Splurging on *GASP* Yourself!

[financialnut]

I truly believe there comes a point in life where you need to enjoy your hard work in living a budget. What do you think about this:

We currently net about $4,700 per month, and after ALL living expenses are paid for, we save about $1,200 (partially for long-term, partially for a home).

Here's the thing... included in our "living expenses," my wife and I incur about $500 per month in personal fund money and date money. Here's how it breaks down: each of us gets $150 a month in "play" money; in other words, we each get that money for things that WE want- in my case, a set of speakers for my computer, a new mouse for my computer, a couple of new shirts for work (because I want them), etc... This is a "fun" account; we don't use it for things we need.

The other part of that account is $200 for dates- we go miniature golfing, to the movies, to the theatre, to the baseball game, etc...

Here's my question... based on the above stats with what we're doing financially, is this a little too liberal in your opinions? What do you allot for your entertainment fun?

[MonkeyMama]

It depends. If you are able to pay your bills and meet your savings goals, then no, I wouldn't find it too liberal.

My spouse and I each take $50/month for "fun" and date nights we don't spend much on the date since we will easily pay $50 to the babysitter for a night out. We try to go out once a month. So strictly comparing to us, you spend much more on dates and fun money. (We net about $5k monthly).

BUT I think this is one area where people get confused. They look at my tight "fun" budget and think I am just a deprived saver.

Whereas, slowly over time we have implemented many things important to us. My lifestyle is night and day to where it was a few years ago. We have cable and lawn service and preschool for the kids (all things we couldn't justify financially at one point or another). We moved somewhere else to considerably cut our housing costs (& get a much nicer home to boot). & almost everything we do financially is so my spouse doesn't have to work.

Am I deprived because I only have $50/month left over for "fun"? Obviously not. It's such a small piece of the big picture.

On the flip side one could live a total miser otherwise and easily spend $1000/month on fun. & they could do rather well financially and be happy.

But yeah, I seem to have no problem splurging on myself, overall.

I do think it is important to earmark something in the budget for "fun." No matter how small. If it's $5/month, then it's $5/month. But it is nice to have some money to not have to answer to anyone or anything. That is where our $50 comes in, for us.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

For my husband and myself, $500 a month would be a phenomenal amount of fun money. We often find our fun in things that are related to just plain living.

For example, we can buy a bag of apples when we do the grocery shopping, OR we can head out to a pick-your-own orchard and pull apples directly from the trees, while enjoying the glinting autumn sun, fresh air, happy children around us, the smell of apple vinegar in the air, bees buzzing, gawky-beautiful appearance of the trees, the tractor ride into the orchard, the huge field of chrysanthemums adjoining the orchard, the crunch of pea pebbles underfoot in the entry to the orchard, the drive through the country to the orchard, the roller coaster hills and turns on the country road, the sight of sink-hole ponds with fishing benches placed alongside under willow trees, the bright red giant "brain celosia" flowers in the rural front yards..... An afternoon of that provides food, but also satisfying pleasure for little cost more than buying a bag trucked in from Washington....The apple tree in our own yard? Well that is a whole new level of satisfaction and the one time price of $30 bring seasons and seasons, and years and years of pleasure.

I think I find fun and other kinds of pleasure in just building a good life, so leisure and entertainment money as a separate category is not really necessary for us.

[Caoineag]

The current incarnation of my budget has $400 for out to eat (dates) and $300 for stuff (still tends to be spended on experiences more than stuff, but you get the idea). We net just a little bit more than you.

That said, we are also saving over $2000 not including current 401(k) contributions (another $166), IRA ($150)or a little savings account ($25) per month.

As you can see, we prefer to spend a little more on enjoyment and a little less on day to day life (rent, electric, etc). I am sure our numbers will change after we buy a house but for now we live extremely cheaply.

[disneysteve]

You are saving just over 25% of take-home pay. I think that sounds fine.

My only comment would be that if you are saving to buy a home, you might want to trim back the discretionary spending to speed up the down payment fund.

[Snave]

My wife and I take out "fun" money or whatever you want to call it each month. In fact, we have more than you have each month for this category. However, this is a catch-all bucket for the two of us and it is how we label our budget. If I get a haircut (which I do every 4-5 weeks), that $15 comes out of this, etc... This has come up in other threads and people will say they have $10 or $25 of "blow" money each month and then show their budget and they have a lot of stuff that typically we pay for out of our "fun" money fund allocated to another part of their budget. From my example above, they would put haircuts somewhere else in their budget. We use our fun money for date nights which might include dinner. Others will have allocated money for dinner to a different bucket in their budget. So, I take it with a grain of salt. It is just easier for us to have this catch-all in our budget as compared to having 5-6 more buckets. The biggest thing is not how you label your buckets each month or even where the breakdown of money is going, but rather if you are covering all the bills and putting enough money aside for saving for teh things you want/need.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It depends. Sounds like you are doing well so no it's fine. But if you wanted to great, if not then no skin off your back.

I'm like Monkeymama, we have mostly joint money so our fun is $40/month each. But we get $100/month entertainment, usually saved for travelling fun, $200/month eating out, etc.

[Scanner]

I am not a Budget-expert but from what I have read, budgeting in "recreation" and "leisure" is a must and if you don't, you are bound to fail.

[maat55]

If your debt free, have an EF and are saving sufficiently for retirement. Then your fun money sounds just fine. Have fun.

[Gailete]

I think as long as you can afford it, and it looks like you can, having money for dates with your spouse is worth every penny to keep a good relationship going. Whatever time you spend together is priceless and if you don't think so, talk to someone who has gone through a divorce!

One of the nice things about getting your financial life in order is to have money to spend on fun or whatever you want. One of the sad points about meeting my hubby when I did and becoming disabled so soon after we got married is the missed opportunities to do more active things that I used to have energy to do. Enjoy your wife and your togetherness!

Gail

[financialnut]

Great responses! I appreciate all of the feeback thus far!

I like the comment about maybe being a little less liberal and saving a little more for the house. We'd like to have one fairly soon but hardly have anything saved for it. It will take us the next 3 or 4 yrs. before we take that plunge!

And, I also liked the comments on being a little more creative with our dates- rather then depending on entertainment with a price tag, look for more cheap things to do that can be just as meaningful. The point is, my wife and I need to be spending time with each other. Period. If that is happening and we're doing things we enjoy, maybe we don't have to have such a large portion of our budget saved for "fun."

Thanks for all the help!

[osadg]

Whoa. That number scares me, but if it works for you and you're not worried-then I guess it works for you.

My husband and I probably do something similar, but ours seems to just be spread out more. Almost all of our nights out and dates, are usually events that are going on around town, and we tend to buy discount passes for places we like to frequent. We also go miniature golfing, the batting cages, outdoor theaters, movies, games, etc. We do almost all those things though for under $100 a month, and usually much, much less! Those kinds of activities are the kind of activities that you can usually get great discounts for, or cheap passes. We also check the days and times of most events, and go during times that work for us, but also allow discount rates. We also always check for coupons or deals online, and make sure every year to purchase those local school coupon books. We love going to a lot of local areas & activities and realized that by buying season tickets at the end of the season before for the theater or snow season, we could save a bundle!

The nice thing is we still get to have all the extravagances we really enjoy, but the money we don't spend each month gets to go into the savings account we have set up for fun. With the other funds we put in there, we have the money set aside at the end of seasons to get us a deal on the next year and still have the money for things we truly consider extravagant for ourselves without ever feeling guilty about it.