Where does your income go?
Discussion
joestifff said:
fourcandles said:
This reminded me of a spreadsheet I put together - mostly for retirement planning.
The personal grooming is no longer an issue: I do my own hair these days with clippers. Savings can be made if you are willing to sacrifice.
Jesus wept, £500 a month .... on clothes!!!!!!The personal grooming is no longer an issue: I do my own hair these days with clippers. Savings can be made if you are willing to sacrifice.
I’m pretty sure my clothes spend comes in below the ‘no life at all’ budget
Clothes is an odd one.... I tell myself I rarely buy clothes (which I don't) but I've been thinking that when I do buy clothes, they are always relatively big spends which means it averages out each month.
For example, this month I bought a £360 Italian leather Cafe Racer jacket from Soul Revolver but prior to that I hadn't bought any clothes in 3 months. Then say 4 months ago I bought a pair of Loakes for £200 and a Lacoste shirt. Then nothing for another good 3 months until the next decent thing etc... so it probably averages at around £100/month (which I guess isn't too bad actually).
For example, this month I bought a £360 Italian leather Cafe Racer jacket from Soul Revolver but prior to that I hadn't bought any clothes in 3 months. Then say 4 months ago I bought a pair of Loakes for £200 and a Lacoste shirt. Then nothing for another good 3 months until the next decent thing etc... so it probably averages at around £100/month (which I guess isn't too bad actually).
Prohibiting said:
Clothes is an odd one.... I tell myself I rarely buy clothes (which I don't) but I've been thinking that when I do buy clothes, they are always relatively big spends which means it averages out each month.
For example, this month I bought a £360 Italian leather Cafe Racer jacket from Soul Revolver but prior to that I hadn't bought any clothes in 3 months. Then say 4 months ago I bought a pair of Loakes for £200 and a Lacoste shirt. Then nothing for another good 3 months until the next decent thing etc... so it probably averages at around £100/month (which I guess isn't too bad actually).
We're very similar - We'll buy nothing for 6 months and then quickly realise that most of our clothes are worn through or looking shabby, so we need some new stuff, and then go splurge. We did have a bit of a splurge probably around March when the weather changed and then bought nothing until last week when we took a trip to Gunwharf Quays and spent, between the pair of us, about £900 on various items (including 6 pairs of shoes and 3 pairs of jeans between us). Unlikely to buy anything more than a t-shirt or two now until the new year.For example, this month I bought a £360 Italian leather Cafe Racer jacket from Soul Revolver but prior to that I hadn't bought any clothes in 3 months. Then say 4 months ago I bought a pair of Loakes for £200 and a Lacoste shirt. Then nothing for another good 3 months until the next decent thing etc... so it probably averages at around £100/month (which I guess isn't too bad actually).
I think it's very average bloke-ish to buy clothes in quarterly splurges.
I hate actual physical shops and detest to the point I buy online in bulk 10+ items whenever I notice a shortfall and try to get it addressed as painlessly and efficiency as possible.
I don't budget for it I just allow it to happen as this is the way I roll.
Wife and 3 daughters on the other hand are buying new clothes every week.
I hate actual physical shops and detest to the point I buy online in bulk 10+ items whenever I notice a shortfall and try to get it addressed as painlessly and efficiency as possible.
I don't budget for it I just allow it to happen as this is the way I roll.
Wife and 3 daughters on the other hand are buying new clothes every week.
Reiss sale for me - twice a year I buy stuff from there probably, though it gets to the point where you have a wardrobe that you don't really need to add to unless you buy silly stuff that is fashion one minute and awful the next.
I've bought 4 or 5 pairs of shoes in Russell and Bromley this year, so I can easily see how it adds up, doesn't help I have to walk past it every day!
I've bought 4 or 5 pairs of shoes in Russell and Bromley this year, so I can easily see how it adds up, doesn't help I have to walk past it every day!
It was looking at numbers like this that made me jack in my civil service career twenty-something years ago, go back to do a doctorate, then try finance as a career.
I was earning £12,000 a year in the mid nineties, which I think was about £850 a month net.
Motorbike loan was £100, rent was £300, so I had £15 a day for everything else. Train fare was about five pounds on weekdays, and most months the bike needed something doing, so I think that my disposable incline was under £4 a day.
I remember wandering around Tesco looking to see what I could afford, generally getting the same discounted pizza and tin of beans, and spending my holidays sitting in my rented room watching television, as even travelling home to see the family was too expensive.
