that free from budgeting to fritter, but OP said they wanted to save, and people are giving advice on that.

I have ridiculously healthy finances to the point where I don't really have to think twice about purchases, but only because I have good healthy spending habits, including knowing my budget back to front,and yes, not automatically spending every penny.