What if you are living on less than the ISI's Reasonable Living Expenses guidelines?

[Introuble83]

Brendan, on the basis of the these figures Summary table of Reasonable Living Expense from the Insolvency Service if you are contributing far in excess of limits towards your debts and essentially living on less than the allowance indicated should your reduce your monthly contributions towards your debt?

 

[Brendan Burgess]

That is a very interesting question.

Some people were surprised at how generous the ISI's figures seemed to be. They said that they were living on a lot less than ISI would give them.
Likewise, the Social Welfare rates are a lot less than these guidelines.

If you are two adults with no kids, and you are living on €1100 a month, should you increase your expenditure to €1,438 the recommended amount?

I don't know the answer to that.

 

[cremeegg]

You should put the difference into a savings account each month.

 

[manninp2]

You should put the difference into a savings account each month.

That would've been my thoughts too

Rainy day money

 

[so-crates]

Given they are guidelines and are designed not to be punitive but to allow people to retain both a sense of control and a degree of comfort it would really have to be a question of what you are personally prepared to endure. It certainly gives a marker by which to measure the fairness of any current situation but it may be that some people would rather continue to prioritise debt.