The thought of buying a house, having children, or going abroad was beyond my imagining, and this was after I had graduated with a really good degree.
Nowadays “afford” does not mean much. I decide how much I’ll save and how much I’ll spend, but day-to-day costs are not really relevant. I felt a bit guilty today using a boris bike instead of walking, and had to remind myself that this was silly.
I was earning £12,000 a year in the mid nineties, which I think was about £850 a month net.
Motorbike loan was £100, rent was £300, so I had £15 a day for everything else. Train fare was about five pounds on weekdays, and most months the bike needed something doing, so I think that my disposable incline was under £4 a day.
I remember wandering around Tesco looking to see what I could afford, generally getting the same discounted pizza and tin of beans, and spending my holidays sitting in my rented room watching television, as even travelling home to see the family was too expensive.
The thought of buying a house, having children, or going abroad was beyond my imagining, and this was after I had graduated with a really good degree.
Nowadays “afford” does not mean much. I decide how much I’ll save and how much I’ll spend, but day-to-day costs are not really relevant. I felt a bit guilty today using a boris bike instead of walking, and had to remind myself that this was silly.
My partner jokes that I only have three tee shirts a pair of jeans good enough to wear out at any one time, but it's true! About every 8months I'll do £100 and Debenhams on just that and maybe a pack of socks, not to be repeated till this next round develops holes.
Shoes are typically £80 a Clarks once a year. She has bought me two nice coats recently. Job done!
But seriously getting back to the OP question. Having a good audit of where your cash is going occasionally, like putting a whole months bank statement into a spreadsheet (can usually export it as a CSV or the like) and then grouping it into categories food/petrol/ebay/bills/clothes and seeing where it is going is good and something I do from time to time myself, and you can talk about your findings obviously.
But as has been said, it's also important not to compare with others too closely there will always be those with more, and those with less that appear to be using it more wisely.
My company used to match my pension up to 6% I think, so I did that. No company only does the minimum which I think is 3% but I have nominated to continue to give a bit more than the minimum. It getting out of the account before it even enters and assuming I live to take any out again will hopefully make retirement more comfortable.
Another trick on the same line is to set up a standing order from your current account into another/savings account so £100-250 something a month gets put away, again before you can spend it. Mich hard to wait to the month end and then transfer in the left over.
Daniel
Shoes are typically £80 a Clarks once a year. She has bought me two nice coats recently. Job done!
But seriously getting back to the OP question. Having a good audit of where your cash is going occasionally, like putting a whole months bank statement into a spreadsheet (can usually export it as a CSV or the like) and then grouping it into categories food/petrol/ebay/bills/clothes and seeing where it is going is good and something I do from time to time myself, and you can talk about your findings obviously.
But as has been said, it's also important not to compare with others too closely there will always be those with more, and those with less that appear to be using it more wisely.
My company used to match my pension up to 6% I think, so I did that. No company only does the minimum which I think is 3% but I have nominated to continue to give a bit more than the minimum. It getting out of the account before it even enters and assuming I live to take any out again will hopefully make retirement more comfortable.
Another trick on the same line is to set up a standing order from your current account into another/savings account so £100-250 something a month gets put away, again before you can spend it. Mich hard to wait to the month end and then transfer in the left over.
Daniel
Sheepshanks said:
Some people have been shocked by £500/mth on clothes but did you really spend £200/mth getting your hair cut?
I think you'd struggle to do that, I get mine done every 3 weeks or so, with maybe a shave a month thrown in and even that is still half of his number in a fairly pleasant barber.Sheepshanks said:
Some people have been shocked by £500/mth on clothes but did you really spend £200/mth getting your hair cut?
Even the most expensive men's hairdresser near me is something like £45 with a head massage thrown in. £200? Is he getting it cut once a week at the most expensive joint in town?Integroo said:
Even the most expensive men's hairdresser near me is something like £45 with a head massage thrown in. £200? Is he getting it cut once a week at the most expensive joint in town?
Ditto. Toni & Guy is about £45 with a senior stylist with head message. I slum it at Barber Barber and its £28 with a tip and once a month is plenty. My Mrs only spends about £80 once every 4 - 6 weeks.I'll have a go at this....
I admit right up front that whilst I do keep an eye on things, bargain hunt, change suppliers for stuff every year, I also don't count down to the last penny (which maybe I should).
