https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:57:28 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617815 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:06:27 +0000 sorrycharlie 617815@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm not really sure, TBH. I like to have a 'cushion' in the checking account, so even though I could put more toward credit cards, I try not to let it get to a certain amount. </p> <p>Before we were able to do that, I would say that honestly we didn't have any leftover because I budgeted every extra dollar to the credit card debt. But it was affecting our relationship negatively because we weren't doing ANYTHING - so I started to loosen up a little. </p> <p>I think of it more as - we order out 1-2 times per month, once in awhile will order an on-demand video ($6, rip off!!), and occasionally will buy something we are coveting (like I just ordered a DSLR). But generally, we don't spend much! Hah, we did that enough a few years ago that we're still paying for it :/ we've learned! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617806 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:04:05 +0000 MrsTiz 617806@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bao: We live in a very similar priced area! Ours is $707 and it t would take me 3 months to earn 6k as well haha! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617567 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:06:54 +0000 Bao 617567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sooz: I'm sure location has a lot to do with it too! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617560 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:05:34 +0000 cheert16 617560@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We dotn really keep track.... sadly. Its on my to do list before the baby arrives to get a stict budget in place- i just dont know how much to budget for a baby! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617559 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:05:31 +0000 sooz 617559@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bao: We're fortunate that my DH makes a pretty good salary which covers our living costs and then my income is used for savings and misc (vacations, splurges, gifts, etc). We also don't have any debt...we've paid off our cars, no credit card debt, no school loans. Also, I bet we're older than the average HelloBee, so more established in our careers and probably making a bit more money (i.e., we're old farts). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617527 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:54:52 +0000 Bao 617527@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sooz: 6 to 7 THOUSAND dollars?! Ours is $620. It would take my husband over 3 months to earn that...wow. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617499 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:46:14 +0000 sooz 617499@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@rainbowsprinkles: Tell me about it! The neighborhoods/cities that we're looking to move into are pretty pricey, but the schools are good, so we're biting the bullet and taking the hit. We live in the SF Bay Area and have contemplated moving to other areas of the countries where living costs are lower. Where do you live? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617457 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:33:34 +0000 DillonLion 617457@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>About $1000, but we are aggressively paying down debt so we send it all there (student loans these days). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617452 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:32:13 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 617452@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sooz: 6-7k mortgage? Wow!!! Mine is 2k which is a LOT for around here!!! Cant imagine! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617449 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:30:37 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 617449@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't really have a set "leftover" amount each month because everything just carries over to the next month in our checking account. Does that make sense? So I will do a little shopping here and there and we go out to eat maybe 3x a month, but dont set aside extra money for that. Is just comes out of our checking each month. We don't really budget... (I know, not good)<br /> We put $400/month into savings on top of 401k (which is automatically deducted from check). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617443 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:28:41 +0000 ladyfingers 617443@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We put $500 into savings and $50 into DS' savings. Fun money currently 1300 (it goes quickly); once daycare starts, about 800. Fun money includes eating out and random stuff from the store, but doesn't include groceries or gas. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617410 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:16:49 +0000 yoursilverlining 617410@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don’t really have a set/normal amount “left over” at the end of each month.</p> <p>I allot myself $40/week for fun money (strictly personal fun things like coffee, thrift shop shopping, nail polish, etc.) and some months I have a portion of that left that I put into savings, sometimes I spend all my fun money.</p> <p>For savings and 401(k), we treat those like a bill and take a % of pay off the top and never even see that money; which ensures that we save. Whatever is left over in the checking account at the end of the month is then swept over to savings. Some months, there is a lot left over, sometimes none, most of the time it’s in the middle – depends on expenses for the month, how many times we eat out, etc.</p> <p>So, my answer is not very helpful. haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617402 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:14:15 +0000 mrbee 617402@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are drawing down on our savings, while we invest in our business. In the meantime, we've cut back on all frills: no coffees, no takeout, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617343 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:57:22 +0000 Meridian 617343@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's hard to say! DH sometimes works overtime, and so there are times when those paychecks are fatter, but we can't always count on that. We put $1K in savings monthly via automatic transfer, so it's like that money never exists. </p> <p>We don't really stick to a budget, so all of the money that goes into our checking account always gets spent. It almost feels like we are living "month-to-month", but I guess really we aren't because we are saving... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617338 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:55:01 +0000 Smurfette 617338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were putting $1,000 into saving every other week. But now that we have a higher mortgage, utilities and buying stuff for the house, we haven't put anything in savings. We are covering two mortgages this month, till the renters move in. I hate.