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Original poster

How much is enough to have leftover?

47 replies

LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 17:41

My DH currently works full time and I work 4 days. I am fortunate enough to have the option to change my hours each year and still retain the option to go back up to my previous hours e.g. from January each year I could drop down to 3 or even 2 days and that arrangement would be in place for 12 months, and after that I could request the same again or to go back up to 4 days. I can make these requests every year and over the past few years I have done everything from 2.5 days up to full time.

We have young DC and I am feeling run ragged, with work, the house, everything for the kids etc. DH does pull his weight but he is working full time and he still does 2 drop offs and 2 pick ups on the days that I am in the office. We have no local family help and 1 (possibly 2) of our kids has SEN. I am considering asking work if I can do 3 days next year, as my youngest only has 2 years left before they start school so I'd like more time with them as well as being able to spend a bit more time at home in general. However I'm unsure how much we should have leftover each month to save after all bills, food etc are paid? I save throughout the year for Christmas, holidays, car insurance etc so when I say 'leftover' I literally mean the amount I can put in long term savings each month. I know the amounts people have will vary wildly but I'm interested to know what everyone would be comfortable with saving each month. For context, we currently don't have a lot in savings because we just moved house - around £4k. Our DC do have some savings in their names but obviously that is theirs and not ours! I would like to keep building up savings for the future but also want to be at home with DC as much as possible. Thank you

OP posts:
Original poster
LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 19:20

Bumping for evening people..

OP posts:
pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 20:24

I think a decent amount should be £1000 minimum each month, excluding annual holiday.

Original poster
LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 20:29

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 20:24

I think a decent amount should be £1000 minimum each month, excluding annual holiday.

Sorry do you mean for long term savings or just leftover after all the bills? As well as putting money aside for annual holiday and Christmas etc I also allow monthly amounts for spending/fun money, haircuts, uniform etc etc.

£1k just for savings is quite a lot 😬 but I know some people do save that or even more.

OP posts:
HippeePrincess · 04/12/2025 20:41

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 20:24

I think a decent amount should be £1000 minimum each month, excluding annual holiday.

😂

HippeePrincess · 04/12/2025 20:44

You can always make more money, you can’t get time back with little kids. We don’t currently put anything into long term savings. As long as you can afford day to day life and a small buffer (you already do have decent savings by my standard) then that’s fine. It doesn’t matter how much others think you should be saving or have saved.

Changingplace · 04/12/2025 20:53

HippeePrincess · 04/12/2025 20:44

You can always make more money, you can’t get time back with little kids. We don’t currently put anything into long term savings. As long as you can afford day to day life and a small buffer (you already do have decent savings by my standard) then that’s fine. It doesn’t matter how much others think you should be saving or have saved.

Totally agree, take the time with your kids, as long as you can get by things will work out in the long run.

Changingplace · 04/12/2025 20:54

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 20:24

I think a decent amount should be £1000 minimum each month, excluding annual holiday.

Haha I hope you’re trying to get a rise out of people, if not you’re utterly detached from most people’s realities.

Statsquestion1 · 04/12/2025 20:57

We are a family of 4. Dc are 10 and 12, no childcare costs. Mortgage (and insurance) is approx 2k. We save 2.5k per month
500 goes into our holiday account
140 into dc1 account
140 into dc2 account
1720 goes into our general savings.

but that’s not going to help you. Save what you can.

Original poster
LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 20:58

HippeePrincess · 04/12/2025 20:44

You can always make more money, you can’t get time back with little kids. We don’t currently put anything into long term savings. As long as you can afford day to day life and a small buffer (you already do have decent savings by my standard) then that’s fine. It doesn’t matter how much others think you should be saving or have saved.

This was my thinking, I want to be more present with them. My youngest is currently at the childminders 4 days a week which is more than the 3 days I spend with her and I don’t really feel good about that, I feel like I’m missing out on her a lot if that makes sense?

But I get worried about things like affording university etc as we have 3 DC quite close in age and worry I should be saving for the future for them.

OP posts:
Original poster
LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 21:01

Statsquestion1 · 04/12/2025 20:57

We are a family of 4. Dc are 10 and 12, no childcare costs. Mortgage (and insurance) is approx 2k. We save 2.5k per month
500 goes into our holiday account
140 into dc1 account
140 into dc2 account
1720 goes into our general savings.

but that’s not going to help you. Save what you can.

Wow that is a lot. Good for you (I mean that genuinely). I currently save £375 a month for holidays as we don’t do anything that expensive. I save £100 per child per month. Then anything I can save beyond that would be for long term savings but even if I went up to full time we couldn’t manage to put away over £1500 a month into extra savings.

OP posts:
SkipAd · 04/12/2025 21:09

After some pp’s replies, I suggest you look up the UK’s average monthly savings and savings built up. It should make you feel a lot better about choosing to work less, if that is what you would really like to do whilst your children are not school age.

Original poster
LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 21:17

SkipAd · 04/12/2025 21:09

After some pp’s replies, I suggest you look up the UK’s average monthly savings and savings built up. It should make you feel a lot better about choosing to work less, if that is what you would really like to do whilst your children are not school age.

Thank you, yes I realise that we are probably doing ok compared to average. If we earned less then of course we would just figure out how to get by and wouldn’t worry about savings. But I suppose because I am effectively choosing to earn less than I could, then I end up comparing how much I would be able to save if I worked full time compared to if I am part time, and then I see it as effectively missing out on those savings if that makes sense? But I suppose it’s a trade off with missing out on time with the DC.

