What do you pay yourself

ceoltoir

How much to you 'pay' yourself weekly, in the form of a personal spending allowance? During the good times I used to allow myself €150 per week (salary €36,000 after tax). However, with the present economic woes I've reduced it to €120. I withdraw the cash on Thursdays but it's usually all gone by the following Monday or Tuesday.

I'm a single man in my late 40s, a non-smoker and a social drinker. I don't have a mortgage but pay rent. I don't go out much and I'm certainly not extravagant. Don't buy new clothes too often, rarely buy CDs or DVDs. My only weakness is for eating out for either breakfast, lunch or dinner at the weekends. I'm also a fairly regular book buyer but try to pay for these from my weekly allowance.

Main costs are savings account, rent, car, holiday and normal bills.

Where does my money disappear to?

legend73

Cut down on the sambos Jack.

I take home double that and have a family. Guess how much I see a week! Nuthin.

gerrycollins

ceoltoir wrote: »

How much to you 'pay' yourself weekly, in the form of a personal spending allowance? During the good times I used to allow myself €150 per week (salary €36,000 after tax). However, with the present economic woes I've reduced it to €120. I withdraw the cash on Thursdays but it's usually all gone by the following Monday or Tuesday.

I'm a single man in my late 40s, a non-smoker and a social drinker. I don't have a mortgage but pay rent. I don't go out much and I'm certainly not extravagant. Don't buy new clothes too often, rarely buy CDs or DVDs. My only weakness is for eating out for either breakfast, lunch or dinner at the weekends. I'm also a fairly regular book buyer but try to pay for these from my weekly allowance.

Main costs are savings account, rent, car, holiday and normal bills.

Where does my money disappear to?

because even to live costs a lot. you might want to cut down on the eating out. Most people would have said eating out on a fri night was their treat, your sounds,(not saying you do) like you treat yourself very well eating out or am i reading it all wrong sorry?

oh ya i earn €26k a year and see none of it wife and kids get it all

Cabaal

120e a week expendable income is a fair amount imho, cut down on the takeout and you'll live alot longer and have more money

jor el

ceoltoir wrote: »

During the good times I used to allow myself €150 per week (salary €36,000 after tax). However, with the present economic woes I've reduced it to €120. I withdraw the cash on Thursdays but it's usually all gone by the following Monday or Tuesday.

I don't understand why anyone does this. Why not just spend what you want, when you want, when you can. Your life isn't a business, with accounts and a schedule.

If I have money I'll spend it, if I want to, I don't budget my week. I spend what I have to, on the things I need. Some week's it's not much, others it can be a lot.

Cabaal wrote: »

cut down on the takeout and you'll live alot longer

Yeah, but would he be happy

eth0_

jor el wrote: »

I don't understand why anyone does this. Why not just spend what you want, when you want, when you can. Your life isn't a business, with accounts and a schedule.

Well considering Ireland's economy is f*cked right now, and jobs are being shed left right and centre, i'm presuming the OP is saving a lot of his income for 'a rainy day'. Which is a very good idea.

Cabaal

Don't they recommend that you have atleast 2 months worth of wages saved for a rainy day,

Gillo

Cabaal wrote: »

Don't they recommend that you have atleast 2 months worth of wages saved for a rainy day,

I'd heard it was three, either way I doubt many people do.

OP, a good idea is to keep a notebook and write down exactly where you spend your money, record every transaction.

I tried it once very scary, couldn't believe how much I spent on the likes of snacks, I never really thought about spend money on a chocolate bar to keep me going on the way home from work or buying magazines / newspapers. I always figured it's a euro or two (it was pounds when I did so can't even remember the prices) but when you work it out at the end of the month it's suddenly a lot more money.

jor el

eth0_ wrote: »

Well considering Ireland's economy is f*cked right now, and jobs are being shed left right and centre, i'm presuming the OP is saving a lot of his income for 'a rainy day'. Which is a very good idea.

Saving is grand, but giving yourself a specific amount each week, taking that out of the bank and then spending it is what I don't get.

Setting a specific limit also sets it as a target, and perhaps this is why the OP is losing all his money. I don't think there's a need to spend €120 in 3 days on lunch, books and a few drinks.

ceoltoir

Oh dear, I seem to have given completely the wrong impression! 'Eating out' in my case would involve a sandwich or a visit to a café and that's probably only twice over a weekend. It's not like I'm gorging myself in fancy restaurants. I'm really not a big spender at all, compared to someone who goes to the pub on a Saturday night and spends €100.

If I don't take out a specific amount each week, how am I going to have cash when I need to buy a newspaper or a bus ticket?

Maybe I do need to cut back on things, especially the book addiction. The spending diary seems like a very good idea.