</p> <p>Once we start day care, our budget is $1000 a month for savings. I hope that it works out how we budgeted. </p> <p>We eat out way too much now. We don't have a set budget for fun stuff. I know it will change once baby is here, so that should help us save some money. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617337 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:54:24 +0000 MrsTiz 617337@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We put $25 per week into savings and on the 15th we put an additional $50. So that's $150 per month into savings.</p> <p>We don't have any retirement or 401K to add to. </p> <p>We *should* have about $1000 leftover at the end of the month, but the way our bills and checks are spaced out, it gets really messy. I need to hire an accountant for a few days to straighten me out lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617331 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:51:11 +0000 MrsBrewer 617331@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not enough! LOL I know that we are able to put in roughly $400 into our savings account each month (outside of 401k) We really don't track our "fun money" but I would estimate about $50/week </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617320 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:47:40 +0000 littlebug 617320@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine is about the same as yours. I'm planning to get my credit card paid off in the next month, which would give me $200 a month, but then that money will go to day care. So still the same. It's pathetic. Thank goodness Hubs can afford to put significantly more into our savings. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617309 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:43:33 +0000 sooz 617309@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It depends on the time of year. We try to max out our 401K as early in the year as possible, so we have a lot less leftover between Jan-April. The remainder of the year, we have a lot of money "leftover" at the end of the month. This will be changing, though, as soon as we buy a new home because then our mortgage payment will probably be somewhere between $6-7K per month. Right now we only pay $2K for our mortgage. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617295 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:41:31 +0000 T.H.O.U. 617295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't really have a set "fun" amount. Things like eating out and getting my hair done are "bills" for some people but that is our fun money. Home renovation projects are "fun" things for me so we budget for that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617288 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:40:21 +0000 creativemomma15 617288@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bao: I don't know off hand since our budget is on DH's laptop, but we are definitely closer to your amount! We don't have much to spare but try to allow a little so we can have some fun money too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617207 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:23:25 +0000 KissMeCait 617207@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Around $1500 on a good month. That’s after around $100 each week for misc stuff beyond bills, groceries and gas. Some months we have a slew of birthdays to deal with (like this month!) so we have considerably less going into savings. Let’s not even talk about how much is saved between October-January. It’s depressing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617173 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:16:40 +0000 Modern Daisy 617173@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We spend our 'fun' money as we go, so it's hard to tell. We probably eat out once or twice and do some clothes shopping every month. On a good month we can put away $1K into savings, but that hasn't happened in a long time! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617158 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:14:03 +0000 mlm2934 617158@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm embarrassed to say. We blow a lot of money each month on eating out. I seriously am feeling guilty and recommitted to saving more money lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617121 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:05:27 +0000 Sugar.Biscuit 617121@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>After household bills, minus the credit card, I have 840 to play with. Usually a chunk of that goes towards the credit card depending on how much we spent that month 100 goes into savings the rest is play money. Usual end up with 300 in the account by the end of the month. I have no idea what DH'S finacial situation is like. I know between the 3 savings combinded we end up saving at least 300/ mo. We have both joint and seperate accounts. We would have so much more if we would stop eating out &amp; buying expensive lattes lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617056 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:46:36 +0000 Bookish 617056@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>After all bills:</p> <p>110 + 60 + 100 + 130 = 400$ into savings every month, including into our HSA. (4 different accounts)</p> <p>Fun money averages from 50$ - 150$ a week, soo about 400$ for fun money a month?</p> <p>Mind you, half of that savings and 75% of that fun money will disappear when we have the baby and have to start paying for daycare!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617043 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:43:04 +0000 ninja 617043@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bao: And I agree, you have to have a little fun! At least you are saving regularly, as there are many who can't do that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617037 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:41:06 +0000 ninja 617037@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have $800 for savings (this isn't leftover to me though... Gets taken right off the top of each paycheck.). We also have a misc. budget which covers everything besides bills/groceries/eating out. I'd say about $150-$200 is usually more "fun" stuff. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-money-do-you-have-leftover-a-month#post-617022 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:37:10 +0000 Bao 617022@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>A spinoff...<br /> After all bills are paid....what do you have left for savings or fun money?<br /> Savings: ready for it....$30, sometimes $50 depending on the month.<br /> Fun: Maybe $20-$30<br /> I know most people will think, well put the fun money into savings too, but honestly we would go stir crazy if we couldn't go out here and there. We have to live a little too. </p> <p>If you don't mind getting personal, share how much leftover money you have a month when all is said and done. You could do a percentage if you are more comfortable with that. </p>