How much?

[disneysteve]

Personally, I can get by with little to no money each month but I feel guilty about my wife b/c she contributes nearly half of our monthly income. I want her to enjoy the fruits of her labor...within reason.

The two of you need to sit down together with the budget and agree upon an amount that she thinks is fair and you think is "within reason." And there is no reason why your fun money and her fun money need to be in the same amount.

[kork13]

Is that a general rule of thumb, to spend 3-5% on yourself and use the rest for bills, savings, etc.? I

Sorry to mislead, that's just my own rule of thumb, and only for the totally 'discretionary' spending that I'll spend on whatever. I generally go with 50% needs/30% savings/20% wants, as has already been mentioned.

[LuckyRobin]

My husband and I don't have an allowance. What we each have is a list for minor wants. Once a month we each get something off that list. Sometimes it's a music CD, sometimes it's a DVD box set. Bigger things are saved up for. We're committed to paying off debt as fast as possible right now, so we don't want to have allowances, but at the same time we allow the things off the list each month so we don't feel rebellious about the debt repayment.

[troyw]

Just to clarify...my wife and I are in total agreement on being frugal. She has never asked for more money to spend but I know she would like a little more in her pocket. I want to give her that b/c I know she works hard and has the right to enjoy it.

Thankfully we also agree that saving for the future is a must so I am more inclined to bend a little when it comes to spending money.

[snshijuptr]

If you both agree that she can spend more than you do, then create a budget, based on your spending goals and necessities or the 50/30/20 budget and let her spend what she wants. If you trust she won't go hog wild then you will be fine. As I said before if I want to go shopping, I check the budget then go shopping. That way I don't worry about buying clothes or makeup, and my husband doesn't worry about buying a video game.

If she feels like she wants an "allowance" then figure that into the budget and hand her the physical cash. It doesn't have to be a big deal

[sandrark]

I allow ~ 2.5% of my gross pay as "play money." The rest is allocated to savings, retirement, household costs, gasoline, food, etc. It seems like a good rule of thumb...not so much you're sloppy with spending, but not so cheap you can't go out for dinner with the girls.

Sandi