How much spare/disposable cash do you have a month

[highhopes19]

Sorry for a nosy question .

I'm in a bit of a panic we have spare cash left over but I'm in such a panic as I have no idea where it goes .... Its just wasted . Which is pretty gutting.

We've got a couple catolouges that I would like to pay off ASAP, but its working out impossible. I'm paying the minimum each month and nt missing a payment but I want them gone, I cleared the big one before we me moved. But didnt help we had to get a cooker on one.

This week we've spent quite a bit by Thursday and I feel awful for it, we've eaten out a few days we went to the harvester on Sunday that was £35., we done a Bootfair that day so used some money we made as we had been up since 4am and were way to tired to cook... But then the next day we had a power cut which lasted from 6am till around 9pm so we had no way of cooking so had to go out.... Sod's law really shouldn't of gone out on the Sunday but we didnt know what was around the corner needing to the next day.

 

[highhopes19]

So I worked it out we have about £500-600 a month left over which is lovely and I would I love to save or pay some things off with that but something always seems to go wrong .

Like for example we now need a new window screen as it got smashed by quite a large stone that we clipped the other night . If its not one thing its another

 

[Mummy Bean]

Well joint income is £3700pm and house hold/debt outgoings are £2200.

so we have £1500 a month but that has to cover food, dog, train fair, petrol, baby stuff, and savings.

im really bad at wasting money...it crazy if i only have £10 to last a week il make it last...give me £100 and il spend it in moments.

when i next go on mat leave i have split our accounts out so we have a bills and lesiure one...so once the money in the lesiure one run out thats it no more for the month.

 

[mrsbeano]

After bills we have £1300 fun money. We have 700 spendo and then 600 for holiday savings, xmas and flights to dh family.

 

[shellideaks]

We have about £700 left after bills , food and petrol each month. By the end of the month we can be down to £30! It honestly goes on rubbish. Each month we say we'll be more careful with what we're spending but then never are. It's not even like we buy a lot of things for ourselves so we don't even have anything to show for it.

 

[maryp0ppins]

none atm as we are saving to buy!

 

[Boomerslady]

Nothing!!! I'm struggling to find work at the moment and until I do I'm slowly eating into my overdraft. I've got £100 in a savings account I'm keeping back for Bens Xmas and birthday pressies if I haven't found a job by then, so fingers crossed!! When I was working I had about £300 left over each month but ill use that to get my bank account back up to 0!

 

[ellismum]

After everything £250. Not much but we both work P/T so there's no childcare to pay for and we don't tax credits etc.

We've just re-jigged our finances and going forward will draw our food, petrol and "pocket money" budget out and put it into seperate envelopes. If we can physically see the money we're more in control.

 

[highhopes19]

Thankyou girls.

Its so frustrating I have no idea where it goes. I'm also one of them ones where if I can see the money I feel more in control I withdraw money every Friday when I get paid put it in tin, some weeks we do better than others xx

 

[LynseyPynsey]

We have around £700 a month after bills and petrol but we need to pay for food out of this too. Our childcare costs £41 a day

 

[Belle25]

I share your frustration in where it all goes Hun.

After the £720 mortgage and £1k a month tax on ohs wage, it's not as great as it looks on paper!

Try and track everything g you spend in a month, it can be interesting to see where it all goes.

Xx

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

We should have loads in theory, only my oh works (i'm part time) but we don't have any rent or mortgage to pay (gifted house) Our issue is that for some reason we thought it would be clever to run up debt on very etc. Even though we could have afforded the things we brought with a little saving (a month or two) we have ended up running up a fortune and we now pay out around 1000 a month on debt alone that would be our spare money if it wasn't for our stupidity (greedy I suppose) So currently we have Zero spare money every month... by the end of the year though we will be clear from this debt and that will be a happy day ! hahaha

 

[highhopes19]

I share your frustration in where it all goes Hun.

After the £720 mortgage and £1k a month tax on ohs wage, it's not as great as it looks on paper!

Try and track everything g you spend in a month, it can be interesting to see where it all goes.

Xx

That's a really good idea think I might get a notepad and everything down to the last penny we write down so we know exactly where its going.

Also trying to sell tons of our old stuff so I can put that towards paying the catolouge off

 

[welshcowgirl]

about £10 a week! we've just done a few car boots to try and get some money for a holiday this year. it's only a camping one though.

