Would £50 be enough monthly for…

[pinkponie]

If you had a few Starbucks/Costas a week, makeup / skincare top ups and clothes?

I started another thread about doing hardcore saving with my dh for two years for a bigger deposit for a house. I’ve crunched the numbers and this would leave me with X amount, once I’ve taken out paying for my nails and paying for my baby’s music groups, this is what I’d have monthly for coffees/makeup and clothes. I’d say that I don’t really need any more clothes, maybe a few skirts/tops off Vinted when we hit summery months but that’s all, not a new wardrobe or anything. I’m fine for shoes. The only makeup I replace monthly is concealer and mascara which costs about £16 for both a month. I have a surplus of brow, lipstick and foundation products. The only socialising I do nowadays is mum and baby related, hence the costas and baby groups. I don’t know, is it just unrealistic? I’ve already covered my nails, baby groups and gym membership separately.

I ask for make up for Christmas and it lasts me
all year. Generally an estee launder foundation and mascaras. I usually get about 5 mascaras that last me. On the subject of coffee I probably get 2 a week out but I don't eat out ever and we don't buy take aways . It's my only "treat" . I have a baby and young child.

Also where’s the budget for family days? If this is for 2 years your baby will be a toddler. Things like taking Dc to the beach and having a lick of ice cream, trip to the zoo, weekend soft play, it all adds up a bit even cheap things.

I do this with my Nivea, I’m allergic to everything else. I’m gifted so much it lasts me the whole year.

On the subject of clothes, maybe plan what you are in need of- any gaps (perfect white tee, school run jacket etc) not a solid capsule wardrobe maybe but stops the "oh it's only a quid" on vinted, which snowballs into £6+ once you've added in the buyer-protection fee malarkey plus shipping

Nails? Why do you need that? With small children it's not practical and very unhygienic. And expensive..

Pop your Maybelline concealer in the food shop and take out DHs treat🫠

I guess it depends how often you’re having coffee out? I’m currently on mat leave and have coffee out twice a week, once with mum friends after a baby group and once with my mum. If you’re spending £16 on makeup that leaves you with £34 for coffee. If you’re not getting cake too, you could get two £4 coffees a week. But then that’s no clothes or extra makeup/skincare on the months you need it. I think it’s a bit of a push to be honest. But give it a go and see how you get on!

Another thought on the elf mascara, and hear me out because I sound bonkers but, would you buy all 12 (1/month) from somewhere where you get 10% or more off for new customers/email sign ups (ASOS is 20 and sells make up, not sure about elf)

So if it's £8(?) per tube, so it might save you 10 or more percent of (8*12), so even if it was just 10% off, that's=

So in a year: 8 x12= 96
New customer discount? 10%
10% of 96 = £9.60 saved
So now
12 tubes are £86.4
And you saved a few pennies for a coffee

The reason I'm saying to buy them all.up front is to max out the new customers discount and meet the free p+p threshold. You could do half a year

Like I say ASOS is 20% sometimes I'm sure theres loads. Just an idea.

Or
Amazon subscribe and save. Subscribe to 3 every 3 months= 15% off Inc delivery and never worry about running out but do worry about funding another Bezos super yacht (or is that just me)

I love Vinted and buy most of my clothes and the kids on there. I think £50 a month would be far too tight, especially to stick to for 2 years. If you are too harsh you’ll be miserable and end up breaking the budget, better to take twice as long to get there but actually manage to stick to it. Have you thought about everything else - clothes for baby? Parking adds up and is a few £ a time, what about birthday presents for friends/family? Christmas presents? Even £1 items on Vinted tend to cost about £5 now once you add in the shipping and buyer protection fees. Postpartum your body will probably still be changing and you may end up needing quite a lot of new clothes. New bras, I found a lot of my pre baby clothes didn’t fit in with my new life or feel like me. Are you planning to go back to work, if so will you need work clothes? What about money for the dentist/opticians? I cut back my personal spending so much for years and got to a point where I didn’t feel like myself, hated the way I looked and it was really getting me down. You are worth spending some money on. In terms of coffees, I would try and get to some playgroups - these all have a baby section round by us with playmats etc, are a couple of pounds or a donation if a church group. You get a tea/coffee (unlimited at some of them round here) and some biscuits or toast. Once little ones are old enough they get a snack too. They normally run for a couple of hours too so you could go with friends and have a good chunk of time, whereas at Costa after a while you may feel you need to buy another drink if you want to stay. I did lots of coffee meet-ups when mine were tiny with the same group. Eventually one mum asked if we could do something else and said she was trying to save some money and everyone looked relieved! Everyone is usually pretty skint on maternity leave. NCT buggy walk with a flask of coffee (more enjoyable when it’s warmer!!) or bounce and rhyme sessions at the library with a flask of coffee (free). Or be brave and offer to have people at yours for coffee - much cheaper and hopefully they will reciprocate. Doesn’t have to be fancy just buy a pack of chocolate digestives and some coffee. Either way I would look to keep some more spending money monthly if at all possible. It’s really hard once you’ve neglected yourself for a long time, all your clothes are battered/saggy/old maternity, your shoes need replacing, you need to go to the dentist but don’t want to spend £70+ for a checkup, you avoid seeing your friend because you need to buy a present for her baby and haven’t yet, your hair is all grown out and you can’t afford to have it cut etc etc. it builds up and starts to feel too expensive or indulgent to start to fix all these things. Try and maintain yourself and you will feel much better for it.

