"Blow" Money - How Much Is Enough?!

If you're putting 20% into retirement already, and have a good savings built up, it's great to factor in a percentage of mad money (BTW..."blow" money sounds a little...wrong! LOL!).

You have to decide what is good for you. The main thing is, if you have credit card debt or personal loans (not car or mortgage), you need to focus on paying those instead of spending on unnecessaries.

Luck!

I think whatever you do, you each should get the same amount. My husband and I get $100 each per month. There are a lot of other things that this money could go towards (we do have CC debt and other things) but we both need that $$ to spend without feeling guilty about it. That said...I did have to use some of my money this month to cover a Dr. appt. I was just glad that I still had it. Dang back to school! They nickle and dime you into the poor house!

I wish I had that problem! We are paycheck to paycheck right now, so we have no "blow money". If we did, we'd probably keep it to $20-$25 per week for special treats like lattes or the occasional drive-thru. I'd focus more on saving for vacations or something we want for the house.

Right now it's not in the budget to have fun money. However, when we wanted certain things, we would save here and there for it until we were able to buy it. We don't have a restricted amount we spend, but when either of us want something, we go to one another and talk about it and see if we can arrange it by saving a little here and there. That's how we budgeted for fun or mad money. It worked because both of us communicated with the other and we are a team when it comes to stuff like that.
It's great to have a budget. That's probably what we'll do in the future. Set aside what you can afford, divide it in half for each of you and go from there. We made 71K a year and we barely had any mad money. For us, it wasn't practical to try and save from each paycheck because it seemed like every time we did try and save, something would happen where the truck needed to be fixed, or something in the house needed to be fixed etc. It's an endless cycle. lol
All in all, I think both of you ought to talk about what one or the other wants to get and figure out if you all can afford it. With two kiddos, one and one on the way, things are going to get real expensive. Just be cautious. :-)

We each get $100 every 2 weeks.

It's not "enough" to not have to plan, but it keeps us in clothes, haircuts, girls' nights, do dads, and whatchmacallits. (AKA haircut this paycheck, new sneakers next paycheck, new bra the paycheck after, lunch out once a week, etc.)

ALL of our personal expenditures (from the above to subscriptions, memberships, lunches not from the fridge, personal electronics, etc. come from it. We can save our personal money or spend it, as we choose. (It took me a couple years to stack away 2k from that to buy a laptop. $20 bucks every paycheck for 50 paychecks).

The most important thing; in my experience... is that the amounts are EQUAL, whatever the total is. Just for an example: My husband was spending $10 a day on lunches. That's $400 a month right there. Add in his other nickel and dime expenditures (also to mention his "big" ones, $40 here, $60 there) and he was blowing over a thousand dollars a month just on himself. Meanwhile, I hadn't had $10 a month to myself in years. There is NO reason, imho, why one person is "too good" for the same food the rest of the family eats (aka lunch at work). If ya want different lunches, either we'll change the grocery list OR you can buy it out of your personal money.

About $15 a week on good weeks. But you guys are a little more financially stable than us! So, I would ask, are you saving up for something... a vaction or going to Disney, rent a cabin/boat on a lake, new tv/laptop, college funds for the kids...? So, I would talk about having a goal to save for and put a percentage of my fun money in there first and see what I have left over. It boggles my mind when I think, oh my gosh, we could have bought a new computer if we just hadn't eaten out so many times these last few months! So, look at that first.

To us, anything over $20 is considered a big purchase to talk about!! To give you an idea, my husband usually buys a $65 video game about two to three times a year, that's his only fun money, really. We go to the movies maybe once every three or four months.

Ick, not easy to answer. Pretty much want ever doesn't go to bills from my income. All of Troy's income goes straight into savings and he pulls out what he needs for mad money. I would like to say between the two of us around 200 a week. That is if I understand your question.

It's also going to depend on what you consider "blow" or "mad" money items. Is lunch out (at work, instead of brown bag) considered blow money? Or is that already a line item in your budget under food expense? Do you buy magazines off the rack? Or are you talking about a subscription?

At our house, we typically budget around $100 every two weeks... so $25 a week EACH. That covers a weekly Starbucks treat, ordering music or books online, or ebooks, going to the movies, a candy bar or soda from a vending machine, dropping by BK for an icee just because... whatever.

Everything else is typically budgeted: meals out (as a family or date night), groceries, clothing, golf (yes my husband has a monthly golf budget, but I go with him once in a while, and that still comes out of "his" golf $), gifts (birthdays and Christmas and anniversary are all line items).
So it really depends on what YOU two decide are "blow" items. I would try to keep it to very personal individual things, and line item everything else. We don't usually use ours...but it keeps--so if I don't spend it for a month or two, then I can go splurge on whatever--a girls' day out? I don't get those often... the last one cost me $200.

