What is a reasonable monthly fun money amount for a couple?

[user1471267414]

Hi all

looking for advice on what is a decent monthly amount of disposable/fun money?

for context our joint income is £8300 and after bills/food petrol/debt repayment we have circa £3500 left (paying £1500 a month in debt) How much is enough each as our money with the rest to go in savings or a pot for things such as car other expenses e.g car repair? Our money will be for going out/clothes/takeaways at weekend etc. I thought £500 but OH thinks £1000. What do other people do

It also makes sense if there is a big income disparity. By agreeing a disposable income budget DH and I are in the same position despite me earning a lot more. Any surplus goes into the joint account.

If he thinks £1,000, maybe suggest that you try £500 fun money and use the other £500 to reduce the debt more quickly.

But my mobile phone, gym membership and lunches I buy at work “literally only benefit myself”?

250 a month each isn’t much, and yes I know peopl Have much less. It’s 62 pounds a week.

I think paying down your debt is critical. And as your husband previously lost his job due to mental health, I’d be advising saving as much as possible. But the flip to that is you both need to enjoy life. So I’d maybe go in the middle, 750.

We have a similar joint income and budget €600 (just over £500) together for "fun money". This mostly gets spent on dates, and a few hobby bits. We have enough clothes and if I do want something new I try to get it on Vinted.
We have separate pots for holidays, Christmas etc.
We don't have any debt, have paid off our mortgage, and want to retire early.
You need to make your budget based on what you want, not what others would spend their money on.

We see mobiles and food related expenses as necessities so that comes out of joint. DH gets gym access through work so I do tend to buy for my fitness stuff out of my money (as it’s more of a hobby/sport).

I feel you need to prioritise getting your emergency pot full before worrying about spending. As your partner was unable to work for 2 years and you've ended up borrowing money to get by, you can surely see the sense in this? I'd aim for minimum 12 months of monthly expenditure in savings.

It’s obviously down to personal choice and will vary between couples but DH and I have different preferences when it comes to eg mobiles and food. He’d rather splash out on the latest iPhone whereas my phone is 6 years old but I spend more on hair, makeup and clothes.

For us, anything that we choose for ourselves and spend on separately comes from our individual spending amounts, whereas anything that we do together or is related to a joint item - eg house or car - is joint.

I’m single and still set a budget for ‘fun money’. When I get paid it’s all allocated to different areas, bills, food, fuel, holiday savings, long term savings, emergency fund etc. part of my budget is to keep a set amount for doing whatever I want with.

That’s fine, I was only pointing out £1000 sounds high, but actually when you boil it down a lot of the things you’re listing are necessities like commute etc that a lot of people would do out of a different pot.

We have similar take home, and we pay ourselves an allowance of 150 pounds pp. This money is purely for personal spend (like drinks with friends, gaming) and all family spend and necessities and holidays come out of the shared pot. We are prioritizing building a buffer above all else.

Ig my husband had serious health issues that had prevented him from working for years making you go in to debt I would absolutely not be splurging on 'fun stuff', but preparing for it happening again. I would approach this from setting a savings target first and then seeing how much is left to have fun with. And as someone earlier mentioned, optimize your pension savings, ISAs and so on.

Budget for £1000, Anything not spent gets transferred to Savings. No roll over.
Review after 3 months.

I think £1000 if you can afford it. I probably spend about £100 per week just on going out (so around £400 a month), then if you add clothes/beauty products/hobbies/other random spends, £500 doesn’t go far with today’s prices.

£1000 may be a bit more than you need, but you don’t’ HAVE to spend it all! I find the whole idea of restricting working adults to ‘pocket money’ a bit odd.

Tbh I would want to keep it as low as possible until I was sure he could keep up work long term…….

This^
Having had my own DH who, due to health issues, was unable to work, I’m aware of how quickly debt builds. Does he have income protection insurance? I’m assuming not if you’ve ended up in quite a bit of debt.

I find the concept of allocating money for frivolities baffling though, especially when you have a large debt. It’s not unkind to say this, it’s just the obvious answer to paying off debt!

When we had a few thousand on cc’s we didn’t blow money on new clothes, eating out and the cinema. We’d have days out that were free and take packed lunches. They are some of my happiest memories, and I’m glad we were skint in pre instagrammable times! Phones and commenting costs are essentials, not frivolities though.

We do £300 each to spend on whatever we want for ourselves and also stick £100 in a Revolut account every month to cover stuff like dates/takeaways/coffees if we want them. The Revolut can only be used on stuff together.

My £300 is usually makeup, lashes, nails etc so I don’t know if you consider that fun money or not? I get my hair done out of the joint because that’s a big expense.

This doesn’t include a cinema membership which is £17.99 each and comes out of the joint.

Gym membership and phone contracts come out of the joint as they cost the same but I have a membership to my Pilates studio which comes out of my £300.

Technically I have about £1k of ‘disposable’ money, but that is on top of £750 joint ‘disposable’ money which goes on fun things like holidays days out, misc spending for our daughter etc.

I don’t spend £1k a month- some months I might if I’ve decided to splurge on something, but normally it’s probably around £300-£400? Should point out I don’t really eat out, so it goes on hobbies (about £100 a month) and then random Vinted purchases.

As a PP suggested, I would perhaps look at doing £500 each for you and DH as purely discretionary, then £1k as a joint pot to cover clothes, days out etc. You have more of a line between what is truly a personal spend and what is a family spend then.

I would like want to get a savings buffer in your shoes if DH is only just in work after 2 years and you’ve been in debt because of it.
What are you hobbies/expenses as £500 each every month seems a lot!
We do have two kids and earn a lot less than you but could have £500 each (low mortgage) a month but I wouldn’t want to spend that much on nothing.
I guess if you’re a hair, nails etc kind of person that probably does eat it up.

Could you treat yourselves for a couple of months then get saving?

I’m not sure the interest free loan from a relative was actually the best thing for OP long term with respect to OP attitude to money.

if I’d been in debt in similar circs, I would be saving money hand over fist to ensure future financial security, not wittering about fun money.

I give myself £600 a month for spending money and it never seems to be enough. This is living in London, though and also includes travel costs

I’d do 500 between you. If you’ve lived off one income for a while I do understand the need to treat yourselves but £250 each should feel like a big step up. I understand the relative won’t take anymore and that’s fine, but I’d be putting the rest into building a savings pot fast so that if your ever in a similar situation again you have some breathing space.

If you really want to treat yourselves do 1000 for the first month as a one off and then commit to keeping things manageable so you have a decent saving buffer

I think 500 or 1000 is a lot in your situation. Is his new job more stable or should you be prioritising saving so you don’t end up in the same situation. Do you have a fully funded university pot for your daughter (I don’t; but I don’t have 2K to spend on whatever either)? Do you have 6 months expenses in an emergency fund? How old are your cars, windows, roof? When is your mortgage up?

I cannot imagine spending £1K a month on myself but I’ve never had the option so maybe it’s quite easy!

I move £100 a week (so just above £400 a month) from my bills account to spending money account every Friday. That includes the food shop and any extra spends - trips out, pub, coffee out, takeaway, whatever, and I’m single no kids. Doesn’t include holidays which I budget for seperately.

All depends on what you like to do for fun doesn’t it.

Pay more of the debt if possible, get this cleared as quickly as you can. £500 seems too low. £500 each is about right. It still leaves you £2,500 pcm to save and clear the debt. Life is for enjoying. You clearly work hard to be earning those levels of income have some fun. Make sure your paying into pensions the tax relief is a great help!