I've used You Need A Budget (Website/App, very very handy and is about $5/mo) to help. Me and my OH both did PhDs after uni and lived the blissful student life. However, I kinda forgot about pensions and NI and student loan. None of which gets paid as you are paid tax-free stipend. So I'm out 4 years pension, NI contributions and student loan payments.
Then my first few jobs out of PhD were nightmares. Company (in its varying guises) went bust twice! which lead me onto budgeting and making sure I had 2-3 months in the pot. Just in case. With the budget in place for a few years now and now having a much more stable job at a company that isn't about to vaporize overnight, I felt I could lay off the weekly budget reviews (I've stopped altogether for the moment).
I have about 4 separate pensions now... 3 of which were bare bones workplace ones and will have very little in. I wish there was an easy to way to take the money and consolidate.
A very crude savings method is employed based off what the lady at my bank told me: "Try not to hold more than £3000 in your checking accounts". So when our checking accounts are healthily above 3000, we just scrape that off and dump into a savings account.
I admit, that is as far as I got with money. Fair chunk of it going into boring old on-line saver accounts with < 0.5% interest.
Very round-a-bouts then:
Net income : 2400 + 2100 = 4500 /mo (£1000 each goes into joint acc for bills etc)
out of this I budget:
Mortgage : £535
Council tax : £160
Gas/Elec : £80
Food : £350
Petrol : £300-350 between us depending on where we go + work
Internet : £40
Water : £20
Phone 1: £20
Phone 2: £20
Odds & sods £100
Subscriptions (netflix etc) : £20
Car Loan : £280
House Insurance : £20
Car Insurance 1 : £25
Car Insurance 2 : £25
Maintenance/Servicing : £50
Gym : £29
Swimming : £80
Medical/Dentists: £20
Eating out/cinema etc : £100
Birthdays/Presents : £50
All in about £2500 / mo. Now some of it isn't always used such as birthdays and eating out. I just let the amounts "roll over" and when they get too large I can skim them down again. So we should have around £2000 spare between us each month (though we have just had our wedding).
I think that is it. We don't budget for stuff like clothes or stuff because for us its not regular spending. It just comes out of our own "whats left". Food might seem high for 2 people, but there is also our cat. And we don't drink or spunk money going out clubbing or down the pubs and we like our food. Having said that my OH will still raid the reduced sections and we mostly shop at Aldi so never ever spend the £350.
Plans going forward: (hopefully sensible)
1) Mortgage
Mortgage is fixed term. Ends 2019 Oct. £6000 early leaving fee, though I must check when that is enforceable till. Its a 35 year term. We thought about paying more off but I worked out that, at this point in time, it's probably better to stay put, not suffer the £6k fee and then when we remortgage we look at a 25 year one. That takes 10 years off right away. Though I do have half an eye on rates.
2)Car Loan
Bit stupid this. I have, in an account right now, enough to clear that loan. So the plan is to do so and then round up the monthly to £300 and pump into some sort of ISA thing (no idea which or what tho).
3) Pensions.
Find out if I can do anything with the small pots from previous jobs that didn't last. I need to up the risk appetite on my current work pension and maybe think about paying in more (especially if I can pull this promotion off in the next few months).
4) Probably start another ISA maybe
we are very early 30's so perhaps a little late starting on this! Our LTV was 60% ish when we bought which I think is a decent position.
I do have to wonder what I am doing wrong sometimes though! I see people younger or the same age earning way more (like 3-4 x more) and I wonder what I am doing wrong! Probably the wrong industry (Engineering)! Certainly feel a little foolish for persueing the MEng/PhD too...don't think I'd do that again.
I admit right up front that whilst I do keep an eye on things, bargain hunt, change suppliers for stuff every year, I also don't count down to the last penny (which maybe I should).
I've used You Need A Budget (Website/App, very very handy and is about $5/mo) to help. Me and my OH both did PhDs after uni and lived the blissful student life. However, I kinda forgot about pensions and NI and student loan. None of which gets paid as you are paid tax-free stipend. So I'm out 4 years pension, NI contributions and student loan payments.
Then my first few jobs out of PhD were nightmares. Company (in its varying guises) went bust twice! which lead me onto budgeting and making sure I had 2-3 months in the pot. Just in case. With the budget in place for a few years now and now having a much more stable job at a company that isn't about to vaporize overnight, I felt I could lay off the weekly budget reviews (I've stopped altogether for the moment).
