Budgeting

[Edinburgh Black Cat]

I always count food in with the "disposable" budget, can spend as much or as little as you like on that really.

Apparently that’s nowt marra. I dunno, I’m lost off now. I think £600 disposable is a lot and most couples will not have that much.

Suppose it depends what you count as disposable or not. Like Disco, I would tend to count food (particularly things like lunches) as disposable.

For me I'd look at mortgage, council tax, phone, broadband, tv, gas/elec, bus pass as recurring and everything else as disposable.

 

[Gillythedilf]

Me and the mrs have just bought our first house, we've just sat and worked out how much money we have spare per month after bills, food, car etc... We are looking at having around £600 a month between us to use as disposable income, possibly a little bit more as we have rounded the bills up slightly higher than what we think they could be.

I'm panicking slightly as I don't think £300 a month each is a lot to have left over, especially when you have to factor in having to buy bloody Xmas presents etc... at this time of year.

How much disposable income to you tend to have left over per month?

Never mind the daft talk on here about buying a house to soon etc,longer you leave it the harder it’ll get .
Either way you’ll manage .Work more hrs if it’s bothering you still later on .

 

[Old Prestonian]

Suppose it depends what you count as disposable or not. Like Disco, I would tend to count food (particularly things like lunches) as disposable.

For me I'd look at mortgage, council tax, phone, broadband, tv, gas/elec, bus pass as recurring and everything else as disposable.

It staggers me how many people consider Sky TV as a utility.

 

[phillips10]

I should have said I’m putting away £100 a month into a savings account too. That will be used for car insurance, car tax etc... this is budgeted for and won’t affect disposable income.

 

[Mackem00]

If 600 quid is just for pissing about then I'd say that isn't bad going really.

 

[NorthCountryBoy]

And this. Plus cost of living increases, price of petrol, train fare, food etc going up.

But wage increases generally cover that, and one big side of the cost element (mortgage payment) should stay static so theoretically he should get a bit more comfortable over time.

 

[phillips10]

It staggers me how many people consider Sky TV as a utility.

Engineer came out and fitted that yesterday.

Considering sacking off the Xbox like, don’t really have time to play it now anyway. Plus games are expensive.

 

[Gillythedilf]

Aye you’ll need to save a chunk of that for the stuff you can’t predict

look at cutting the cost of all your bills as much as possible , negotiate with sky / bt , switch energy companies ,use cashback sites etc

People now see sky /latest iPhone /German whip as an essential .These are all luxury items for people who can afford them .

No the wonder people are stuck at home still feeding off the tit till they are into their 30’s.

 

[Edinburgh Black Cat]

Aye you’ll need to save a chunk of that for the stuff you can’t predict

look at cutting the cost of all your bills as much as possible , negotiate with sky / bt , switch energy companies ,use cashback sites etc

Good advice. Switch energy if it's no longer cheaper. Use things like Bulb/Octopus where you get a referral bonus. Bin sky etc. if you're not getting value from it. Look at bank switching offers. Reburbished phone deals can save cash v new as well.

 

[Select coaches]

Fix your mortgage if you can, it’s your biggest variable cost. Pay for everything you can by cash, then you can keep track of what you’re spending. Your wages should improve hopefully over time and you will have more disposable income. Try and save a buffer into a savings account if you can for unforeseen bills.

 

[Gillythedilf]

It staggers me how many people consider Sky TV as a utility.

I’m 42 year old and I’ve never had it .Mainly out of principal .

Watching the telly is for old people anyway ,so maybe in 20 years to come I might consider it

 

[SPUFF]

Good advice. Switch energy if it's no longer cheaper. Use things like Bulb/Octopus where you get a referral bonus. Bin sky etc. if you're not getting value from it. Look at bank switching offers. Reburbished phone deals can save cash v new as well.

I can refer you to bulb n aparently theres places you can get everything sky has for a quid a week!

 

[mysticmackem]

It staggers me how many people consider Sky TV as a utility.

When they do those documentary programs about people who can't manage, and have to use food banks etc. Invariably when they film inside their houses, there is a sky remote and a packet of fags on the table.

 

[Al Bundy]

That’s probably a fair reflection on our left over cash.
It does become more with overtime that I work most months, so usually I can look at having about a grand to play with.
Like other posters have said there’s always something comes up that needs replacing or buying for the house !

 

[SPUFF]

I’m 42 year old and I’ve never had it .Mainly out of principal .

Watching the telly is for old people anyway ,so maybe in 20 years to come I might consider it

ferk me gilly I had you down as 60 odd!
Posting style sounds that way.

 

[Hep]

£600 a month is a decent bit to have left over. I think you’re worrying too much.

If you can put even £400 of that away in savings each month, then in a year you’ll have nearly £5k in savings.

And live on £50 a week disposable income?

sounds like more of an existence than a life

 

[chunkyshanhawk53]

I think it depends on where you live and what lifestyle you want, but my advice is

- Make sure you’re saving at the same time, you need stuff to fall back on. Maybe get a card that rounds up every purchase so you’re saving subconsciously
- be brutal on stuff you don’t need, coffees and lunches when at work
- make sure that if interest rates go up you can still pay a mortgage

 

[Boz33]

Just open multiple sub accounts, mortgage, bills, savings and use your current account for spending.
As for Xmas just don’t bother with each other, I think we spent about 20 quid on each other the first year I had a house and bought ourselves a fridge freezer as our main pressie, exciting
Don’t piss your money away on shite like buying lunch and just take sarnies as it saves you loads rather than spunking a fiver or so each day on crap you can make
If you want any extra just do a few more hours at work rather than just using your saved money for it and the savings soon rack up

One thing is for certain, save up for anything you want as getting anything on tick or cards is a mugs game and just lessens your disposable budget each month

 

[Lambchops]

You'll be fine with 600quid between you, just cut your cloth to fit. You get used to it and it gets easier as your pay increases.

One word of advice as mentioned is don't get sucked into buying on cards and tick, eats at your disposable income

 

[phillips10]

Thanks for all the advice.

Probably just overreacting.

Bit of a shock going from paying £120 a month “board” and basically being able to buy what you want when you want to all of a sudden having a large chunk of your income committed away.

Still excited though.