How would you spend your money with £300 after bills/food per month?

Posted by cyansnide@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 19 comments

Trying to work out the optimal way I should be managing my finances - I’m new at this and struggle with overspending, especially as there always seems to be a birthday or an event once a month or so, so looking for advice! My biggest expenditures tend to be personal care (toothpaste, cosmetics, skin care and so on) and (shamefully) grabbing a drink down the pub with friends. I live out in the sticks, can’t drive for medical reasons and I can’t have people over mine due to my living situation so the pub is one of the only ways I socialise. I spend an additional 60 pounds or so on gym membership and subscriptions, and am wondering if I should cancel some. Mainly just curious to see how other, more sensible people manage their finances. Should I be saving more?

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19 Comments

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Intrepid-Address-511@reddit

Pay myself a tenner a day and spend on things when I can afford them. If I really want it, I’ll save a few days to get it. You’d be surprised how quick you build up when you stop throwing cash away. I used 2 accounts, money into one and a daily standing order into the other… this method helped me get debt free after my ex wife left me with a mountain of it!

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BG3restart@reddit

You can save quite a bit on personal care items by stockpiling when they're on offer. For instance, the toothpaste I prefer is nearly £4 a tube, but I buy it on offer at 2 for £5 in Tesco and I buy enough to last until the next offer. Boots do 3 for 2 on their vitamins and the like, so I buy six months worth. The same goes for things like shampoo, conditioner, face serum. Stuff like toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, dishwasher tablets, Washing pods, tissues I buy in bulk from Costco. I probably only buy them twice a year and it considerably reduces my weekly shop.

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unsure_chihuahua93@reddit

For personal care/cosmetics, it is unbelievably easy to spend a shit ton of money on stuff that really adds no value to your life. It's a high-dopamine impulse spend category with vanishingly low returns on investment in terms of actual life improvement for most people. I would start with a no-buy month (in this category) to break the habit of impulse buying, inventory what you already have, look at what you actually use and don't use, and try to reduce this category as much as possible. Get in the habit of: no buying things unless you've sat on the purchase idea for 24+ hours. No buying things that you already have a perfectly good one of (for example if your moisturiser/lipstick is working for you and you have some left, you don't get to buy another one just to try it, because it has a cute ad or good packaging). You could try setting yourself an amount (say, £20-30/month) to spend guilt-free on something like this if you really enjoy it. For subscriptions, I would cancel most of them and get in the habit of rotating for streaming services. If you use the gym and it's important for your mental/physical health, keep that, but if you think you will keep up exercise if you switch to working out at home or outdoors, that's something to consider. Look into things like classpass or movegb to see if those are cheaper ways to keep up the gym membership as they often are.

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GuybrushFunkwood@reddit

Hookers and Blackjack …. In fact … forget the Blackjack ….

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bobbyroberts72@reddit

It’s gonna be fun on the bun.

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BigShoddy6473@reddit

Replace blackjack with drugs. 🤣

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wtfftw1042@reddit

Include things like reasonable personal care in your budgeted bills. Include less obvious expenses like a birthday or event so that you have that ringfenced buffer to dip into for them - same as christmas or annual costs like insurance, new shoes etc. You need to take into account all costs to actually work out your fun money. Then you decide if your subs and gym membership are worth reducing your fun money. I would take half of my fun money each month and save it as I don't feel safe if I can't cover emergencies.

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cyansnide@reddit (OP)

Guess I need a new post on how to have decent quality of life on £150 instead! Thanks for this

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cgknight1@reddit

Go and read the flowchart https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

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cyansnide@reddit (OP)

Got a Lisa, on track, student loan accounted for. Just the ‘fun money’ I’m wondering about :)

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Beneficial_Hat_2266@reddit

How old are you? You’ve already got a Lisa, you’re prioritising bills and food and are left with £300 a month? That is your fun money bud. We cant all meticulously save and stay sane, myself and a few people I know have spent a majority of our time saving and then ended up depressed and spending all our savings anyway. Most likely from the lack of social we gave ourself in hopes to put more money away. Enjoy yourself, make sure you have money for a rainy day and things that could go wrong / break etc but other than that it sounds like you’ve got the right mindset already. Money comes and goes don’t get to hung up on it as it can be one of the biggest stresses.

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PintToLine@reddit

You got to go and live too. Otherwise you’ll have spent your life saving and little else. You may have a better retirement but all those things you could have done probably aren’t as fun when your body is decaying.

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Beneficial_Hat_2266@reddit

Exactly, worked with a few who haven’t made it past 60 and had a million saved with their pension etc. Worked every weekend to retire early and spend it all sick only to withdraw everything and give it to family.

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PintToLine@reddit

Nice to leave to your family, even after the state sticks its hand in. Just a damn shame to not have used it to create incredible memories though.

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hiperdino-@reddit

Spend it on something you find fun then.

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Sad-Garage-2642@reddit

Fun money is fun money. Don't bother tracking it, simply budget it as fun money. Don't feel guilty about spending it. As long as bills are paid, savings are healthy, emergency fund is stocked and all that, have a little guilt-free fun

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cyansnide@reddit (OP)

I do agree, but my biggest issue is that I REALLY struggle to stay within 300 and am always skimming off my savings. People happily live with way less fun money a month so I’m definitely doing something wrong!

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