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[Closed] How much money could you live on per month?

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How much money do you think you could get by on, purely for food and entertainment?

So not including any regular bills at all, so gas, leccy, rent, mortgage, council tax, insurance, car payment etc etc are all excluded.

Just curious to know what you think about:

What you think is a decent average amount?

What you could get by on if you had to skimp by?

And How much to you reckon you really spend?

Anyhow, just for conversational purposes.

Me personally, I just spend what I have spare. But I'm getting to that age where I really should start saving and budgeting rather than spending as it comes in. Which prompted the question, just curious to how other people view this.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:43 pm
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Food/ents only? Well, I've managed on £300 in the past. I usually count on about £600 these days after everything else is taken care of plus savings/ISA etc

If I really wanted to save money I'd ditch my girlfriend. 😈


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:46 pm
 mrmo
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l'll let you know in a month or two, starting to record every penny. See what i spend see what i can do away with.

The reason is seeing what can really afford to spend if i can get a house deposit together.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:47 pm
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pfffff, if it was just me then a reasonably small amount but i have 3 endlessly hungry mouths to fill. I dont even want to think about it 😀


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:48 pm
 GW
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stupid question! - guessing you are single with no kids and living alone?


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:49 pm
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Are we counting broadband and TV in entertainment, or just going out? If just going out, I could get by on £0 a month. But maybe not every month unless I had to.

Food-wise, if we shop at Aldi our weekly shop is about £60 for a family of four.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:52 pm
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Should one include or exclude staff?


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:52 pm
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How much money do you think you could get by on, purely for food and entertainment?

What you think is a decent average amount?
What you could get by on if you had to skimp by?
And How much to you reckon you really spend?

I'd say a round thousand is a decent amount. You can eat well, drink well and go out a fair bit

I've gotten by on around £40 a week before. It helps if you are focussed on stuff other than socialising though.

I really spend around £600 a month on food and whathaveyou. Could spend more but me and my wife are working hard at the mo so out and about in the evenings a bit less.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:53 pm
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What isn't excluded?

I could survive on nothing. When my previous job was in trouble that's just what I did lunches for the week were no more that £5 in total, i ate cheap fruit and a wholemeal roll with a bit of processed chicken... I list loads of weight, it was great. I did pretty much nothing out of work because I couldn't afford to. It was a sad existence and my relationship was nearly a casualty because of it.

With my new job i'm at the opposite end of the scale, but I still do the same, except I eat more for lunch and I've put on weight. I have zero outgoings except those excluded in your first post. I leave myself £300 for the month, everything else goes into my savings. At the end of the month I tend to still have most of the £300 left and that goes into my savings too... I never feel guilty about spending silly amounts on a bike or garmin though for no reason other than I want it.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 7:55 pm
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GW - Member
stupid question! - guessing you are single with no kids and living alone?
Well, aye, but still, the question is open to everyone.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:04 pm
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miketually - Member
Are we counting broadband and TV in entertainment, or just going out? If just going out, I could get by on £0 a month. But maybe not every month unless I had to.

Food-wise, if we shop at Aldi our weekly shop is about £60 for a family of four.

regular bills not included basically.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:06 pm
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Could I get by on? If I was on my own and I had to,

purely for food and entertainment
, I reckon I could get by on <£100pm. How long would I want to do that for? That's another question.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:23 pm
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I take out £40 a week and that covers it all....there's a bit of cupboard raiding by the end but it's usually ok. Bear in mind I don't drink/smoke/socialize or have what most would consider 'a life'.On the flipside I'm sat here staring at a brand new Giant TCR sl ISP frameset :0) (2.5k)


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:25 pm
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<£100pm???? WTF?? Some of the young ladies that provide my evening entertainment, if you know what I mean, charge at least that per hour...


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:25 pm
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Lovin' = free*
Bikin' = free*
Food = cheap

*apart from the ride that goes wrong


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:29 pm
 GJP
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As a singleton I budget on £600 per month. No booze, fags, drugs, or hookers and I barely go out. WTF


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:30 pm
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Single and £600pm on food and entertainment that doesn't involve booze, drugs, hookers or going out? WTF??


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:36 pm
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When i was an undergrad i remember buying loaves of bread for 7p in Tesco and value cheese for about a quid. It is amazing how far you can stretch money when only eating cheese toasties.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:38 pm
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When i was an undergrad i remember buying loaves of bread for 7p in Tesco and value cheese for about a quid. It is amazing how far you can stretch money when only eating cheese toasties.

You will die a rich man, my friend, young but rich.
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Posted : 21/12/2011 8:40 pm
 emsz
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I reckon I live off about £30 a week.

don, you spend that much on phone sex? dedicated 😉


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:40 pm
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pfffff, if it was just me then a reasonably small amount but i have 3 endlessly hungry mouths to fill. I dont even want to think about it

+1, its not me its the unbelievable amount 'they' get through

When i was an undergrad i remember buying loaves of bread for 7p in Tesco and value cheese for about a quid. It is amazing how far you can stretch money when only eating cheese toasties.

I recall buying living off a tin of beans and a loaf of bread, bought with a cheque....


