What are you spending your disposable income on?

[CherryBlossoms88]

It’s been interesting/always been curious reading the disposable income threads. How much people spend, budget etc.

Today, I wanted to understand how much money each month I have spent (or squandered) on additional items above and beyond our standard outgoings of mortgage, childcare, council tax, bills, food monthly weekly shop. It’s interesting for me to understand what I’ve spent and where I can reign my spending, because things have been tighter but I feel like I have continued spending the way I’ve normally done.

The last 2 months I have spent an average of £650 a month on additional expenditure.
the last month was broken into
32% Amazon
23% entertainment
14% school
11% clothes
15% food
5% gift

I’m so shocked at how much disposable income I have been spending on Amazon!! It’s also given me a wake up call on the amount of entertainment being paid for and additional food which is on top of our weekly shop.

I was actually scared of doing this but now I can see where I need to rein it in.

How about you? And does this inspire you to break it down if you haven’t already?

@PuzzledObserver Re NT membership I'm assuming you have joint membership @£139 a year, if one of you is over 60, and it's likely either one of you will live longer than 13 years, then it's perhaps worth considering buying joint family senior life membership for £1895

I bank with Monzo and I have a money pot for me and one for the kids. These are savings pots so I make a bit of interest on them too. So if I buy something for me, I take the money out of my pot. And the same for the kids. I’m trying a Christmas pot this year but already I can see I didn’t put enough aside at all! I feel like I have more of an idea of what/ who I spend money on now.

Mine goes on clothes and beauty products. Trying to rein it in for various reasons but I’m never in debt or even close to. It’s more environmental and space and wanting to pay off mortgage.

I use Monzo to track, its great though you have to pay to create your own categories so I have to use say Entertainment for swimming, there’s no Fitness category.

Mainly holidays and nice restaurants but we’ve just decided to tone it down a bit next year and do some work on the house, namely new windows/doors and a new kitchen.

Mainly restaurants

I've been using a spreadsheet to keep track of what I spend over the least couple of months and I had no idea where it was going.

My biggest areas of spending are clothes (avg £150 a month), make up/skincare/supplements/hair/beauty (avg &250 a month), the dog, food, insurance, vets bills, groomers, etc (avg £250 a month).

I do need to cut back a bit.

I put 15% of my take home pay into a Monzo account and use that for day to day spending. All of our bills/joint expenses come out of the joint account, so this is purely discretionary/personal spending. It usually works out at around £400 a month, and on average, I spend it on:

• eating out/coffees/work lunches and the occasional drinks with friends
• exercise/Pilates classes
• clothes (generally replacing and upgrading things I’ve grown out of/worn out)
• hobby stuff e.g new tyres for my bike
• gifts

I also use the pots function in Monzo to save up for my dentist appointments, and I have a sinking fund pot for Christmas. I don’t use Amazon and I’m quite considered about my shopping, so if I buy something I’ve often spent weeks thinking about it!

Using Monzo has been a game changer for me, I have much better oversight of what I’m spending on and I feel like I fritter less.

Holidays , eating out and drinking!

You’ve inspired me to have a proper look. Disposable has reduced right down gradually since the pandemic, as food and bills have crept higher and higher. But I want to take a proper inventory.

I’ve just spent £160 on Amazon, an unusually big purchase for me, but it’s because I’m giving up my gym membership and exercising at home instead. I’ve got myself one of those under desk treadmills. The idea being that I’ll save money longer term without the monthly gym subscription.

I haven't calculated amounts, but I mainly spend on

• Hobbies and classes (this is around £120 per month)

• Clothes/shoes/beauty/makeup/Jewellery (probably £200-£300 per month)

• Meals/Drinks out. Occasional, cinema or theatre trip etc (maybe £200 per month on average?)

• Bits for the house

• At the moment, Christmas gifts!

The amount I spend varies depending on time of year. September - December I probably spend the most, and then I will spend very little between Jan - March.

Sorry, I don't know why my post is so spaced out

I think my largest conscious spend is on extra help in the house. I have a cleaner come round 3-4 times a week for 3/4 hours at a time and that costs around £600 a month. Other stuff I spend on is probably clothes and eating out but I wouldn't have a clue how much in terms of percentage/amount and it varies from month to month. Sometimes I won't buy anything and then another month, I'll treat myself to a new handbag or something.

Oh, I also spend on tech! iPhone and iPad will be replaced roughly every 3 years. Laptop maybe every 5.

Mostly on savings. I spend the rest on takeaway coffees, meals out, and U.K breaks.

Without looking, I would say ours is on kids activities.

average of £400 a month on riding (2 kids, competing & lessons)
£30 a month swimming
£90 a month on football
about £120 termly for violin and another £60 termly for guitar
scouts £15 a month
netball £15 a month

rugby and surf life saving bill annually - £100 for rugby and about £200 for surf lifesaving IIRC.

Holidays.