so after youve paid all your bills, how much money do you have left over?and what do you do with it?

[robinredbreast]

the other thread does your dh give you an allowence thread
got me thinking abbout how we all havd such different ways of spending money money, with some mum having literally no money to themselves and others having plenty

we prob only have about 400 quid a month spare a month,200 of which we save, and then we both only have 100 quid a month each, what we call our spending money! but we both only have £100 quid each and we have always done this even before we had dd

after bills are paid we have about £250-350 left - £250 goes on food, nappies, cleaning stuff etc etc, other £100 (if there - don't always have the extra every month) goes on school shoes, clothes etc etc. Don't really have "spending" money.....

After bills are paid we have about £300 I guess. That goes on food, petrol and household stuff. We don't do disposable income in our house.

bloody hell faq and twinkle, how do you manage with no spending money/disposable incomes? what would you do if say you wanted or needed new clothes or say your boiler packed up?
and what about nights out etc ?

new clothes?? What are they???

When we have the extra £100 floating around we go through the DS's drawers and buy any stuff they are going to need in the next couple of months - so when the time comes that they need the clothes they're already there.

Boiler packs up.........dunno - though we have a very lovely boiler man who's come out and fixed it and waited up to 3/4 weeks for his money .

Nights out???? Sorry can you speak in English I don't understand what a "night out" is .

No - actually for (rare) nights out I just cut my shopping budget down a bit, spend even more frugally than normal and usually have £20 or so - enough for a couple of drinks.

No nights out ever. No new clothes until the old ones are worn out. If the boiler packed up, well thankfully we're renting at the moment, but before it would have been the credit card or the overdraft.

After all bills are paid and food is brought, I have about £10 a week left, but then I am on benefits so thats why.

After bills my money goes on food, kids clothes, petrol and kids activities (thats hundreds).

I try to build up money for emergencies and for holidays.

Occasionally skim the odd £10 or £20 for new clothes for me on lunch with MIL.

Actually, to answer the question about clothes, I usually get some money for birthday and Christmas from my parents and that's what buys my clothes.

wow, i take my hat off to you, i thought i was hard done by only have 100 quid a month to spend, do you do things to help you not spend like avoid shops etc?

no - I haven't got the money so can't spend it - so when I get the chance I LOVE "window" shopping (except I'm usually in the shop) planning what I'll buy when we finally clear our debts and have disposable income again )

I absolutely avoid shops, all the time. It helps that I hate clothes shopping in any case. It's funny but when I was Christmas shopping I started spotting all sorts of things that I thought I'd like, or that DH would like etc. but I was strict with myself and left it all alone. I can't even remember what they were now, which says a lot I think.

yes i might start trying to avoid shops too., have the stuff people buy they don't really need

opps ment to say half

I tend to avoid going into town unless I have a specific thing to do, Itry to do everyhting I need to in one trip (saves on the petrol too).

i am on bens so, after bills AND food there is about a tenner. I am a squirreler tho, I budget, I bargain hunt, I forage generally!

If there is any spare it normally goes on dd. I buy bargains wherever I can, and think ahead, re clothes, or shoes or food thats on offer, prob what everyone on low income does.

RRB - if you're wanting to cut down on spending, my top tip would be this. If you see something you want don't buy it. Leave it with the intention of going back the next time you're in town. If you still want/need it by then, then buy it if you can afford it (assuming it's still there - I have been caught out before). Nine times out of ten you'll probably forget all about it.

im gonna do that twinkle