How much do you spend each month and what does your budget look like?

Jim_Hodge · 29-08-2020 10:43pm

Blair Glamorous Tendinitis wrote: »

We never really liked joint accounts we have a joint current account which we used to put a set amount each into each month to cover bills but we never really got fully into using it and once we got Revolut we don’t really use it at all anymore.

We use our own current accountS and Revolut accounts etc, get paid into our own accounts and have our own savings accounts. Shared expenses are split and money sent via Revolut to the person who paid it etc.

We are a few years married now and I could never see us really starting to use a joint account again and absolutely no way would we consider getting paid into a joint account as we both like to have control of our own salary and just share the expenses.

I don’t see fairness in a joint account if I’m honest, if one person has more bills than the other then the one with lower bills would feel like they were spending the other persons money if they went out and bought something for themselves etc etc. Much prefer separate money.

That's what I don't understand. We're a married couple and everything belongs to us both. I don't get why somebody even thinks in terms of 'my money and her money' or wanting control over their own money. All bill are 'our' bills.
Anyway, whatever works for you but the fully joint everything has worked without a problem for over 35 years for us.

Poor_old_gill · 30-08-2020 8:19pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Myself and partner split bills along the lines of the ratios of our take home paycheques. Means I get a benefit if she gets a promotion/pay increase too!

We are the same- bills & savings are on a 60:40 split as that’s more or less the ratio of our salaries to each other.

However we do have individual personal accounts and, to be honest, I’m a bit surprised some don’t.

It’s not a case of my money v her money but it is nice to not be monitoring every bit of spending each other makes.

I’d hate to give away that last vestige of my independence

stinkbomb · 30-08-2020 10:12pm

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

We are the same- bills & savings are on a 60:40 split as that’s more or less the ratio of our salaries to each other.

However we do have individual personal accounts and, to be honest, I’m a bit surprised some don’t.

It’s not a case of my money v her money but it is nice to not be monitoring every bit of spending each other makes.

I’d hate to give away that last vestige of my independence

You can still be independent and share fairly. Myself and OH have a big difference in salary, but all income goes into one account, which all the bills and expenses go from. We each then get the same amount to each of our private accounts, with which we can do anything we like, save, spend or splurge. That way we have independent money but everything is paid for and shared equally.

Antares35 · 31-08-2020 12:22am

stinkbomb wrote: »

You can still be independent and share fairly. Myself and OH have a big difference in salary, but all income goes into one account, which all the bills and expenses go from. We each then get the same amount to each of our private accounts, with which we can do anything we like, save, spend or splurge. That way we have independent money but everything is paid for and shared equally.

Is that not more or less the same?

Antares35 · 31-08-2020 12:25am

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

We are the same- bills & savings are on a 60:40 split as that’s more or less the ratio of our salaries to each other.

However we do have individual personal accounts and, to be honest, I’m a bit surprised some don’t.

It’s not a case of my money v her money but it is nice to not be monitoring every bit of spending each other makes.

I’d hate to give away that last vestige of my independence

Agree with this. OH and I have different things we like to spend money on. He'd be all into shares and other stuff I don't really get. He can do whatever he likes with his cash once we have split the costs on the big tickets like rent, mortgage, baby stuff etc. Similarly I don't expect him to foot the vet bills for my several pets that I had before we met, or the nice bottle of wine I'll treat myself to! Also I'm usually pretty good to my parents and will give them cash from time to time if I think they could do with it. I definitely wouldn't expect him to contribute towards that nor would I expect to have to do the same for his family. He's the kind of guy that probably would contribute if I needed him to, but I'd rather have the autonomy to just do it myself and not have to ask. If we had a shared account I would feel the need to ask.

Poor_old_gill · 31-08-2020 8:34pm

Antares35 wrote: »

Agree with this. OH and I have different things we like to spend money on. He'd be all into shares and other stuff I don't really get. He can do whatever he likes with his cash once we have split the costs on the big tickets like rent, mortgage, baby stuff etc. Similarly I don't expect him to foot the vet bills for my several pets that I had before we met, or the nice bottle of wine I'll treat myself to! Also I'm usually pretty good to my parents and will give them cash from time to time if I think they could do with it. I definitely wouldn't expect him to contribute towards that nor would I expect to have to do the same for his family. He's the kind of guy that probably would contribute if I needed him to, but I'd rather have the autonomy to just do it myself and not have to ask. If we had a shared account I would feel the need to ask.

Yeah my sentiments exactly - funnily enough my sister hit a bit if a hard time I was giving her a few bob but & I agree that I couldnt expect that of my wife.

I just feel that its good to be in control of your own miscellaneous spending - I do agree with the principle of splitting all the costs and we do that but like my wife will go for lunch with her friends a few times a month and I dont want to be monitoring what she is spending & vice versa if I go out with my friends

JohnEvans · 09-09-2020 1:37pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Yeah I've a lot of hobbies that cost money and it would be weird paying for any of it out of a pooled resource. Doesn't seem fair!

The same here

novica · 03-11-2020 2:57pm

We all have hobbies, sometimes having a hobby might cost you a lot of money on the instance ... if you are planning to do space travel on the instance.

