How much do you spend on weekends?

[guppy]

I recently posted my budget on the general forum and got a lot of criticism for the amount of money my husband and I spend on the weekends. I've looked at spending more closely and realized we probably eat out more than we should. Last weekend we tried revising our budget to allow for no more than 200/weekend for overall money spent (extra gas if we're making a far trip, food, entertainment, etc.) We were so money concious that we only spent $100, which was very exciting! I'm thinking that we can easily hold to the new numbers I've set up, but I'm just looking to get a general idea of what everyone else normally spends on the weekends to see how far off base we've been in the past...

[KTP]

Used to spend $300 to $500 a weekend. Now we spend about $50 a weekend above what we would normally spend for two weekdays. Mostly this reduction has come from not eating out and not going to very many bad movies (which rules out a ton of movies).

Trick is to pick a hobby that is fun and time consuming, but doesn't involve a lot of extra cash. ie, deep sea fishing would be a bad choice, hiking would be a good choice

[tripods68]

We have two young kids 5 and 3 yr old. It varies depending if we go somewhere else or stay home close. We take the kids to the local playground or to cousin. But for the most part we hang pretty tight close to home either rent movies or do chores. Usually we average about $0-40 on any given weekend. That's several trips to local McDonald (Sat/Sun) and Ice cream parlor

[sheridan15926]

$100 would be a very extravagant weekend (if we are at home---all bets are off on a vacation). We have really cut back with dining out, and the majority of our weekend "fun" are things we've already paid for (i.e. yearly memberships to zoos, museums, etc). We bring our own snacks/bottled water with us, so all we have to really pay for is gas.

[momof1in150]

I have two children, 7 and 13, and we spend no more the $50 per weekend. It is usually more like 0 but there are times will go out to eat or to the movies. My children have very busy schedules during the week so they are very happy to hang around home on the weekends.

[swaymonae]

Usually only $0-$50 (other than groceries, ofcourse)

[noppenbd]

Average for us is about $50. Last weekend was a big weekend and we spent $100 (went to Walmart and went on a pub crawl Sat night, plus got a haircut). We used to spend a lot more but we have a 2-yr-old so we don't go out to movies as much, and dinner out is usually a lot cheaper (no fancy dinners).

[skydivingchic]

I'd guess I probably average about $30-$40 per weekend, though I don't track weekend spending seperately from my spending money. DBF and I usually go out to eat once, sometimes twice a weekend and we take turns paying. We are not big movie goers, as we have Netflix. Many weekends we spend a day riding motorcycles.

I give myself $250 per month of spending money. That has to cover gas for my motorcycle, getting my nails done, eating out, plus any other entertainment type things like books or supplies for my crochet projects (unless the project is a gift).

For reference, DBF and I are in our early 30s and don't have children.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

A big weekend for us might be $80-$200 But it really varies. Probably half of the weekends, we spend nothing. I'm guessing that often we spend no more than $20. We do not have the income that you have, nor the same commitments and obligations so it probably isn't helpful to compare. I will say, though, that I read your budgeting thread was was surprised about your spending that much regularly when you have debt and little in the way of an emergency fund. It did not look like your EF would even cover one month without income, though, fortunately, you have two incomes. I'm guessing that at least one of you has sick-leave/disability should that be a problem.

Um, I should mention that I can only give a vague answer as to what we spend on days off. We still do not keep tabs on it all, but we practice moderation and get a lot of enjoyment out of things that might be considered just keeping up everyday obligations. For example, we enjoy going to ethnic groceries. Maybe we will buy a different kind of noodle there or a vegetable we've never tried. So we could spend an hour(!) in the store reading labels and talking about foods, possible uses for the foods, someone it reminds us of because we had the food at their house, etc. We get an hour of fun, and spend a dollar or a few dollars on something that just gets added into the home menu. So was that grocery shopping, or was that "food museum" visiting? I don't know, but it is inexpensive and we enjoy it.

Similarly, this weekend we will take a day trip to a town that has a huge fruit tree nursery. It's an interesting old river town, so we will drive around and look at the old houses. We'll stop for lunch there and laugh, remembering the horrible wine we had in one local restaurant who told us they made it themselves. We might even eat at that restaurant again, but I think we'll order water. At the nursery, we'll be buying five little trees, so probably $150. Is that "fun money" or is that landscape/garden money? Don't know how to count it, but for years we'll enjoy having spent it. Gas + lunch+ trees=$185 tops. But that is an infrequent level of spending.