OP posts:
SkipAd · 04/12/2025 21:21

It is absolutely a trade off. You probably still have a long time to work and quite a long time to do more days to save for university. But right here, right now, it seems like two years of less savings to enjoy more time with your family seems absolutely worth it to me.

DaisyChain505 · 04/12/2025 21:26

Most people are working full time and still living month to month. Being able to save anything is good.

Statsquestion1 · 04/12/2025 21:40

I did stay at home when mine were younger and we saved a bit less. I think it was around 750 into savings and our mortgage was a bit less but we had a lot of savings behind us at the time anyway too. It’s not a one size fits all. All you can do is your best and what suits your situation

Original poster
LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 22:02

DaisyChain505 · 04/12/2025 21:26

Most people are working full time and still living month to month. Being able to save anything is good.

I know that, but I’d imagine that most people in that situation would prefer not to be in that situation ie they would like to be able to save a decent amount each month. And given that we do have that option available to us it seems almost irresponsible not to take it and ensure our DC future is financially secure.

It may help if I give some more concrete figures.. at the moment I work 4 days and as well as putting aside savings for holidays/Christmas etc I save

£300 a month for the children into their own accounts (3 x £100).
£100 into an “emergency fund” which currently has about £3.5k in. I have been trying to build this up as people like Dave Ramsay etc say you should ideally have 3-6 months of living expenses at hand 😯
£150 into a general savings account which currently has about £600 and is for stuff like if the washing machine breaks or a laptop dies or the gutters need replacing.
£200 into an ISA that can’t be withdrawn during the year (hence the low amount as I worry about locking it away and not being able to access it if needed)
Then in addition to the above which go out as direct debits I can normally save another £500 ish. To me that is overall a really decent amount of savings each month.

If I drop down to 3 days then we will lose around £700 a month but my DH is also due to finish paying his student loan so that will give us another £200 a month back. Therefore if I work 3 days I wouldn’t be able to save the extra £500 that I do at the moment but I think I could manage to keep up the other amounts above. I guess to some people that still seems loads. But for example I know my DSIS and her DH both max out their ISA allowances every year 😬

please don’t flame me for this, I’m trying to figure out what is best for the DC and I have posted in money matters not AIBU!

Its also worth me mentioning that we have an absolutely huge mortgage (like seriously so huge it gives me quite a lot of anxiety) and I always think we should be overpaying or saving a big buffer for in case interest rates keep increasing. We live in an expensive area and moved to a bigger house which I’m worried will turn out to have been a bad financial decision in the long run, I’m very risk averse with money hence why I’m struggling with this. Doesn’t help that DH seems to be happy for me to just do whatever I prefer 🙄 so the decision is all on me.

OP posts:
WestwardHo1 · 04/12/2025 23:05

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 20:24

I think a decent amount should be £1000 minimum each month, excluding annual holiday.

Yeah, totally doable 🙄

Cornishclio · 04/12/2025 23:14

I think if you are managing to save for holidays and car repair bills and have a decent emergency fund (£4k is enough) and presumably have a pension just a few hundred if that would be enough. Long term savings are your pension contributions really so having loads extra is nice but not essential. You won’t get this time back.

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 23:39

LemonsMakelimes · 04/12/2025 20:29

Sorry do you mean for long term savings or just leftover after all the bills? As well as putting money aside for annual holiday and Christmas etc I also allow monthly amounts for spending/fun money, haircuts, uniform etc etc.

£1k just for savings is quite a lot 😬 but I know some people do save that or even more.

Show quote history

I was thinking long term savings / investments, although appreciate not everyone can manage this amount.

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 23:39

HippeePrincess · 04/12/2025 20:41

😂

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I don't get it. Too much or little?

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 23:41

Changingplace · 04/12/2025 20:54

Haha I hope you’re trying to get a rise out of people, if not you’re utterly detached from most people’s realities.

Show quote history

If two people are working on average salaries, this should be possible. Although does depend on various factors such as age.

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 23:42

Statsquestion1 · 04/12/2025 20:57

We are a family of 4. Dc are 10 and 12, no childcare costs. Mortgage (and insurance) is approx 2k. We save 2.5k per month
500 goes into our holiday account
140 into dc1 account
140 into dc2 account
1720 goes into our general savings.

but that’s not going to help you. Save what you can.

How much is your monthly take home?

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 23:44

DaisyChain505 · 04/12/2025 21:26

Most people are working full time and still living month to month. Being able to save anything is good.

Some people unfortunately don't live within their mean, and adjust their lifestyle to suit thier income, without leave much room for flex.

pocketpairs · 04/12/2025 23:47

WestwardHo1 · 04/12/2025 23:05

Yeah, totally doable 🙄

Show quote history

OP saves £1250 currently.

Mardyybum · 04/12/2025 23:55

I work 3 days, my DC are 4 and 2, eldest has just started school. Although the last few years have meant we’ve not been able to save much I am so thankful that I’ve been able to spend more time with my kids than away from them.

We save/invest £500 a month not including workplace pension contributions, but our mortgage is pretty small (compared to what I see on MN) so we are hoping to overpay to be mortgage free by 50 at the latest, which will leave us a good 10 years to increase our savings.