Thanks for the helpful comments, especially Gillo.

watna

I get paid fortnightly and I take "pocket money" out of my bank account every Thursday too, just like the OP. That way I know how much cash I have to spend - if that runs out by Saturday night then I don't do anything on Sunday. If I know I have a big weekend coming up I'll have a quiet weekend the one before and put aside some of the money so I can spend it on the following weekend. All my bills and expenses are accounted for in my budget and I save a large proportion of my salary. The "pocket money" is simply the every day money for myself to spend on make-up, takeaways, brunch clothes etc.

It's a really good way to make sure you don't overspend and you stick to your budget.

Jor el - I can't see why this is such a strange concept to you. How do you budget and make sure you don't overspend on everday things (lunches, takeaways etc)? Everyone has different methods for budgeting and now more than ever it is silly to spend what you want whenver you want.

OP - I don't earn euro so I can't really compare but I spend 10% of my salary on my weekly cash if that helps. (e.g. I earn $2000 a fortnight and give myself $200 a week). I save about 40% of my salary.

jor el

watna wrote: »

Jor el - I can't see why this is such a strange concept to you. How do you budget and make sure you don't overspend on everday things (lunches, takeaways etc)? Everyone has different methods for budgeting and now more than ever it is silly to spend what you want whenver you want.

It costs the same every day, every week, and I've been doing it for years, so I don't need to budget for it, I just need to know I have at least 5 euro in my pocket in the morning. When I'm down to that much, I just take out another 20 or 40 euro. There really is no need to "budget" for a week of normal spending, it's always the same, and you don't have to worry about running out of money unless you're buying something out of the ordinary, and expensive. Then you check what you have, and take out the money if you want.

Money goes to my two savings accounts every pay day, what's left is for me, bills, & rent. Bills and rent are regular, and you know in advance when the money will be needed. Spend what you want, when you want, if you can. Your life is not a business, you don't need accounts.

My sister keeps the spending ledger for her and the family, everything is accounted for. I don't get it myself, but she can't seem to live without it. Maybe it depends on the type of person you are.

legend73

Yep, never needed an accountant to run my books, only ever had managable debt and have spent what I want when I want to. My misses spends at will, so she kept a diary of all spending and then it gave her an insight into her expenditure, she did that for a year, she doesnt need it anymore.

eth0_

ceoltoir wrote: »

Maybe I do need to cut back on things, especially the book addiction. The spending diary seems like a very good idea.

Maybe start using the library/Oxfam book shops/the bookcrossing.com website?

Davy

I think the credit card, or the visa debit card is a great way of having a written transaction of everything you spend. Ok its not always practical for a bar of chocolate but for most other things its great. Laser is always handy to just not excepted everywhere.

MOH

Would it not be better to go the other way - set a target of a certain amount you want to save every week and transfer that to a regular savings account. Or maybe split it between two savings accounts, one with a better interest rate and one you can access at short notice in case of emergency.

calex71

Being single i'd say you are cooking for just yourself OP, this is a HUGE money pit and source of great waste if you are not clever about it

Im in the same boat , well im on the dole so have to be really tight when i comes to money.

But originally when times where good i was pretty feckless when it came to the shopping and cooking for 1. There was a lot of waste and a lot thrown out. No i'm taking a lot of time to examine everything i buy , like asking myself how many meals will i get out of that meat, If i cook something ill cook in a bigger amount so it will do 2 dinners, either keep in the fridge for the next day or freeze for later. I'm still eating good healthy food but at about 30-40 % of what I used to spend. And the fact i cook in bulk means that there is very little that gets thrown out and wasted.

Plus the fact i dont need to cook from scratch every day is both a time saver and a saving on the esb

loyatemu

calex71 wrote: »

Being single i'd say you are cooking for just yourself OP, this is a HUGE money pit and source of great waste if you are not clever about it

Im in the same boat , well im on the dole so have to be really tight when i comes to money.

But originally when times where good i was pretty feckless when it came to the shopping and cooking for 1. There was a lot of waste and a lot thrown out. No i'm taking a lot of time to examine everything i buy , like asking myself how many meals will i get out of that meat, If i cook something ill cook in a bigger amount so it will do 2 dinners, either keep in the fridge for the next day or freeze for later. I'm still eating good healthy food but at about 30-40 % of what I used to spend. And the fact i cook in bulk means that there is very little that gets thrown out and wasted.

Plus the fact i dont need to cook from scratch every day is both a time saver and a saving on the esb

+1

buy a big freezer, take advantage of special offers on meat etc and freeze it. Then when you're cooking, make large batches and freeze in portions. It will save you money in the long run (although the freezer is obviously an upfront expense if you don't have one already).