Fun Money

[boosami]

How much "fun money" do you budget for each month? I'm talking about blow money, disposible money, allowance; the money that you budget as being gone by the end of the month.

I've read that 10% of your gross monthly income is a good figure, but that seems really low compared to how much I spend. I don't have a set budget, but I calculate mine at 25% on average. That said, I am probably quite the conspicuous consumer...

[anonymous_saver]

10% sounds high to me! I have no debt, make about $38,000/yr. I'm happy without spending a lot of money I guess, it's easy for me since I'm saving so much so I can buy a house some day soon.

[PrincessPerky]

I think it depends on what you call fun money....anything above the bare minimum I call fun (internet cell phone, higher gas bill, AC) but that is to help me be really thankful for all I have.

If you go by all that stuff then the percent is huge. rough guess 25%-50% depending on how much you call the fun.

if on the other hand you only count entertainment or clothing purchases ..it would be less than 5% but I am a cheap date, borrow a movie off my brother in law and a chocolate bar to share and I am happy (preferably dark chocolate)

so I didn't vote, not sure which to put.

[anonymous_saver]

Yeah, I'm including everything other than groceries, rent, electric and phone. I think I'm still around the 5% level. Things are much cheaper when you don't have a car, or kids!

[Snave]

It depends on how someone defines "fun" money in their budget. I have seen people put budgets up on here and some things they have a category for, we put in our "fun" money pot. For example, we have a grocery budget for food at the store. However, if we go out to eat, we take it out of our "fun" money pot. Same is said for hair cuts or my wifes maincures, etc... We don't budget those in, just take them out of the "fun" money. I guess we should call our "fun" money something else since we use it for those things. I guess it should be "miscellaneous" funds.

[Caoineag]

Like Snave, hair cuts, out to eat and other miscellaneous things come from the fun money in my household. Despite that, we are still sitting at about 10%.

[feh]

I really have no idea. We don't keep a budget. My wife and I are pretty frugal - we really don't spend unless we need to.

That being said, I imagine it's under 5%.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Us , too.---no budget! I have no idea what we spend for fun money. I don't know what to call fun anyway. What is fun to some is a necessity to others. How so I break down what is fun? I spent $3.40 for sweet potato slips and they are fun to grow, but later we get to eat pounds and pounds of sweet potatoes and that takes some off the money we'd spend on food. Plus, I make sweet potato pies and give them away. That's more fun I had from the $3.40 purchase, but it might be saving me on a little gift money, too sometimes. Another purchase that is fun but can make a case for saving money--I could put my hair up with the rubber bands that come into the house on newspapers and produce, but instead, I buy cute, fun barrets. Not totally a necessity, but a fun self decoration that has function. It also saves me from the haircut money that might be spent if I were to wear my hair short. Or how about when I attend a high school jazz band concert? I pay $20 a ticket because the event is a fund raiser, but yes, I do have fun....I don't know. There are just so many purchases that I don't know how to classify. Is it live or is it Memorex? I mean, is it fun or is it some other budget category?

[PrincessPerky]

-I could put my hair up with the rubber bands that come into the house on newspapers and produce, but instead, I buy cute, fun barrets.

Please don't use those rubberbands, hair should never be next to rubber! it causes all kinds of breaks and tears.

If you must use them sew a pretty cloth covering so the cloth is next to the hair not the rubber.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Please don't use those rubberbands, hair should never be next to rubber! it causes all kinds of breaks and tears.

If you must use them sew a pretty cloth covering so the cloth is next to the hair not the rubber.

Oh, that sounds fun! But I have no money left in my fun budget.

[skydivingchic]

My monthly "blow money" is about 6% of my take home pay and about 3% of my gross pay.

[disneysteve]

I really have no idea. We don't keep a budget. My wife and I are pretty frugal

Funny but I don't remember posting this even though it sounds like I did.

I didn't vote either. I have no idea what we spend on "fun". I'm also not sure what counts as fun money. We went out to dinner tonight. Is that fun money? We are leaving on vacation tomorrow. I guess all of that counts as fun money.

We aren't big shoppers. We buy stuff when we need stuff. We don't do much recreational shopping. I guess our big "blow" areas would be eating out and travel. Travel is usually about 5% of income, though some years it has been higher than that. Not sure about dining out as I really don't track that spending.

[fruitbowlk]

I don't do much fun stuff. I do go out to eat aleast twice a month. I might take my dd out different places alease twice a month. I try to look for free stuff to do with her.

[Gruntina]

Blow money changed every month so I do not have a set amount I save. For months we want to buy bigger ticket item such as a log splitter or the like which is more of a need than blow money, we usually buckle up on our blow money.

For months we do not have any large expenses to worry about, we might feel free to blow a little money on eating out once in awhile or some things my husband and I want for example stuff for his moped and tools while I like to splurge on house items like sheets or curtains and the like and occasionally clothes.

We are both in the habit of not really blowing money on lunches out , vending machines and coffee as we think that is a large waste of money and much rather buy stuff that we would really enjoy longer than 1 minute.

Our blow money varies monthly as we get thing when we need/want them and we usually do not need a lot of wants hence we like our pennies going to everything that counts so the term ‘blow money’ is really not on our budget so much.