Apocalypse3 · 05-11-2020 9:29am

My income is €720.62 per week, my outcome is €340.31 per week so I am saving €380.31 per week - details below.

Income:
House-mate (Rent & Bills): €125.00 per week
Base salary: €2330 per month which equals to €537.69 per week
Salary Quarterly bonus: €190 each quarter which equals to €14.62 per week
Salary Annual bonus: €1000 yearly which equals to €19.23 per week
Salary Performance bonus: €1000 yearly which equals to €19.23 per week
Bank interest (0.9%): €252 yearly which equals to €4.85 per week

Outcome:
Food: €70 per week
Rent: €950 per month which equals to €219.23 per week
Electricity: €130 per month which equals to €30.00 per week
Internet: €50 per month which equals to €11.54 per week
Bins: €28 per month which equals to €6.46 per week
TV License: €160 per year which equals to €3.07 per week

Zascar · 05-11-2020 1:35pm

So you have Rent, bills, food and that's it? You don't spend any money, or buy any things ever?

I find a lot of these descriptions very hard to believe.

bradson · 07-03-2021 3:56pm

Why is this happening this regularly?

Bubbaclaus · 07-03-2021 3:58pm

bradson wrote: »

Why is this happening this regularly?

What? The resurrecting of dead threads?

07-03-2021 4:51pm

Bubbaclaus wrote: »

What? The resurrecting of dead threads?

Hardly dead, it's only a few months old (although people listing their outgoing costs without listing their income makes it a pointless thread).

Antares35 · 07-03-2021 5:26pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hardly dead, it's only a few months old (although people listing their outgoing costs without listing their income makes it a pointless thread).

As opposed to all the other Boards threads which inform our government strategy and act as beacons of morality and guidance in troubled times

Jim_Hodge · 07-03-2021 5:28pm

bradson wrote: »

Why is this happening this regularly?

Why is What happening?

Yyhhuuu · 10-03-2021 1:29pm

I spent €70 last month on day to day living expenses I.e . Food ( but I had a lot in freezer) plus my phone 9.99. I dont order take aways obviously.

Antares35 · 10-03-2021 1:54pm

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

I spent €70 last month on day to day living expenses I.e . Food ( but I had a lot in freezer) plus my phone 9.99. I dont order take aways obviously.

That's really impressive. We spend way too much on food, especially since lockdown. I can't figure it out. We will do a "big shop" and I'll think we don't need to go near a shop for ages then a few days later we will need a top up. Guilty of stocking the freezer then neglecting to actually take stuff out!

ELM327 · 10-03-2021 2:14pm

We moved to aldi a couple months ago and reduced 1k shopping down to sub 500 quid (family of 4).
This was the biggest thing we learned from sitting down and doing our budget out in excel. We were spending way too much in Tesco on shopping.

Viscount Aggro · 11-03-2021 1:39pm

Income after tax 5000
Monthly spend is 200

100 food / drink
30 fuel
5 phone top up
Remainder goes on annual bills, tax, ins
Internet - work pays
Heat - nil. Wood burning stove, free supply of timber
Waste collection - compost kitchen waste, strip off packaging in store, rest goes in bins
Health insurance - work pays
Rent / mortgage - nil, sorted in my 20s

foxy_j · 11-03-2021 4:52pm

I work part time so my salary is €25k, however husband in the last few years has moved up in his career from 45k to 85k.

My monthly salary after tax is €1800

Mortgage: My half is €350 p/m, total is €700- although my husband throws more in to pay it off quicker

Bills: broadband - my half €15 p/m
roughly electricity - my half €80 pm.
roughly gas - my half €50 p/m
life insurance- my half €15 p/m
house insurance - €17 p/m
Property tax- my half €15 p/m
Phone- €15 p/m
health insurance - €65 p/m but I pay it annually. My work contributes €50 a month towards it.

Food & Household: We spend about €80 per week on food so my half is €160 p/m

Transport & Travel: Just car tax, insurance and petrol- I pay the tax and insurance annually but works out at about €57 p/m. Petrol not sure as not going anywhere really atm. say €20 p/m, pre covid it was about €40 p/m

Shopping & Clothes: I do like to shop online so probably about €200 p/m

Entertainment & Eating Out: Only takeaway food and coffees atm so probably around €30 each p/m

Savings: 20k ( Just my savings)

This was a great exercise as I usually don't budget at all. So it looks like I spend €965 p/m on all my expenditure. We have our own personal accounts plus a joint one.

Kerry25x · 11-03-2021 5:05pm

I'm reposting because I feel like I've gotten a better handle on finances over lockdown. Expenses have also gone up due to adding health insurance, medication costs and a second vehicle.

