https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 14 May 2026 22:46:47 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055467 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:43:19 +0000 looch 1055467@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I guess I could do it monthly, I use my salary to pay for my son's daycare, so after that, I am usually spending around $200 a week on stuff that's not in the budget (but really is, like clothes for me). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055451 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:38:36 +0000 LazyLightning 1055451@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>$500/month or so? after bills, gas, groceries, savings, etc. Usually a portion of it ends up in savings too since we don't spend it. Then once in a while we'll take a trip or buy a bunch of big stuff and use a few months' worth all at once. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055316 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:11:43 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1055316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: Yes daycare and medical costs hit us big time. I wanted to keep up with my monthly savings but the month to month expenses keep cutting it back. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055307 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:08:59 +0000 babycanuck 1055307@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Negative right now. Any money I have I'm pushing into paying off debts, so no fun for me for the short term for a long term payout. I have RRSP funds that come right off my paycheque so I don't have to worry about that. Not a lot but anything is better than nothing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055292 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:03:28 +0000 Mae 1055292@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.: haha my husband is an accountant so he has a veryyyy specific budget we work off of. makes it easy to add up! also i'm sure those numbers will take a hit after we have the baby! i'm already sad-panda-ing about how much all the medical bills will cost us! (and don't even talk to me about daycare. i'm scurred lol) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055281 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 10:59:17 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1055281@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: Thats pretty exact! Its great you can save so much. I wish our ratios were closer to yours! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1055279 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 10:58:11 +0000 Mae 1055279@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>24% of our take-home into savings (split between retirement, emergency, and regular savings). </p> <p>48% of our take-home into fixed expenses (mortgage, cable/phone, student loans, insurance-- anything thats the same every month). </p> <p>15% into variable expenses (necessities that aren't exact-- groceries, gas, utilities, pet costs). </p> <p>13% into spending money (eating out, gifts, entertainment, hair cuts, shopping). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1017099 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 18:19:33 +0000 loveisstrange 1017099@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We out about 20% in savings, reserve about 30% for rent, and then have the other 50% for any bills, groceries, gas and random stuff we feel like buying. Sometimes we spend it all, sometimes we dont. Our bulls dont really work monthly, so ita hard to say how much we pay towards them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1017077 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:55:03 +0000 LazyLightning 1017077@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>40% to savings, 30 bills, 30 fun! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016621 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:48:09 +0000 NorCalWayfarer 1016621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: We don't budget things we can't control/have to buy like utilities, gas (we both commute for work so this is non-negotiable), and we don't have cable/TV. But we do budget for groceries, eating out, clothes, gifts, home maintenance, personal care/Target. Our "fun money" is basically so DH can spend it on whatever he wants (generally sporting stuff or hunting stuff) without me having a total meltdown over how much he is spending. If we have a set amount then I can't complain about what he spends it on! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016593 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:42:11 +0000 daniellemybelle 1016593@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. bird: For both of us together. We combine all our income. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016547 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:29:39 +0000 mrs. bird 1016547@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>not enough ;) haha. but right now i'm the only one with a paycheck, so there is a lot of frugal living going on in the bird household, it's not always pretty but we make it work. we still find money for cheap dates- lots of groupon/living social vouchers. i'd go nutty if we didn't spend any $$ doing fun things or going places together. we don't have a set amount right now. </p> <p> @daniellemybelle: is that $400 2x/month for both of you or each of you?? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016540 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:26:55 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 1016540@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: we got takeout once between he dates that Mr. Jacks was unemployed. We completely cut out any spending for the girls unless it was through a gift card or a credit. We bought one baby shower gift, but using a gift card. I went on a diet so no treats from vending machines. Any other expenses were things in our budget. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016539 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:26:16 +0000 sorrycharlie 1016539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>if I count groceries and gas as "bills," none. haha. and none going into savings right now, either. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016534 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:24:39 +0000 regberadaisy 1016534@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our leftover money goes to gas about $60/week, groceries about $150/week and fun money for the three of us. :) I get $40, DH gets $80 and LO gets $50!<br /> @daniellemybelle: ohhhhh $400/ 2x a month. I was starting to wonder what magical skills you posses to get by on $400 a month! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016516 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:19:14 +0000 mediagirl 1016516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: you didn't eat out/get take-out once in the past few months, buy a candy bar or soda from a machine or gas station or buy anything (clothing, shoes) for the girls? