Budget Living?

[Dasffion]

I answered Yes but still feeling the pinch because right now I'm trying to pay off a Car loan and home improvements (about 20k all together) in less than a year. This makes things very tight. Once that gets paid off I can switch my answer to No- Don't need to.

[skrump]

I live on about $1240 a month
$489 for all mandatory expenses (live with a roomate) but this also includes internet/gas
$320 on food
$159 on smokes
$100 on weed (not always true I get it for free a good portion of the year)

gives me roughly $200 a month in savings or to provide other necessities such as clothes/ hygiene suppliesand other needed household items.
(when all is said and done I save on average $100 a month unless I decide to blow it on non essentials like video games and whatnot)

[ihatepeople]

I live on a budget, but having a roommate gives me a bit of cushion. I have a nice chunk of discretionary income after all of my bills are paid each month (depending on how stupid I choose to be with credit card each month) and I'm not a big spender to boot. Even still, things come up (car stuff, social events, etc) and sometimes I find myself having to shell out a lot of that discretionary money. I hate living on a budget, but this will have to do until I get a better job.

[Anowyn]

No, I basically buy whatever I want and surplus the rest. It could be argued that I should surplus more, but I'm not doing too badly at all.

---------- Post added 2013-05-09 at 08:00 AM ----------



My rent, as an individual, is ~$1,600/month. My car payment is ~$250, another ~$100 for insurance, about $100 (a bit less) for phone bill, $100 for utilities, $100 for TV/internet, and I'm at $2,250 for an individual before spending a penny on food and personal goods.

To be fair, the OP said £3500, which is about $5400.

[Thelxi]

Doesn't everyone with a salary or steady monthly income live on a budget?

[Ayla]

I dont really pay attention to my budget, i find living like that to be more depression than its worth. I know what I have ($540 after rent), I know how much I eat, and what my requirements are. USUALLY it all works out. This month I have $40 to last me two weeks. Unexpected occurances came up. Oh well. At least I had just bought a ton of frozen food.

[Deleted]

I live on about £1000 a month as a student. After Rent + bills I have £600 to spend on living for the month. That actually sounds a lot to me since I'm always skint!

I spend quite a bit of cash on food, although I generally only buy items that are reduced or special offer.

Generally think most my disposable income goes on drinking at the weekend, either that or my bank account is being leached!

[Spectral]

So you have more than a thousand bucks just for food and fun ? Damn, some people don't even have that before paying for anything.

No, I was listing a budget for an individual. For two people, I'd surely be right around $3,500 in expenses.

---------- Post added 2013-05-10 at 08:18 AM ----------

To be fair, the OP said £3500, which is about $5400.

Ah, my bad. Yeah, $5,400 is a fairly large budget.

[Porcell]

Doesn't everyone with a salary or steady monthly income live on a budget?

No, not necessarily. I know some people who struggle, actually spell out a budget, and trying to stick to it. One of my co-workers was saying how he couldn't go out to lunch because he only had $32 in his "Eat Out" budget for the rest of the month. (Then again his wife was a crazy spender, which is why they set up a strict budget).

That said, I don't use a budget. I know that my income pretty significantly exceeds my fixed expenses. I know that I'm contributing the max per year to my 401k retirement. I know that I'm not generally a big shopper or spender. Therefore I just don't worry about money. All my bills auto-pay every month, all my paychecks go directly in the bank, and I know my account just steadily grows every month. If I really want something, I just go buy it, since I rarely buy new things. So no, I don't have a budget.

[Deleted]

~ £5,000 ($7,700) a month between me and the missus, but still have not much left at the end of the month!

[Grummgug]

To help maintain my weight I fast on saturdays so I save money right there!

[Porcell]

~ £5,000 ($7,700) a month between me and the missus, but still have not much left at the end of the month!

This is what I don't understand. I mean, if you are working minimum wage and barely scraping by, I understand living paycheck to paycheck. But when you make a good wage (and knowing nothing else, I'd put $7700 per month at above a decent wage), I don't get how people still end up living month to month. That's no way to live, man.

[Luko]

Life for me has always been about budgeting. Was born broke and lived most of my life poor. I make a decent wage now and live with the fiance who doesn't do too bad either. Together we've got a very decent home income but we still spend like we're poor. We keep the fridge stocked and healthy, we keep quality of life essentials on like internet and central air/heat, but we don't spend much on other things in the home.

For example, I haven't had cable TV for about 7 years. I don't have a fancy vehicle (2004 F150.) But it's not like the money evaporates either. We've got savings accounts that would make our friends weep. It's nice to know that just about anything could happen and we've got it completely covered. When you've never had anyone to help you, you learn very early to help yourself. Feels good.

[outflow]

Mortgage £290.79
Council Tax £118
Gas / Electric £102
Bank Account fee £12.51
Home Insurance £21.26
Car Insurance £23.58
Life Insurance £9
Pet Insurance(3 Cats) £11.70
Phone / Internet £42.14
Tesco Credit Card £15
Barclays Credit Card £26.42
TV Licence £12.54
Mobile Phone £10
WoW £8.99

Total £703.93

Pay £1341.38
Left Over £637.45


I should have plenty left but after petrol, food, beer and funding the fiance (Student!) I'm always skint at the end of the month.

[Deleted]

This is what I don't understand. I mean, if you are working minimum wage and barely scraping by, I understand living paycheck to paycheck. But when you make a good wage (and knowing nothing else, I'd put $7700 per month at above a decent wage), I don't get how people still end up living month to month. That's no way to live, man.

Easily. When you don't live on a budget, you tend to spend more on things you wouldn't normally do.

Rough estimates:

Mortgage = £1,000
Internet, TV and phone (all in one) = £75
Gas = £45
Electricity = £45
Water = £20
Food = £500
Wine = £200
Other Alcohol = £200
Gaming subscriptions = £20
Magazine Subscriptions = £10
Out on the town = £300
Restaurants = £200
Clothes = £300
Wife's makeup and shoes = £100
Car Insurance = £20
Life Insurance = £10
Home insurance = £40
Petrol = £400
Train Fairs = £190
Mobile Phones = £55
PC Games = £100

That adds up to £3,830, which leaves us with £1,170 to put into savings, which we don't touch and use on a holiday each year.