Married couple, no kids (but one on the way

)

Joint income after tax: 6600 (2900 + 3700)

Mortgage: 522
Health Insurance: 187
Medication: 114
Electric: 90-ish per month
Gas: pre paid meter, top up by 50 every couple months.
Groceries: 400 (this seems to keep creeping up)
Petrol & Diesel: 80 (will go up post lockdown)
Irish Life: 34
Sky: 32 (on the verge of cancelling this)
Virgin Broadband: Husbands job pays this.
GoMo: 20
Netflix: 8
Youtube Premium: 5
Amazon Prime: 4.5
Specsavers Contact Lens Subscription: 13
Charity: 10
Short Term Expenses: 200 a month put away in a separate account for irregular bills like bins, car insurance, house insurance, tax, professional fees, dog food etc.
Misc Spending: shopping/eating out/house maintainance etc, €400 each on seperate revolut accounts per month and also a shared €1000 float between us. Anything not spent rolls over and eventually gets spent on bigger purchases.

Pensions, company share scheme, property tax and union fees are all deducted at source so already subtracted from income.

Savings: Approx 3k per month

dublin49 · 11-03-2021 5:20pm

The one thing I did over the years was when I made additional capital payments off my mortgage I didnt inform my Mortgage protection agent and hence my Mortgage is massively over protected so I don't bother with any other life insurance.We are 20 years into our mortgage and there is a healthy number between what is outstanding and what a death benefit claim would pay out.

Yyhhuuu · 12-03-2021 12:21am

Antares35 wrote: »

That's really impressive. We spend way too much on food, especially since lockdown. I can't figure it out. We will do a "big shop" and I'll think we don't need to go near a shop for ages then a few days later we will need a top up. Guilty of stocking the freezer then neglecting to actually take stuff out!

Re Freezer My advice is dont leave it in the freezer past about 2-3 months or thereabouts as it can lose its texture and tastes awful. Date everything and wrap well to reduce freezer burn.

Roughly monthly expenses as follows:

Food: Approx €100 ( less last month)
Fuel: 0 ( No Car)
Phone: €9.99
Internet: 0 ( use phone)
Heat - 0 ( use firewood from my property)
Waste collection: 0 ( use relative's bin)
Health insurance - 0
Rent / mortgage - 0 ( fortunately)
Property Tax: uncertain a few hundred/ year
Holidays: 0 ( usually about €83)
Insurance: 0
Bank fees: 0
Dental Medical 0
Electricity: €40 ( less with welcome credit)

I live very thriftly so it was very easy for me to only spend such a small amount per month my outgoings are only phone €9.99, All my food is reduced price so it only costs about €1 for main course( fish and veg) Homemade soup is delicious in winter evening costing about 10c per portion. electricity is usually €40 per month but even less now with generous welcome credit, I dont buy clothes anymore as I have enough, thankfully I have no mortgage. Obviously I dont travel now. It's actually very difficult to spend. I save a considerable amount. Looking forward to an expensive holiday when Covid ends. Maybe Australia.

My advice to anybody saving is only buy what you need and ask yourself if you will use what you buy...

My gross income is modest at €34,800 as not full time. Pre Covid I managed to save approximately €20,000 per annum. Obviously with Covid this will increase. Again I have no dependants and no mortgage so very fortunate and realise others may not be able to save as much. Cant wait to spend it on experiences.

dublin49 · 12-03-2021 8:38pm

Mortgage paid but I think for comfortable living for a couple the 4 x 10k expenditure is roughly correct;

10k -fixed bills
10k weekly fixed.food,petrol ,beauty care and medicine.
10k weekly variable ,social life,clothes,Sundry exps
10k,car depreciation,holidays ,big ticket items like home repairs /improvements,

If reductions required they come from line 3 and especially 4.

dianewil · 16-03-2021 10:26am

Yeah, I can totally agree with it, since I am experiencing a similar issue.

pwurple · 17-03-2021 8:01am

Kerry25x wrote: »

Pensions, company share scheme, property tax and union fees are all deducted at source so already subtracted from income.

Savings: Approx 3k per month

Kerry25x, check you are maxing out the pension contributions too, unless you are saving for something specific. That’s a lot of savings you could be potentially avoiding tax on .

Kerry25x · 17-03-2021 7:35pm

pwurple wrote: »

Kerry25x, check you are maxing out the pension contributions too, unless you are saving for something specific. That’s a lot of savings you could be potentially avoiding tax on .

I'd like to actually but I'm public service so I'm not really sure how it works, need to look into it! I didn't start nursing until my late 20's so could probably buy back years or something. Our savings are to hopefully upsize to a bigger place in the next 2 years.

Irish_rat · 10-01-2022 12:44am

Id say this thread has changed a bit since with inflation driving up all prices!

piplip87 · 10-01-2022 12:56am

Fraud investigator on 36,000 a year. Health, pension, bike to work all deducted before tax.

Rent: 500 mortgage other half pays 500
Bills: In and around: 200
Food & Household: again in and around 200
Transport & Travel: 150 a month for school runs but it will go up by about 250 when we return to office
Shopping & Clothes: in and around 70
Entertainment & Eating Out: Could be 400 in Summer with gigs and football matches but only 100 now that places are closed.
Kids - Anywhere between 100-400
Savings: Doing up the house but by bit so savings drained and anything left after payday goes straight into a joint account for the next phase. Currently about 5000 for bathrooms to be done

How much do you spend each month and what does your budget look like?

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