I am delighted to be lectured about the difficulties facing young mums , the isolation and the changes because it never impacted me … although hang on …

yes you do invite people to your home. Even when you don’t know them that well . It’s not just cheaper - it’s easier for the baby/ toddlers to play together , if something goes awry it’s easier to message someone and say you are running late because you need to change again without worrying that you are leaving someone stranded in town waiting for you

and the coffee is usually better too

How much do you spend on nails and how do you get through a whole concealer every month? Get some of those stick on nails (Glaize) and DIY?

@pinkponie How many music groups do you take your baby to, and how old is the baby?

How long is a piece of string? It would be plenty for me as I don’t think I’ve bought any new make up
in about 10 years, never go into Starbucks or Costa and rarely buy clothes, but my best mate spends about £400 a month on beauty stuff, without coffees etc.

If I were budgeting £50 a month to fritter on myself, I wouldn't be giving it to Starbucks, particularly not with spring coming. I'd make coffee at home and take it to a park or something. If you look around you can probably find an independent cafe with better coffee that costs less.

Just paint your own nails. I don’t see the point of paying loads for someone else to do that. That will give you a lot back for this other stuff

How about painting your own nails and making your own coffee, like we did in the old days! OP if you consider this to be hardcore saving, you live a very different life to many people.

OP do you have the Boots Advantage Card app? They have a “parent club” or similar on there and you accrue points for shopping. Points could be used to buy the makeup? The app tends to have offers too.

I can’t bring myself to shell out £ for coffee out even though I am not on a tight budget, so I tend to get tea which is much cheaper. (But still a total rip-off for a tea bag and hot water!) Might that work as an occasional swap?

I have approx £10 per week as treat money just for myself . I buy expensive clothes I need separately, i don’t wear make up and I don’t have my nails done.

It’s actually an ok amount for me as some months I spend very little so carry that over. I have coffee out, and drinks at home the other days, buy a new book when I want one or a hobby item. And if I see something I’d really like I’d spend the full £80 from the couple of months and do nothing else.

i would cut your make up use down to make it go further and not have my nails done.

It honestly depends on what you value - that's the punch.

They also give you £5 worth of points when you recycle 5 items and spend £10. I regularly do this when I’m buying baby wipes, body wash, shampoo etc. I had over £100 of points to use before Christmas, it paid for DH’s Christmas aftershave.

I wear No.7 Stay Perfect mascara which is a tubing mascara and it's £15 a tube, but it lasts me 6 months. I used to use Estée Lauder Double Wear which is also a tubing mascara (I wouldn't use anything else) but it was getting too spendy so I moved to No.7 to save money and it's just as good and lasts longer.

I wouldn’t buy the coffees tbh
Not great coffee .
I’d spend the £50 in charity shops
Toys for the baby
Odd piece of clothing .
Trawl the vinted and eBay too .
I like coffee but it would go if I had £50 a month as my pocket money .

I use that same Elf one as OP and mine last three months - I chuck/replace then because I am a paranoid contact lens wearer. I could definitely double that use time if I wasn’t worried about infection.

No. This is not the way to buy a house, and it’s no way to live. Can you stop wearing makeup while you’re on maternity leave? It’s insane to be spending 1/3 of your disposable income on it! I have bad skin and so can understand the concealer to some extent (but I bet you don’t have bad skin). But the mascara is an unrealistic luxury when you have so little to spare.

The gym membership and the coffees seem fine. Focus on how you’re going to increase your income when you go back to work (I haven’t read your other thread, but assume you will). And DP needs to step up here…

Have to agree with this. It's going to be difficult. I would increase the fun money budget, as those little treats are actually really important. Especially the coffee out which is a social activity for you and dc.