But hubby used to always ask me on his way out the door for work: "Do you have a dollar bill for the coke machine?" No more. Now he gets his $ and if he decides to buy a coke... I'm not involved in it. If he buys a few CD's on payday, then he has to choose to do with out a soda later on ... so sad.

This is such a difficult question to answer, even given all the facts you have recited.

One major factor is your debt to income ratio. If you have debt, how fast do you want to get out it debt? The less "blow" money you have and the more you put towards debt, the faster the debt will go away.

I would also need to know how much of that 65k per year goes for bills. If you only have 200 left at the end of a pay period, then I would say you should have very little blow money. If you have 1000 left, the story changes.

Also, we have a rule in my house - neither of us makes a big purchase without consulting with the other. I can go buy a $400 suit without talking to my husband, but a $4000 TV would require a conversation.

So, to answer your question, look at it like a diet. If you completely deprive yourself, you will fail. If you overdo it, you will blow up. Find something in moderation that works for you.

I will tell you, the high I get from shopping is nothing like the high I get from taking that $500 extra money I alloted as blow money, not spending it, and putting it in savings!

We budget $20/week each. So, that is a $180 chunk out of our monthly budget. We're a family of five, and have a lot of debt we are working on paying down, but we have an emergency fund and no car payments. Everything else is budgeted, in order to get out of debt. We don't make any purchases without talking about them and working them into the budget. But, if we didn't have our own spending money each week I am sure we would overspend in other categories. This gives us a little freedom that we need. hth!

You had me until you mentioned the student debt.. Even if at a "good rate" it's still debt.. I would taper the eating out to maybe once a month?? also, magazines are kinda a waste of money.. pay off the student loan as soon as you can.. I mention this because you say you have one child and another on the way... as you know, the kids costs a lot of money..

When we first bought our house, while my other friends were buying their coffee and lunch out each day, I was bringing mine from home to work and putting the money I might have otherwise spent on "extras" toward the principal in my house payment.. I guess I view debt like this.. IF you owe money (good rates or not) you owe money and therefore, while it may not be CC debt.. it's still debt.. I would consider not indulging for some time.. I also would never tell someone to do something that I myself haven't done..

but whatever you decide, best of luck..

ROFL!

Reading your title, I thought this was going to be QUITE a different post.

Phew!

How much do we budget? Very, VERY, little. But that's because our income is small and cost of living (in our area) is not.

I think once bills are paid and money has been put into savings/investments, it's really about priorities. Would you all rather have a nice wardrobe, or to go on a family vacation, or have more money in saving in case the water heater breaks? Would your husband rather have a new "toy", or does your house get to finally get that new paint you've been vying for, or do you want to add more to a college fund for your children. Are mom/dad activities and coordinated babysitting important, or does your family enjoy time at home, and you have a need for a car up the road?

Depending, I'd give a monthly allowance to both parties, and stash the rest for a fun/necessarily fund.

You both get a set amount per week. Figure out how much your budget can comfortably afford and set that. Then figure out what purchases are/are not covered. I think it isn't "how much is enough" but figuring out what feels right to both of you, and that you can afford. Then you get that amount per week no matter what you spend. You can't borrow against it, but you can squirrel it away for a larger purchase. We used to include lunch money in our "mad money." I used to be much more frugal than my husband and would save up for weekends away with friends!

My answer is a little weird because my husband is very good at budgeting, I'm not good with money, but together we're good at being thrifty.

When I'm by myself it just never occurs to me to suddenly go out and rent a movie, go to an ATM, put gas in the car, shop for groceries, buy a cup of coffee, get a haircut, or buy a magazine, and I never eat out alone. Unfortunately that's just a flaw in my personality. Not that I don't go out- I have weekly errands to the doctors office, library, school, thrift store, community garden, and in-laws house.
As a family we go on vacations, shop, eat out, and do fun activities. I do not have to worry whether we can afford it because I can trust that my husband has done his research, shopped around for the best price, read product reviews, searched for coupons, checked the credit card statements for mistakes, and made sure that it fits in our budget.
I don't buy X just because he bought Y. I'm not like my son who says, "I have $10- I need to find something to spend it on." Since my husband is the designated budgeter I tell him things like "we need to buy a new stove in the next 5 years" or "Let's go to the swimming pool instead of driving 4 hours to the beach." or "I need more cat food in the next 2 days" or "Are you sure we need to eat out when we have leftover chicken in the fridge?."

I wish we had some extra spending money. We do not have any at all. My husband is getting a bonus so I'm hoping to use it towards my photography business.