$$ FUN MONEY $$

blessed81 · March 2015

How do you all determine how much fun money you get for the month? Hubby and i only get fun money if we have ot and i only give us 10.00 each.

simplyelise · March 2015

We just decided on a good amount for us together. We do $60 a month each and that goes mostly towards lunch out for DH or alcohol when we have an event. I've used mine for office decor, nail polish/makeup, and lunch/office snacks.

We're really strict on our budget, so our fun money is basically used for anything not explicitly budgeted. Sometimes we use it towards a second date night since we only budget for one date night a month.

To be honest, I could stand to do less fun money, but we're putting over 50% of our income towards debt right now, so I think it's a good balance for us.

vlagrl29 · March 2015

we don't really have a fun money category. we usually spend $10-$20 per month on entertainment and $150 eating out. That's our fun money I guess.

mana8503 · March 2015

We decided $100 / month each.

It's for wants, not needs. I want a new scarf - my fun money, I need new pants because I rip a pair - clothing budget. H usually uses his on fast food while he's on the road (he has a cooler and oven he doesn't NEED to buy it). I get craft stuff, accessories etc.

als1982 · March 2015

We just decided to bump ours up to $400 per person every four weeks, but that amount includes clothes and shoes in addition to other personal expenditures (H uses a big chunk of his for Sporting season tickets).

ETA: We also have another $200 earmarked every month for joint entertainment.

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2015

we each get $25 of personal fun money...this can be spent however, with no input from the other person. we also allocate $75 to entertainment, that is for eating out or doing other fun things, that is money that is meant to be spent on things we do together.

jessica490 · March 2015

We each get about $120-$180 each per month....I guess that sounds like a lot, but we also save a lot too

AprilZ81 · March 2015

I think a small amount of fun money is VITAL for budgeting, it allows each person a little bit of flexibility to purchase something they "want" even if it isn't a need.

When both of us are working we did $200/month (keep in mind we don't have any student loans or cc debt). This amount would be for new clothes, hair cuts, happy hours, eating lunch out, happy hours, or anything else we wanted to do. As long as we stayed under budget it was a judgement free zone.

While I am searching for work we adjusted our budget and now we only get $30 each a month, but the same principals apply.

Unless you have so much debt and so little income that you honestly can't afford to have fun money I recommend you start budgeting some in. That little bit of freedom can help you stay focused on the big picture goals without feeling deprived of any fun.

hoffse · March 2015

We just have a couple fixed-expense categories, a food/gas category, and then everything else is "slush." We don't divvy it up between us, and we don't track who spends more of it. It encompasses eating out, H's dry cleaning, new clothes, gifts.... pretty much anything that's not a need. We've been doing $300/month, but I'm probably going to bump it up a little bit next month.

smbenevides1989 · March 2015

DH gets $40/week and I get $20/week. He has bigger things he likes to buy while I like to save my money and use it when I really need it. He likes to buy food and beer along with stuff for judo and jujitsu. I like to buy coffees and crafts or clothes.

We do have a separate amount for entertainment - $25/week for eating out and $20/month for joint fun money (like ice cream or a movie, etc).

Xstatic3333 · March 2015

$200 a month each, but this includes many categories that others separate: eating out, "blow money," all alcohol, all discretionary shopping, and sometimes even haircuts.

bmo88 · March 2015

We don't specifically allocate money as "fun" money. We make value judgement on a case by case basis. I would say on average, we spend about $50-$150 a month though combined on "fun" expenses. When making each purchase, we basically ask ourselves?

Is it a meaningful purchase? (i.e. worthwhile experience or item)
Can we afford it? (do we have the funds and will it impact future purchases?)
Is it a reasonable cost overall? (relative to the expenditure and whether we can get it for less money)

We also don't do true budgeting. We make sure all of our bills are paid, we automatize our savings and then we make sure we don't spend beyond our means. We personally cannot stand tracking every dollar. Our method has worked for us pretty well for the past decade.

JoanE2012 · March 2015

We don't have specific fun money amounts. DH pays most of the bills, I designate most of my paycheck to various savings accounts. Whatever we each have leftover either becomes fun money or gets periodically deposited into one of the savings accounts.

brij2006 · March 2015

Ours is $20/month, each, but we haven't had it in a few months. We're in debt payoff mode, so every extra penny goes toward debt. We also budget in every expense we think of. So there's no need for it. If we want clothes, a haircut, to eat out, ect. There's a category in the budget for all of that. We found that we either didn't spend it or would never put specifications on it, so it would cause arguements about what should and shouldn't be in the budget or come out of the fun money. That's mostly why we did away with it.

dragonstarjk · March 2015

We don't budget fun money. We get whatever is left over after we make automatic contributions to our various savings accounts, pay bills, fund retirement, etc. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's a little, but its a way to make sure that we are funding all of our savings first.

$$ FUN MONEY $$

Re: $$ FUN MONEY $$

Choose Another Board

Search Boards