How much disposable income do you have each month?

[unidentified]

About 9 -10 k currently after food, bills and diesel. It fluctuates between jobs so it can actually sometimes go down to zero but we have back up savings for that.

We don’t have a mortgage or children. Some of it goes into investments and savings and the rest on holidays, hobbies and nice stuff for the house and gardens mainly. The animals cost us a fair bit too but they’re worth it.

We are lucky that we don’t feel the effects so much but it doesn’t mean we don’t notice it. We are both from low income backgrounds and I don’t think you ever forget growing up poor.

What job do you do?

I don’t have much left over at the end of the month but I do include putting £250 into my savings and £100 into my daughters. The money for me covers things like birthdays and Christmas etc. We don’t get a holiday I have a good job and work OT but it’s hard paying everything out on one income. The money I save for my daughter should be enough for a house deposit one day.

 

[Eureka]

About 4K euros. We are very lucky to have our mortgage paid and no loans. I live very frugally day to day and most of my income goes into savings. I spend a lot on holidays and home improvements. We only have one child at home now which also helps although he’s entering the teenage years so I can see him becoming a money pit for the next few years

 

[Mitzymooface]

What job do you do?

I don’t have much left over at the end of the month but I do include putting £250 into my savings and £100 into my daughters. The money for me covers things like birthdays and Christmas etc. We don’t get a holiday I have a good job and work OT but it’s hard paying everything out on one income. The money I save for my daughter should be enough for a house deposit one day.

I assumed this was an annual amount?! Great that you are prioritising your daughters saving, you are disciplined that me.

 

[Phil McCrackin]

About £1000 after all bills are paid etc

 

[prozacprincess]

What job do you do?

I don’t have much left over at the end of the month but I do include putting £250 into my savings and £100 into my daughters. The money for me covers things like birthdays and Christmas etc. We don’t get a holiday I have a good job and work OT but it’s hard paying everything out on one income. The money I save for my daughter should be enough for a house deposit one day.

We both work in the Film and TV Industry. My husband is a Special Effects Supervisor and I’m a Senior Technician.

It’s lovely that you put money away for the future for yourself and your daughter. Your obviously a good mom and that counts for a lot x x

I assumed this was an annual amount?! Great that you are prioritising your daughters saving, you are disciplined that me.

It’s monthly but some months it can be zero.
During the first lockdown we earn’t nothing for 6 months and didn’t qualify for any assistance.
I do sometimes think it’s a ridiculously high wage compared to other careers that are much more valuable to society as a whole. I do appreciate it though … in my early 20’s I was cleaning toilets for £2 an hour, while married to my first husband, a man who refused to work

 

[Izzyt88]

I’m glad I found this thread because I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently with bills going up but wages (at least in the public sector like I am) pretty much staying the same. It’s interesting to see how other people are doing!
I have about £400 disposable after bills and after putting small amounts in various budgeting pots (Christmas savings, money set aside for family days out and money set aside for each of our kids for any new clothes, shoes etc they might need). I also have a small emergency savings pot and should probably add more to this each month but at the same time I want to enjoy what little disposal income I do have (I earned it, after all!)
Annoyingly my petrol money has to come out of this £400 disposable and at the moment it’s eating away almost half of it

My partner has about £700 disposable after all of his bills and he sometimes takes pity on me and will treat me to few quid of petrol here and there

 

[Mitzymooface]

I’m glad I found this thread because I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently with bills going up but wages (at least in the public sector like I am) pretty much staying the same. It’s interesting to see how other people are doing!
I have about £400 disposable after bills and after putting small amounts in various budgeting pots (Christmas savings, money set aside for family days out and money set aside for each of our kids for any new clothes, shoes etc they might need). I also have a small emergency savings pot and should probably add more to this each month but at the same time I want to enjoy what little disposal income I do have (I earned it, after all!)
Annoyingly my petrol money has to come out of this £400 disposable and at the moment it’s eating away almost half of it

My partner has about £700 disposable after all of his bills and he sometimes takes pity on me and will treat me to few quid of petrol here and there

I’m public sector too, I feel your pain! My figure of £1,500 includes my partner’s income. We live in the countryside and are on oil heating as no gas, our monthly consumption has just gone up from around £350 to £700 with current prices

 

[lurkingaround123]

Currently absolutely nothing! All my money is being used to pay off the renovations I had done to the house I brought. I've been overpaying drastically and putting myself into a really simple frugal way of living because I find debt such a dark cloud. Finding this thread has cheered me up and put it in to perspective that it is temporary

Once that is finished, minus pension and all my direct debits, allowing a bit more for price increases should be £1k disposable.

