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I just looked at my (family's) budget for the next three months, and it looks like after paying each and every bill, compared to our income, leaves me just over $550 a month for groceries, food, entertainment, etc.

Was just curious what other people's average disposable income is these days, and how comfortable you are with it...

My disposable income is in the negatives right now. With my wife out of work my son has had to give up part of his checks to help us with gas & food. It sucks.

We have a little over 300 because we are trying to pay off our credit card debt that we used before we actually have disposable income (yea bad us!)

edit: To answer the question what do I need? I would say around 150k (that I don't have to pay back) to pay off my house and all my student loan and CC debt then all the money I earn would be disposable (minus monthly bills)

That's a lot of where I'm coming from.

My wife has just been back to work 3 months now after nearly 2 years out of work. And I've been working a second job for most of December. So we're still very much on a see-saw of having money coming but playing a bit of catch up (ok, more than a bit) for things that went unpaid/underpaid/over-charged credit.

So I'm not REALLY sure if that money is as disposable as I think. Especially factoring in non-bill expenses...like groceries, commuting, and so on....

GAHHH!!!

i have enough and of course i want a lot more.

I'm ok, but I'd be a lot better if I weren't supporting my brother in college.

I get around 450/500 a month, spend about 300 a month. I think. I could use a job, though. My income will be lowering when I turn 21 as I won't get child support (~200 a month) from my dad anymore. On the bright side, that's only in July.

Minus rent and other 'must be paid' stuff, I have about 700/800 spending money a month. Minus groceries that usuallys leave me at the 500/600 mark. I'd like to earn a bit more so I can buy my own place, but with the economy and banks being the way they are now, getting a mortgage on a single salary is a sad state of affairs.

Seraphyn said:

Minus rent and other 'must be paid' stuff, I have about 700/800 spending money a month. Minus groceries that usuallys leave me at the 500/600 mark. I'd like to earn a bit more so I can buy my own place, but with the economy and banks being the way they are now, getting a mortgage on a single salary is a sad state of affairs.

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I have to agree. It depends on how much you make a month (yearly salary) on the home you can normally afford. Old formula from real estate class is x3 your yearly salary is what you "can" afford in a home, but I say more like x2 or x2.5 if you can find a bank to finance you plus 20% deposit. (it all depends on the bank)

I'm doing well... I have enough to cover my mortgage, car payments, insurance, groceries, utilities etc as well as paying down my line of credit and helping my wife with her student debt. I probably have around $400 to $900 after all that to spend on whatever. This is a recent development though as I was out of work for almost 2 years when the economy went into the toilet (burned all my savings and went into credit debt during that period). Go oil sands!

Just finished doing my finances yesterday. When all bills are paid, and rent for the month, we're left with exactly $220 for food/expenses for me and my two children.

Yep....

Jiarn said:

Just finished doing my finances yesterday. When all bills are paid, and rent for the month, we're left with exactly $220 for food/expenses for me and my two children.

Yep....

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Dude...

Only debt is our mortgage payments which is about $1200 a month. (only 10 years left)

So, our disposable income is about $6000 a month.

Our budget is very, very tight. We can't make it through any month without touching a credit card to make up the difference. We are paying more than the total charges + interest, so we are technically 'getting ahead' every month, but we also technically won't be out from under all of our debt for at least 20-30yrs UNLESS things change. Fortunately, things are changing, though they could change a little faster and I'd be a whole lot happier. Needless to say, we are really looking forward to tax return time.

--Patrick

After bills and rent, I have about 1100-1200 a month for food and gas. Going to go up by $150-$250 once I move in with my GF. Of course, I only have a small credit card, so I can't really go over.

kaykordeath said:

leaves me just over $550 a month for groceries, food, entertainment, etc.

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Ha, if i made that much overall i'd be buying all my games... well ok, not really, but i;d be buying more of them.

I usually have about 1-2k disposable income, and I am throwing it all away to pursue life as a civilian!

TheBrew said:

After bills and rent, I have about 1100-1200 a month for food and gas. Going to go up by $150-$250 once I move in with my GF. Of course, I only have a small credit card, so I can't really go over.

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Your GF makes 150-250 a month?

Jiarn said:

Your GF makes 150-250 a month?

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I would imagine that increase is savings from sharing the rent/utilities with his girlfriend.

Sorry, I naturally assumed when they moved intogether, they'd be sharing accounts.

A decent assumption... who knows... you could still be right.

I'm married and my wife and I still have separate accounts