I have about 4 separate pensions now... 3 of which were bare bones workplace ones and will have very little in. I wish there was an easy to way to take the money and consolidate.
A very crude savings method is employed based off what the lady at my bank told me: "Try not to hold more than £3000 in your checking accounts". So when our checking accounts are healthily above 3000, we just scrape that off and dump into a savings account.
I admit, that is as far as I got with money. Fair chunk of it going into boring old on-line saver accounts with < 0.5% interest.
Very round-a-bouts then:
Net income : 2400 + 2100 = 4500 /mo (£1000 each goes into joint acc for bills etc)
out of this I budget:
Mortgage : £535
Council tax : £160
Gas/Elec : £80
Food : £350
Petrol : £300-350 between us depending on where we go + work
Internet : £40
Water : £20
Phone 1: £20
Phone 2: £20
Odds & sods £100
Subscriptions (netflix etc) : £20
Car Loan : £280
House Insurance : £20
Car Insurance 1 : £25
Car Insurance 2 : £25
Maintenance/Servicing : £50
Gym : £29
Swimming : £80
Medical/Dentists: £20
Eating out/cinema etc : £100
Birthdays/Presents : £50
All in about £2500 / mo. Now some of it isn't always used such as birthdays and eating out. I just let the amounts "roll over" and when they get too large I can skim them down again. So we should have around £2000 spare between us each month (though we have just had our wedding).
I think that is it. We don't budget for stuff like clothes or stuff because for us its not regular spending. It just comes out of our own "whats left". Food might seem high for 2 people, but there is also our cat. And we don't drink or spunk money going out clubbing or down the pubs and we like our food. Having said that my OH will still raid the reduced sections and we mostly shop at Aldi so never ever spend the £350.
Plans going forward: (hopefully sensible)
1) Mortgage
Mortgage is fixed term. Ends 2019 Oct. £6000 early leaving fee, though I must check when that is enforceable till. Its a 35 year term. We thought about paying more off but I worked out that, at this point in time, it's probably better to stay put, not suffer the £6k fee and then when we remortgage we look at a 25 year one. That takes 10 years off right away. Though I do have half an eye on rates.
2)Car Loan
Bit stupid this. I have, in an account right now, enough to clear that loan. So the plan is to do so and then round up the monthly to £300 and pump into some sort of ISA thing (no idea which or what tho).
3) Pensions.
Find out if I can do anything with the small pots from previous jobs that didn't last. I need to up the risk appetite on my current work pension and maybe think about paying in more (especially if I can pull this promotion off in the next few months).
4) Probably start another ISA maybe
we are very early 30's so perhaps a little late starting on this! Our LTV was 60% ish when we bought which I think is a decent position.
I do have to wonder what I am doing wrong sometimes though! I see people younger or the same age earning way more (like 3-4 x more) and I wonder what I am doing wrong! Probably the wrong industry (Engineering)! Certainly feel a little foolish for persueing the MEng/PhD too...don't think I'd do that again.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Thursday 27th September 15:08
Birthday presents/xmas gifts! Another new category easily forgotten about until the last post. You can add to that wedding gifts and then all the associated costs with attending a stag/hen do and the wedding itself. These days these tend to be more elaborate than ever too with seemingly a weekend away mandatory for a stag/hen do, then the wedding the other side of the country so the obligatory pricey room, travel costs and usually a new outfit for the missus.
The fuel costs are another eye-opener for me. Having lived in a city centre for a decade or so now I am used to rarely filling up more than once every few months. The flip side of that is both the higher accommodation costs of city centre living and also it no doubt is a factor in why my social life costs are so high in what I spend on bars and restaurants. There is also a £100 - £120 PCM parking space cost on the downside. At £100 per week + fuel costs though you can see why some lower paid professions can complain of fuel poverty.
It is quite scary to see how many categories crop up, most of them (at least semi) essential.
The fuel costs are another eye-opener for me. Having lived in a city centre for a decade or so now I am used to rarely filling up more than once every few months. The flip side of that is both the higher accommodation costs of city centre living and also it no doubt is a factor in why my social life costs are so high in what I spend on bars and restaurants. There is also a £100 - £120 PCM parking space cost on the downside. At £100 per week + fuel costs though you can see why some lower paid professions can complain of fuel poverty.
It is quite scary to see how many categories crop up, most of them (at least semi) essential.
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