One of the reasons why people don’t like to budget their money is because they feel restricted and they don't realize you can budget in the fun stuff. One way you can build in money for yourself is by adding fun money to your budget.
Fun money.....a term made famous by Dave Ramsey is money you are able to spend on anything you want no questions asked. Fun money is what saved me from burn out while I was paying off my debt and it still gives me the satisfaction getting what I want but it keeps me from overspending.
The amount of fun money you allow yourself to have weekly depends on your current expenses so before you decide on your fun money amount make sure you create a budget first. Your fun money can be any amount, originally my fun money was $100 a week and then I reduced it to $50/week and now it is $25/week because I have an aggressive savings goal I’m working toward and reducing my fun money temporarily will get me there faster.
There are two ways you can disburse your fun money, you can withdraw it from your bank account on payday as cash and spend it as you choose until you run out of money or you can set it up a fun money bank account (my favorite) and have the money direct deposited or transferred to that account.
Fun money allows you to feel unrestricted so you can enjoy some of the pleasures of life, such as, going to brunch with your friends or buying those new shoes you have been eyeing or even to buy your favorite drink from Starbucks. Having fun money available to spend on whatever you want gives you the freedom to enjoy those things.
Fun money also keeps you from spending your bill money because you have the belief that “you work you should be able to treat yourself”. There's nothing wrong with treating yourself, but if you have not have given yourself fun money you might accidentally spend money that should be allocated to a bill. Have you ever been in the situation where you thought you had $100 available to spend at the store? You spend just under $100 and on Monday morning you realize you forgot about that $50 you randomly spent in Target (because Target will get you) on Friday. So now you have spent $50, of your bill money. Fun money allows you to treat yourself without worry since you are keeping your fun money separate from your bill money.
If you’re thinking you don’t have enough money left over after you pay bills to have fun money, I want you to remember my friend. I have a friend who’s money was tight every month (she was knocking out her student loans) but the one thing she would always do is get her nails done. That was her fun money, approximately $25 every two weeks. The reality is, you’re going to spend money, whether it’s because you need to practice self-care or you just want to go out to brunch with your friends, it’s going to happen. Plan for it.
Do you allocate fun money to yourself? If so, how much?
