Comments on: Frugal Living Bandaid: Give Yourself an Allowance

By: sara l

sara l — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:18:29 +0000

We’ve recently changed our budget around, putting a certain percentage to all household/saving/retirement stuff. The rest is ours to do what we want with- play, date night, save for a splurge, etc.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #155 — Time With Family | Moolanomy

Carnival of Personal Finance #155 — Time With Family | Moolanomy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:05:04 +0000

[...] Frugal Living Bandaid: Give Yourself an Allowance at One Caveman’s Financial Journey — This is an interesting concept to help prevent budget overrun and irresponsible spending. [...]

By: AndyS

AndyS — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:29:10 +0000

Great idea and a good way to live a bit. It’s fun to spend at times with no strings attached. I take more of Pinyo’s approach (previous comment). I save, invest and then spend what’s left. Sometimes I even use the extra money to make those high risk investments like options trading which I recently started. Or I just pick my favourite cause and donate some money every month.

By: Pinyo

Pinyo — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:08:26 +0000

I think this is a good method for some folks. Personally, I save, invest, and pay for major expenses upfront. What left over is mine to play with. Just a slightly different approach.

By: PF Buzz

PF Buzz — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:31:50 +0000

Personal Finance Buzz…

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By: The Friday gathering for 5/30/2008

The Friday gathering for 5/30/2008 — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:31:33 +0000

[...] Frugal Living Bandaid: Give Yourself an Allowance from One Caveman�s Financial Journey [...]

By: traviswright

traviswright — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:14:51 +0000

This is a great concept that has worked well for my wife and I. We get $80 each per month to do whatever we want to with. Doing this has brought our MISC fund way down!

By: TUDrewser

TUDrewser — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:53:38 +0000

Totally agree…this concept is absolutely critical for a successful budget! Before we had a budget, my wife used to hassle me over how much I ate out for lunch, the soda I bought during work, etc. In her defense, we weren’t tracking our money and all she knew was that we never seemed to have enough money and I was spending “like crazy” (in her mind). In the same way, I gave her a hard time about spending $45 to get her nails done or coffee with friends “all the time”.

Once we had a budget, we created two “Fun Money” accounts. Even with just $50, I can’t tell you how FREEING it is to be able to spend money whenever I want, not have to account for it, and not have to hear my wife complain about it. It has completely changed our relationship, not to mention the fact that we both buy frivolous things much less since it’s OUR money it’s coming out of ;-)