How much money do you have at the end of the month?

[kittenpeak]

... exactly that really!

Sorry if it's a bit personal, but I guess us typical Brits don't always talk about how much they earn and what they spend it on etc so now I don't know what is "normal"

Hubby and I about to buy the "forever home" (currently in a small flat) and I'm also pregnant with our 1st. So our lifestyle and spending is about to dramatically change. We both earn quite well, and as we live in a tiny flat with a tiny mortgage we have never worried about money, eg gone out for dinner when we wanted, not thought twice about buying clothes etc, gone away (not necessarily abroad) three times a year so we are incredibly lucky in that sense. I might also lose my job due to redundancy and get the feeling after Mat leave I will struggle to get a job which pays the same.

So, I guess I'm after a consensus... after the absolute essentials (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, car running costs) how much do you have left for "luxuries" (such as meals/coffees out, clothes, haircuts, birthday/Xmas presents) and dare I say savings? Haven't included childcare as an essential because I assume that if we need childcare I will be back at work, so life will be easier.

But do let me know yours, with or without childcare!

There is no consensus. Some people won't have anything, others will have thousands of pounds.

But you need to change your thinking about savings, you need to be putting these away at the start of the month, and then consider what's spare as available for meals out etc.

Money needs to be saved for essential expenditure that hasn't happened yet, but probably will in the future, like car repairs, appliance replacement, insurances, Christmas, plus savings to cover lost income, pensions, holidays if you want to afford one, that sort of thing. Only after all these have been covered, should you think of there being money available for optional extras.

Yes, sorry savings should have been put under essentials, as we put it aside the day we get paid and work from there. We also have a rainy day fund. So it's just absolutely luxuries...

DH gets paid on Tuesday and we have £28 in the current account. We do save around £500 per month though and have some fairly decent savings, so it's not like we don't have any money, it's just that we try to save and then the outgoings are fairly well budgeted for.

We're currently putting £1500 a month in the savings and have £1200 a month for food and fun stuff. So after food, maybe £5/600 a month? We have one DS3.

I don't know, I don't budget like that, I just don't spend what I haven't got. We have about 6 months salary in savings plus about 2 years overpayment on our mortgage so in case of disaster would be ok for quite a while.

Saving £1000 at the start of the month.

Literally the moment I get paid I put £900 into our joint account to cover rent, bills and food shopping and then £700 into our deposit fund and £200 into my own holiday fund.

After that I have £800 to spend on whatever I want. It covers hair cuts, beauty treatments, nights out, clothes, birthday presents. I never have anything left at the end of the month but as I’ve already allocated my savings it doesn’t really matter

Sorry posted too early. DP on the other hand has absolutely no idea how much money he has. He earns a lot and spends very little so its constantly accumulating in his current account but he doesn’t like to know how much is there so never checks his balance.
He suspects there’s about £25k in there at the moment but who knows 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’ve given up trying to educate him in financial matters and just let him get on with it

Well all our contingency account wittered to zero after having to replace three large expensive kitchen goods,a big car bill and a big vets bill so basically starting again.

This is the first pay packet of full earnings due to furlough on 80% for three months.

From my earnings,£900 into joint to cover all bills food fuel insurances etc.

£300 into my every day account for the month for coffees any extras I might see or need and £500 into my savings fund.

I've managed to save £300 in cash that I've frittered away here and there in a pot for months now as dd birthday in August an there's a really expensive item she would like but doesn't think she'll get as money has been short so that will be a great surprise.
She's also been absolutely amazing during lockdown and since with helping me at home so she deserves it.

As soon as I get paid I put £800 in the house account for bills and food. This might need an hour extra £50 as our food shopping has been going up. Then £250 in the help to buy ISA and £400 in the general savings account (currently for our postponed wedding but I have more than enough for it) and £100 in the buy the car at the end of the PCP account.

So £850 on bills, £750 on saving and then about £500 for general spending and my personal bills like contact lenses and my phone etc.

We have about £400 leftover between us after bills and food and petrol.

Between us around 2.5/3k a month

We pay mortgage and bills for the house - £1300
Childcare three days a week for two children - £950
DH and I keep £400 each a month for personal spending or to do with it what we like.
Savings depends what is going on that month but on average probably £500 a month.

Together we have £1700 left but we're in the north west so it's a decent amount, we're not rich but we're not in poverty

About £1800- £2k, after bills are paid but certainly not by the end of the month!

End of the month is probably about £3.25

For a couple. No CC costs currently.