 

[Mitzymooface]

Currently absolutely nothing! All my money is being used to pay off the renovations I had done to the house I brought. I've been overpaying drastically and putting myself into a really simple frugal way of living because I find debt such a dark cloud. Finding this thread has cheered me up and put it in to perspective that it is temporary

Once that is finished, minus pension and all my direct debits, allowing a bit more for price increases should be £1k disposable.

Glad you are being cheered, I’m finding it fascinating as I’m pretty sure this is a question we would never ask to someone’s face? It’s not always about what you earn either, is it.

 

[lurkingaround123]

Glad you are being cheered, I’m finding it fascinating as I’m pretty sure this is a question we would never ask to someone’s face? It’s not always about what you earn either, is it.

Yeah absolutely! Theres a complete mix of incomes but i think it isn't often (for me recently anyhow) to think of how much you have as opposed to how much is going out

 

[Kim Mild]

Next to nothing myself , although I probably buy things that are classed as being disposable income purchases in amongst my grocery/ household shopping. My husband has some disposable income and pays for outings/ takeaways etc.

Interestingly enough, we know two different men in their 30s who live with one of their parents and have no bills , except running their car and their phone contract .

 

[Rxt156]

Does this mean just my salary or with my partner as well? Obv will be two very different figures

 

[fluffybaffling]

I have about 1k after my bills and money to the joint account. Hubby probably has about 1.5k, but he’s overpaying the mortgage by a 1k a month. I tend to save the majority though, but like to buy the nice things I want (within reason). We don’t have children and a relatively small mortgage and are renovating.

 

[Clairer86]

About £1,800...

However, that is because my partner pays the mortgage and council tax. It used to be that he paid the mortgage and council tax while i paid the childcare bill- which was a ridiculous amount and cost the same as the mortgage and council tax!!! (£800).

Now the kids are older and at school, and luckily i dont need to pay bloody £800 each month. However, we have just kept it the same (ie) My partner paying the mortgage and council tax.

I do all the food shopping, pay for our daughter speech therapy (we pay for it as we were sick of waiting for the nhs, and tbh its the best thing we ever did) so i pay for that each month and that is about £250, i also pay for the football club my boy goes to, and both of their swimming clubs/classes. And also if they need anything- for example, this month i had to spend £100 on new uniform as they both had a growth spurt and needed pretty much all new things.

I do have separate savings pots for birthdays/christmas and 'holidays'; and my normal savings account that i add to each month. I now understand just how lucky i am to even have separate savings pots for xmas and birthdays and holidays, and those are not necessities and some people are not able to do that, so i do understand the lucky position i am in.

We are certainly not "rich", however we do alright. But ive worked extremely hard to get where i am and my work/life balance is not the best and ive had to sacrifice so much. I am a social worker and my partner is an electrician so we are on pretty similar salaries. We dont have a joint account, and our situation works well for us as a family.

 

[no-no]

Wondering how things might have changed for people in 17 months. I currently spend way too much of my disposable income on extra groceries. I need to stop this month as I’m not meeting my savings budget due to a few large outgoings.

 

[Mitzymooface]

Hi I started this thread - nice to see a new post! My income has actually gone up over the last 12 months as I got a new job which was quite a jump in pay. After paying bills and food we have about £2000 a month spare, which i usually manage to spend! Looking back on my earlier post I had around £1500 spare - I don’t feel any better off though Hope everyone else is managing ok …

 

[Emlo]

I have about £1200- £2000 after essentials but I’m trying to save and invest at least £1000 a month. Because my wage can be variable some months are really tight (like this month!) with next to no “treat” money but whenever I have a bit more to spare I like to enjoy it with travel. Overall my disposable is about the same but I have definitely noticed my grocery shop has become more limited now that I’m trying to stick to the same food budget as previous years.

 

[Rxt156]

Definitley way LESS!!!! It is depressing.

spending probs
£20 more on food per week
£100 on mortgage per
(second half of mortgage due to house move. The bigger half is up in a few years thank the lord)
Gas and electric is up £70
Petrol more expensive….

 

[lozzapaloozza]

Depending on how many hours I do per month my wage is basically disposable (anywhere from £1800-£2000). I live on my tips and pay all my bills and extras with them

 

[Tommyb]

I have £2.5k after bills. £2k goes straight to savings and petrol/days out whatever comes from the £500. Saving to get the house done. Noticed it doesn't stretch nearly as far anymore!