How much do you set aside for 'living expenses'?

[Tinks]

I couldn't give you an exact figure but I have set our budget up in such a way that all our bills and savings debited from our account fortnightly or weekly depending on the bill. Whatever is left in the account on Friday morning is what we have left for spending, including groceries.

[Amity]

Honestly? I don't budget. But I'm fortunate enough that I don't need to bother to budget.

I have a credit card with a set limit. Each month, EVERYTHING goes on the credit card (including bills - rates, gas, water, electricity), and I pay it off in full at the end of the month. That is, everything EXCEPT the car loan and the mortgage.

And when I say everything, I do mean everything. I rarely, if ever use cash. And I often pay for other people's food and drinks without blinking. I'd eat out for lunch at least three times a week. I'd eat out for dinner twice a week (once with kids, once without). And my DS1 is gluten free, so all our food is gluten free.

It comes down to the following, IMHO:
- Meal plan EVERYTHING. Buy only what you NEED.
- Baking home made lunch box snacks is VITAL.
- Fruit, fruit, fruit. More fruit.
- Dinner is generally chicken thighs, sausages, (gluten free) spaghetti, roast chicken marylands, basa fillets (fish) - for the kids. I get salmon and steak

It's actually relatively cheap to eat healthily. It's more expensive to buy junk food. I rarely buy takeaways, generally because it's more difficult to get gluten free stuff. It's cheaper to make home made fish and chips ($7.99/kilo for basa fillets, so $3 for fish, and $1 for potatoes) than to buy them at the takeaway shop ($6 each for flake and minimum $3 chips) It's cheaper to make home made gluten free pizza (about $5) than to buy take away (gluten free is always gourmet) pizza ($18).

And I always turn off things at the wall - TVs are rarely on, for example. However I ALWAYS use the dryer and the dishwasher every day. Bills are generally : electricity $300/qtr, water $200/qtr, gas $60/qtr, rates $1000/year. Phone is business related so I pay that through the business, as is internet.

My credit card bill is usually between $2,500 and $3,500 per month, depending on how many pairs of shoes I've bought. It does include childcare (but only before and after school care, which I usually use about once a fortnight for two kids, so not that much). That's for one adult and two kids. One month when the kids were away at their Dads for 2 weeks, it was only $1,200... but the month when the kids were with me the entire time, it was $4,000. So my kids are by far my biggest expense

Mind you, this doesn't include holidays. Gifts, including birthday, Christmas, Easter, and for family gifts, yes, but not holidays.

Oh and I don't have a shoe problem. I only have a problem when I can't get shoes.