 

[highhopes19]

We should have loads in theory, only my oh works (i'm part time) but we don't have any rent or mortgage to pay (gifted house) Our issue is that for some reason we thought it would be clever to run up debt on very etc. Even though we could have afforded the things we brought with a little saving (a month or two) we have ended up running up a fortune and we now pay out around 1000 a month on debt alone that would be our spare money if it wasn't for our stupidity (greedy I suppose) So currently we have Zero spare money every month... by the end of the year though we will be clear from this debt and that will be a happy day ! hahaha

You have literally just described us down to a t .

When we lived with my parents we had over £1800 a month left over disposable cash! Which is a lot! We should have been sensible and saved which I regret so much now makes me want to cry.

And also when I had depression the only thing that made me happy was spending ridculous amounts of money ... So i opened every catolouge going so I could have this instant spending thrill that lasted..what an hour or 2 then the guilt came... I cleared a lot of the debt before we moved out..it was over £3000! Now we owe about £1200 so a big drop and I was so proud when I closed most my accounts and paid them off felt like such a weight lifted

God luck Hun with the paying them off

 

[highhopes19]

about £10 a week! we've just done a few car boots to try and get some money for a holiday this year. it's only a camping one though.

Hope you have a great holiday . Camping holidays are the best my fave type of holiday

We was going away in September with my mum and dad to cornwall we paid the deposit but had to pull out with the recent move obviously, but Isabelle is still going with them gutted and gonna miss her so much not sure how I'm gonna cope that week but I'm sure she'll have fun x

 

[Lauraxamy]

I'm single but I work so there's only one income. It depends for me on what bills I have that month, like last month I had an electric bill so obviously I was shorter that month, April I had a water bill so again I was shorter that month, on average though once I've paid all the bills, bought the food shopping, kids nappies and stuff, I'd say around.. £300-400.

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

We should have loads in theory, only my oh works (i'm part time) but we don't have any rent or mortgage to pay (gifted house) Our issue is that for some reason we thought it would be clever to run up debt on very etc. Even though we could have afforded the things we brought with a little saving (a month or two) we have ended up running up a fortune and we now pay out around 1000 a month on debt alone that would be our spare money if it wasn't for our stupidity (greedy I suppose) So currently we have Zero spare money every month... by the end of the year though we will be clear from this debt and that will be a happy day ! hahaha

You have literally just described us down to a t .

When we lived with my parents we had over £1800 a month left over disposable cash! Which is a lot! We should have been sensible and saved which I regret so much now makes me want to cry.

And also when I had depression the only thing that made me happy was spending ridculous amounts of money ... So i opened every catolouge going so I could have this instant spending thrill that lasted..what an hour or 2 then the guilt came... I cleared a lot of the debt before we moved out..it was over £3000! Now we owe about £1200 so a big drop and I was so proud when I closed most my accounts and paid them off felt like such a weight lifted

God luck Hun with the paying them off

Thank you That is basically how it started with me, shopping made me "happy" so I kept buying crap! Now I wont even buy a tshirt for myself without seriously thinking about it. So I suppose I at least learnt a lesson eh Next was a big one for me, at one point I owed them around 3 thousand pounds ish. I have around 5k left to go to various companies now what always makes me feel better is going onto a website like that money saving expert and reading about people paying off 20k etc.

 

[Varenne]

I only earn between 400 and 650 quid a month, depending on what hours I've worked (I'm a full time student). After travel costs and food this leaves about 100-300 to put into an ISA, only because I'm super tight on the purse strings.

My partner earns a lot more and puts away 1000 a month.

All our spare money goes into an ISA for house deposit.

 

[Mummy Bean]

oh god tell me about it with the debt, me and hubby got out a loan to reapy all our uni debt but instead of doing it we went on holiday and bought a car and just general silly spending...so ended up with double the debt!

Been working real hard to get the debt down and have only 11 payments to go - once that gone we wil lbe £700 a month better off.

i know you said you use cash, but lloyds do quite a good current account which shows you what you spending all your money on and helps you work out how to cut it down.

I think being a work my down fall as il take out £20 in the morning to get breakfast, then il buy a mag then lunch, then maybe something on the way home - and by the end of the day it gone - and repeat 5 days a week!

im also one of these girls that when i see a sale (esp on baby stuff) i cant help myself - i must get something, because it a bargain and would be stupid not to no? Where actually i didnt need another ball pool or inflatable bunny even if it was 50% off.