[lennygaudy]

We used to spend a ton of money because I'd go out for every meal and usually to nice places. That's actually how I racked up a ridiculous amount of debt which I am now trying to get under control. $500 a weekend would have been typical for us (as a couple-no kids, though) but for the last couple weeks since I've been on a get out of debt plan I'd say I cut it down to about $100 or even a little less. It's amazing how you can make such drastic changes simply by revieweing your spending habits, devising a plan to restructure them and sticking to it. Best of luck!

[KTP]

you sound a lot like we were, lenny. We would drop $200 on a meal at a fine steakhouse, then go spend another $30 at the movies. Stupid stupid stupid. What do we have to show for it? Fat.

[thekid]

I'm not sure I get it. Do you mean how much you spend for entertainement on weekends?

I mean, it doesn't really matter if you gas up or do groceries on Tuesday or Saturday.

[kork13]

Originally Posted by KTP

Trick is to pick a hobby that is fun and time consuming, but doesn't involve a lot of extra cash. ie, deep sea fishing would be a bad choice, hiking would be a good choice

I whole-heartedly agree here... If you take a hobby that doesn't cost much, weekends are very inexpensive. I do photography, reading, and occasionally take up random projects here and there to try them.... After the initial buy-in cost (particularly with photography), it's practically free every time I go out, except for the gas to get there.

On a typical weekend, I'll only spend MAYBE $20... Often times, nothing--I'll just stay home and read a book on the balcony. I don't eat out a whole lot, don't drink or go to clubs, so those major weekend expenses of my peers are non-existent. This last weekend was expensive though -- $175 to buy the wood for a bookcase I decided to build... That project will keep me busy through the next 1-2 weekends probably.

[simpleyme]

well I do my grocery shopping on the weekend , and fill up my car for the week ahead so between 40-100 dollars

we do not really budget a amount for weekend entertainment , but we could go do something spendy if we wanted;-) but we usually hang out and relax,I work retail ,I do not care to see any more people than I have to on my days off

[tripods68]

Spending $200 to $400 a weekend was the "norm" for me when I was single even more when i had g/fs. As I look back in remembering those days, there were lots of wasteful spending. But then i again, i had too spend to get "lucky" that night


Now if we spend that much now is because we went grocery shopping (Costco and Walmart).

[melcar.group]

It seems that weekends are the time when you feel more freedom and are able to spend more money. Our typical weekend usually falls within the 50-100 dollar range, unless of course there is a large misc. expense.

There are great things that people, individuals or couples can do together that do not cost anything.

[guppy]

Wow. It's really funny how when you're spending money like there's no tomorrow you try to convince yourself that what you're doing is the ''norm'' and there's nothing wrong with it. I think my problem is that I am uber strict during the week. I don't spend a dime during the week, so when the weekend comes I go a little crazy. All of a sudden I want to go out to nice restaurants and buy house things and I feel like I ''deserve'' it since I've held back all week. Wrong mindset, I know. Glad I started posting on this site; everyone's keeping me accountable for my spending and I'm learning some real discipline! Thanks for all the responses!!

[disneysteve]

For us, it varies considerably based on what we do in any particular weekend. For example, this past weekend, my daughter had a school dance Friday night so my wife and I went out to dinner after we dropped her off. That's very unusual for us for a Friday. That was about $35. Saturday, my wife and I went to the casino in the morning and we both lost, so that was over $300. Then, the 3 of us went out to lunch. That was about $30. Sunday, we were busy at our temple from 9am until 1pm and had to be back there at 3pm, so we ran out and got lunch. That was about $35 also.

This coming weekend, we should be home Friday night. Saturday, we are going to NYC to see a show. Tickets were $87.50 total. Gas, tolls and parking will be another $50 roughly. We'll have lunch in the city, so probably another $30-$40 for that. And we're busy with something on Sunday that won't cost anything.

So one weekend was over $400 and the next is under $200. Other times, it might be well under that - maybe going out for pizza for $20 and not much else of any expense.

We don't have any set budget for weekend spending.

[red92s]

I spend a decent amount on the weekends, but it's primarily taking care of the things I was too busy to do during the week . . . grocery shopping, laundry, etc.

I also allow myself to eat out one lunch and one dinner over the weekend. Monday through friday I cook and take lunch in to work. I'm usually passed out from working and the gym by 11 pm on friday nights. Being exhausted is usually pretty cheap

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Depends. It could be $0, it could be $300. One day of snowboarding is probably $300 with lift tickets, food, gas, dogs, etc.

We typically eat out a few times so at least $100/weekend probably.