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016487 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:12:54 +0000 daniellemybelle 1016487@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I guess I look at spending money different than a lot of you! I don't consider it all "fun money" because we don't really budget out gas, groceries, etc. So that $400 twice a month covers all of our necessities as well as extras. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016227 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:04:35 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 1016227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't budget very well but we also aren't huge spenders, so I'm not even sure! I kinda just buy what we need and sometimes what we want, and we never run out of money (though it is very tight in the middle of the month because it seems all our bills are due the same week!). This month is a tight month since we spent a lot on vacation two weeks ago. If I had to guess I would say we had around $400 extra a month, not including gas. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016120 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:38:56 +0000 NorCalWayfarer 1016120@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We each get $250 "fun" money a month to do as we please without any pressure from the other person. What we don't spend we put away for future vacation spending money.</p> <p>We also just recently started budgeting because we were noticing our savings was pretty stagnant. Hopefully this way we can beef up our savings while being conscientious about what we are spending each month, without making each other feel guilty. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1016016 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:13:29 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1016016@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Leialou: same here. my post was all over the place haha. because I budget separately for eating out, groceries, gas, clothing etc... most of the time we don't plan for fun stuff so that we can save more/pay off debt. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015974 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:07:04 +0000 Mrs. Champagne 1015974@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We each get $150 bi-weekly to spend on whatever we want like clothes for me, random fishing gear for him, etc! Separate budgets for eating out, but if we go out without each other (like I do on Fridays with work people) that comes out of our personal account! </p> <p>We just started doing it - we used to have no budget and just spent whatever we wanted, which lead to me buying small things often, and DH spending a bunch on one thing rarely. </p> <p>We save like crazy, so that's totally separate than this. If we save our fun money, its so we can have more fun another time, lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015935 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:00:02 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 1015935@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's hard to say because we budget for everything! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015924 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:58:40 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 1015924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Over the past few months we didn't allot ourselves any spending money. We were pretty much on lock down, but it really worked! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015906 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:54:36 +0000 ShootingStar 1015906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Without getting into too much details, our spending breaks out roughly like this:</p> <p>Bills = 41% of net income/month (this includes mortgage, gas, utilities, cable, etc.)<br /> Savings = 12% (this is how much we save automatically, doesn't include 401k)<br /> "Fun" money/extras - 24% generally/ideally. This includes groceries, meals out, clothes, etc.</p> <p>With any money that's left over, we move it to savings. In an ideal month it would be another ~23%. However, we've had a lot of "extras" pop up lately, like tires for both cars, so that number is not as high as I would like. We're trying to do better this month. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015747 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:12:58 +0000 PurplePeony 1015747@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never really added it up, to be honest. I used to keep a much stricter budget but I've been pretty lax about it for the last couple years. Savings get auto-deducted from my paycheck, money for the "big" bills goes directly into a separate account, and the rest is for groceries, gas, cell phone, fun stuff, whatever. I could definitely break it down more if I needed to, I just haven't! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015742 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:10:49 +0000 PurplePumps 1015742@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have no idea, but would guess about 500-1k/month. The checking account is always growing. If you ask DH, he'd say more like 1500 because we put away about 1k into a 'spendable' savings account that is different than our don't touch emergency account. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015708 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:59:16 +0000 Bao 1015708@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not much. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015706 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:58:59 +0000 yellowbird 1015706@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>About 125 weekly after everyyyyything else has been budgeted. That includes an eating out, grocery, coffee, savings, etc budget. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015696 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:55:32 +0000 kjpugs 1015696@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's hard to say "what's left" because my husband works hourly and his hours vary. We budget $120 weekly for groceries (WAS $100... stupid preggo eating), $60 for gas, $10 for his work meals (until he goes back to his other placement and is able to eat free), and $40 each for spending money. We use that $ for individually going out to eat (or together unless we plan it), clothing, alcohol, makeup, all other "extras." We usually have $ leftover after that which go into our "Bills" account. I keep a spreadsheet of the $ going in/out of the bills account, and we usually have extra. That goes towards things we both need to buy like stuff for baby, or if we want to go out to eat, or plane tickets, or anything we're saving up for like that, etc. I miss having a SET pay and knowing what our income each week was, but it is nice that he can get OT. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-spending-money-do-you-have-after-billssavings#post-1015683 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:52:51 +0000 Mrs. Jump Rope 1015683@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I dislike answering these posts because it usually ends up making someone feel bad! </p>