To ask if this is a decent disposable income?

[happyandsingle]

After all Bill's and rent are paid I'm left with 840 PM disposable income for me my 12 yr old dd and a cat!.
Despite this I'm always im my overdraft nearly every month with no savings.
Disposable income has to cover fares to work dds lunch money haircuts etc.
Just wonderd if it's me being crap with money or most ppl would struggle to live within this amount.
This is not a goady thread just baffled if it's me with bad budgeting skills or not.
Hardly buy myself new clothes or anything like that.

Is this for food shopping aswell or after that?

I've not included food bill in my outgoings

If you cannot account for over £800 a month then I'm afraid it's bad budgeting. Start a spending diary and account for absolutely every single penny...do this for a month then you'll have a better understanding of where it is going.

I think that is quite tight - doable but I suspect anything extra like new shoes or uniform sends you over.

There are some really good resources on money saving expert - worth looking at their budget tool , as well as their advice on reducing bills/getting best current account etc.

Also worth doing some career planning to think about how to increase your income in the future

That is not tight at all especially after food and to say so is ridiculous. Completely out of touch.

I'm sorry op but you are bad with money and wasting it. If I had over £800 disposable, I would save 400 a month and pay that first on payday.

The £400 plus would easily cover lunches, haircuts, dinner money and fun money and days out. Easily. You must be frittering the money like crazy or have very expensive tastes.

You need to budget.

The OP has said its before food, not after!

Also to poster above me if you can't do shoes and school uniform out of that amount of disposable income and you go over then something is up with your budgeting.

You need to factor in food bill - it's quite a big chunk of our outgoings. Write down everything you spend for a couple weeks. Everything. You'll soon see where you are going wrong.

How much are your fares to work? I’d consider that essential.

£800 is around £200 per week, to include food, clothes, shoes and everything else. That is NOT a lot of money. The poster who reckons she can do all that and have days out AND save £400 a month must be cutting corners somewhere. I'd be very interested to see her actual budget. A day out can cost £100 when you factor in travel, tickets and food so that's a week's worth of her budget gone in a day.

Disposable income is after food /toiletries/ cleaning products and clothes/ shoes( latter within reason) and travelling costs. So maybe less than £400 is your true disposable income?

Disposable income is money you don't need after expenses. You need food, household items/toiletries, clothes and transport to work/school. Those are expenses.

Haircuts, days out, unnecessary clothing, unnecessary toiletries, gifts, hobbies, holidays - these type things come out of disposable income.

Food will be around 200 a month, then say 100 or so on travel to work, that only leaves 500 a month for everything else. I do think it's doable but I don't think it's comfortable.

It's hard to say without more information, OP. I wouldn't count the cost of your travel to work as disposable income. Some people's commute to work costs several hundred pounds a month.

Yes what are you food and travel expenses work those out.

Food is going to be a big area that you can save money on I suspect

Travel about tenner a week I use the bus! daughters lunch money £15-20 pw. Food varies as I shop daily picking up bits as I dont have a car but I know I overspend like this as I go in for one thing and come out with five!

Overall I'm glad ppl realise it's quite tight as I dont feel I overspend just dont think it's a lot to live on.
Am currently searching for a better paid job so hopefully that will change this year.

Redo your budget to include travel, food, school lunches, pet supplies.
For me those alone cost around £700 a month (5 of us, 2 pets).
Look over bank statements for the last 3 months and track your spending.

OP, having 1 current account for bills and another for discretionary spends can help? You can always transfer a weekly amount to the discretionary account.

I find separating my DD’s from other spends helps me budget better. I also check my account daily.

£400 is double what I have as disposable so it's not that tight imo. And as only two of you to feed you probably have even more.

Food varies as I shop daily picking up bits as I dont have a car but I know I overspend like this as I go in for one thing and come out with five!

Tips for shopping:

Don't go hungry, tired or annoyed
Know where things are and head for them, don't deviate
Have a list, with one blank space at the bottom (and no more)
Shop from the top and bottom of the shelves, the middle is over priced
Look for generics, brands are a rip off. Taste test if you must
Look at weights, not number. Sometimes budget stuff is more expensive by weight
Online shop? If you are an impulsive shopper it can help

Travel and food isn't disposable.

If transport is only a tenner a week, £800 per month for food, travel, clothes, etc is pretty good. If the OP can't save anything from that, then there must be a lot of waste and non essentials.

This is MN so I’ll likely get flamed but I allow myself £950 after savings, money aside for holidays, all car expenses, transport to work and groceries/washing powder etc.

This is for me only and it’s doable but I’m not living the life of luxury and I do have to watch what I spend. Having said that I’m single so I do go out quite a lot and probably spend about £350 a month on that alone. I’m also quite into my beauty so that’s another £200 per month. The remaining £400 goes on candles/nice bits for the house, birthday presents, the odd takeaway and new clothes. Anything left at the end of the month goes into a savings pot to pay for treats such as handbags, spa days, weekends away etc.

£840 less £200 for groceries £80 (£20 pw lunch money) and say £80? transport to work is £480 true disposable for the month which I would say is reasonably tight, I’m sure someone will be along with better budgeting skills than me!

I think that's quite a tight budget and doesn't leave much room for manoeuvre for unexpected emergencies such as washing machine breaking down etc.

We have been on that kind of budget before and what we did was put a small amount (say £100) in savings to cover emergencies. Then divide what's left by 4 weeks - this is your weekly budget! Do an online food shop to be delivered rather than shopping every day and plan your meals for the week! This is the best way to ensure you are not buying unnecessary items and reduces food wastage.

Pay for anything you need to online eg lunch money and weekly bus ticket and then withdraw in cash what's left for the week. Leave your cards at home because that's the only money you will be spending until the following week.

The PP above who suggests £400 a month to live on is living in some sort of alternate universe.

Do an online shop once a week - Asda is probably the cheapest of the ones which deliver.

Make yourself and dd packed lunches. She can have school dinner on a Friday.

How often are your haircuts? Do you get it dyed or styled in a particular way?