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:44 pm
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When i was an undergrad i remember buying [s]loaves of bread for 7p in Tesco and value cheese for about a quid[/s] fresh chicken, pasta, fresh veg, tinned fish etc etc for a few quid. It is amazing how far you can stretch money when only eating [s]cheese toasties[/s] well.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:44 pm
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don, you spend that much on phone sex? dedicated

Practice makes perfect.
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Posted : 21/12/2011 8:48 pm
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About a grand, maybe a [s]bit[/s] lot more


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:48 pm
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organdonor
for a few quid.

Money bags


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:49 pm
 emsz
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eeeuuuwwww gross


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 8:50 pm
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Trying to buy a house atm so as little as possible without not having a decent amount of fun ..... Although ive hardly raced this year due to cost

Total outgoings < 1000 for everything( rent , rate , fuel, leccy ,food, fun) for the past 6 months - was even less when i was working away - all food and fuel paid for just had rent and rates really to pay for


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 9:00 pm
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Wish I earnt a grand a month - think I have less than £200 a month to spend on food/drink/clothes after bills are paid - that has to include any petrol too, so the car doesn't get used very often. Who needs new clothes anyway - apart from the odd new bit of cycle clothing of course.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 9:32 pm
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I have £70 a month for me after bills.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 9:56 pm
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My outgoings before fun are >£2000 pcm


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:14 pm
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My outgoings before fun are >£2000 pcm

I can put you in touch with experienced people if you want help with your business.
Email in profile.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:23 pm
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About £ 130.00p per week, this does not include any bills/mortgages etc


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:23 pm
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don - I can contact jumpupanddown myself ta 😉


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:30 pm
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I grew up in a cardboard box int middle t road an i were lucky...

I grew up with nowt, lived for a long time with nowt. I'd rather not but its amazing on how little we really need to live on.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:32 pm
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im a student managing to live off £30 a week, and i manage to go out to town with that (just about anyway).


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:47 pm
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Me and the missus spend about £250 a month, including food bills. The only real expenses are wool for her and getting to races for me.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 10:50 pm
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im a student managing to live off £30 a week, and i manage to go out to town with that

How much does a loaf of Tesco Value bread and a tin of value beans cost these days? When I was a student (a while ago now) Tescos were selling beans for about 4p a tin, and bread for about 20p a loaf or something, so it was possible to eat for a week for about a quid.

Our Halls weren't a pleasant place to be if you a)had a sense of smell or b)didn't like beans.

Edit. I spend a bit more than that now, but I still fart a lot.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:22 pm
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I have 2 teenage daughters, so I can say I am ****ed... 😐

After returning from the pub the other night (me, not them!) they told me how the money I had spent could have bought them so many 'products' and if I didn't go out at all for a while they could have some GHD's 😯

I will still go out - at least I help keep pubs open and people in jobs 😉


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:49 pm
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Tescos were selling beans for about 4p a tin
😯 😆

tesco value beens are now around 26p i think, but as ive found, it varies from place to place. i usually splash out and get morrisons value beens as they taste a bit nicer, but are relatively expensive at 31p (they were 25p about a month ago :x). i dont buy the bread so cant get the price on that but value bran flakes are 77p, bagels are 90p odd, ketchup is 14p etc.

i keep meaning to start a blog reviewing all the tesco value stuff, its surprisingly not that bad. its funny how the packaging successfully puts people off buying it...


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 1:02 am
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A couple of years ago I'd just bought a new house and after the mortgage increase I was strapped. So to keep in budget I recorded all spend. I allowed 35 quid a week for food, 100 for ents.I ended the year having saved about 1200, enough for a decent holiday. so, about 110 a week, or nearly 500 a month. That is central London prices.


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 1:41 am
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I lived out of my car for a while about a decade ago. This was in the states, but I lived on about £25 a month. Eating a can of speg and a pot yogurt almost every day. One meal a day. The occasional mars bar. Did work for a construction company on and off, but mostly relied on mates that were in uni for entertainment, clothes washing, and the occasional slice of pizza.

A good way to save lots of dough is to get a national gym mebership (YMCA, etc) One time fee of £200 for the year that way you can use your card to get into any YMCA in the country and use their showers and fresh towels. 😛


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 2:43 am
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I only shop at Kwik Save and buy No Frills™ products. Their version of Spam is simpy devine.


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 8:33 am
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I earns between £1600-£2200 a month, my bills, including car, rent, gym, elec,sky,broadband, mobile...etc were £400 . For the final week of the month I was living off around £20.

I think I need to budget more.


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 8:44 am
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I earns between £1600-£2200 a month, my bills, including car, rent, gym, elec,sky,broadband, mobile...etc were £400 . For the final week of the month I was living off around £20.
I think I need to budget more.

If your enjoying yourself I guess that the main, you'll probably not live to regret it but you may do. My girlfriend is in a similar situation and spend it all on clothes, she starting to learn though.

I save between £1500 and £2000 a month, it get addictive saving, watching the balance go up, then you spunk some of it on an expensive holiday or nice bike and don't feel guilty in the slightest. It's also completely stress free having a year or twos worth of salary banked as you don't need to worry about the worst Happening and loosing your job etc, at least not as much anyway.

I know I'm fortunate, I also know that I could end up as I was a few years ago if the industry I'm in ever decides to **** up, it has another 20 years in theory, but there will be hard times before then. The thought of being how I was will forever keep me being a tight arse, with the occasional splurge.


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 9:50 am
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I save between £1500 and £2000 a month

😯


 
Posted : 22/12/2011 10:19 am
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