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.

I shop at lidl and feed a family of 3 on approx £40-50 a week. Factor your grocery shop and travel expenses in.

Money saving expert website has a form called "statement of affairs" or something and you basically fill in all you income/outgoing and it leaves no stone unturned. It should.give you a realistic view of your budget and what is left at the end of a month.

From April all over drafts will be at least 35 % interest. You need to budget better and clear it.

The daily shops add up. I can easily go to co op for a loaf of bread and fritter away £8.
It would probably be cost effective to do a big Aldi shop for the month and get a cab home (obviously if you live fairly near to cheap supermarket).
Also switching DD to packed lunches could save a bit.
I think £800 is a lot of money to not know where it goes.

@Raver84 really????!!!!

It’s not a lot if it has to cover one off things like birthday presents, school trips, household repairs, cat booster jabs or replacing things. I thought I was rubbish with money until I realised that it wasn’t the food budget (which everyone seems to focus on) where I was overspending, it was just replacing and maintaining things that were worn out and broken and paying for out of school activities added up to quite a bit over the month.

From April all over drafts will be at least 35 % interest. You need to budget better and clear it.

Think Raver84 could have worded things more sympathetically but the new overdraft rates are going to be 35-40% APR. It is possible that if you are currently paying a daily overdraft rate Happyandsingle then you might be better off with the new rates (according to the Financial Conduct Authority but they admit about 1 in 3 people will pay more.

Lots of good advice about budgeting already. I’d only add that it would be good to put aside some money for clothes/shoes (especially for your DD) in a separate account so you aren’t suddenly faced with needing to buy new school shoes in a month in which things are already tight. You can cut down on the costs of haircuts at places like Toni and Guy if you have your hair cut by a trainee but you and your DD may need to be flexible in terms of timing. Good luck! I think your budget is tight but doable.

£200 a week for 2 people is a very decent disposable income after bills. Lets say you spend £60-£70 on food, you still have £130-£140 left a week. That huge. Many many families have less than that with 3-4 dc.

I would just start writing down everything you spend for a month and see where you are throwing money in places you could cut. It will be revealing!

You need to do a proper budget.if you know you overspend in food, get your shopping delivered. Have a prepayment dvoery so you only make one payment a month, then that isn't costing your an extra fortune. Shop to a meal plan.