I have previously talked about our jump in income over the past year. For those who don’t know, I started making a little money on the side from my new hobby and my wife got a promotion.
We have been very diligent in saving and putting money towards retirement, but we never really gave in to some of our wants. Earlier we had been frugal by necessity, and now we have been faced with questioning what we want to do with our extra money.
I’m convinced that this is one of the leading causes of financial irresponsibility for people in their 20’s. It’s not too rare that a young adult gets their first decent paying job and makes more money than they could have imagined.
Within a few years, many young adults go from eating ramen noodles in their dorm room to rolling in the dough.
A couple weeks, my wife and I got to talking about how diligent we have been with our finances. We are maxing out our Roth IRA‘s, contributing to my 403(b), saving extra money, and don’t have any debt.
We still make sacrifices like refusing to buy a 2nd car, but we are left with a little extra money each month. After much deliberation, we decided to set up a “fun budget.”
What Do I Mean By a Fun Budget
I am sure many of you are wondering if I have gone off the deep end. Others may wonder what the heck I am talking about. For those who can’t read between the lines, our fun budget is purely to spend on stuff that we want.
Not stuff that we need, but purely want. We designated a specific amount for each month that we can spend on items or experiences that are not necessary without having to feel guilty. It is small enough to still let us prioritize our financial goals, but large enough to let us have a little fun.
What exactly does that equate to? What do I mean exactly?
Things that we imagine we will use our fun budget for are eating out (yes, that is not a necessity), buying books (because we can rent them from the library if we really want to), going to concerts or movies, going out for drinks with friends, and buying stuff.
Things that will not be included are groceries (we have to eat), clothes (if we need them for an event or job and are not just buying to have extras), gas, insurance, etc.
Basically, it is as simple as it sounds. If it is a necessity, it will not be deducted from our fun budget. This is purely for pleasure.
Why We Set Up a Fun Budget
Before any of my financially responsible readers criticize my choice, let me point out why we decided to set up a spending plan for life’s pleasures. With the extra income coming in and many of our financial goals already met, we realized that we have some extra cash.
For those of you who don’t know, my wife and I have (until recently) barely made ends meet. We were doing okay, but with little room for eating out or doing fun stuff. Our idea of splurging was buying a $20 pizza that would last us for 4-5 meals and renting a $1 movie from Redbox.
To make a long story short, we realized that one major area of our life that was lacking was a decent social life. Throughout our adult life, we have prioritized a debt-free lifestyle.
This means paying for grad school in cash, even when it is hard. Yet, at the same time, we did not want to let ourselves loose. We didn’t want to justify financial irresponsibility or spending money without any consequences.
We decided to find a compromise. By establishing a spending plan for fun, we are therefore keeping ourselves from spending too much money.
Perhaps more importantly, it brings the joy of budgeting back. One of the curses of making too much money (don’t get the wrong idea – we aren’t making THAT much money) is that you have a large enough cushion that it is not necessary to budget.
Budgeting becomes unnecessary and therefore a chore. Yet, our fun budget helps to keep things exciting. By limiting our splurges, we are forced to prioritize what we really want. It’s like a child in a candy store who is given the option of 1 item in the entire store.
Most likely, that kid will take his/her time deliberating the decision because it is that important – they have to make the best choice because they only get one thing. It’s the same way for us. Implementation of our fun budget means that we are still evaluating our spending.
While it was difficult to give in to the urge to “live a little,” I have come to see the benefits of controlled splurging. By establishing our fun budget, we are making things exciting again, enjoying life while we can, and still saving money.
In case you are wondering, our first month’s fun budget was spent on a portable dishwasher (we’re renting, so it had to be portable).
This was a GREAT investment because it saves us at least 2 hours a week on dishes each week. Talk about a great investment! Before our fun budget, we would have kept convincing ourselves that it wasn’t necessary and continued to live in misery even though we could afford it.
Readers, do you have a fun budget? Or do you think it encourages you to spend too much money?
A fun budget is definitely needed! We have eating out in our fun budget as well.
I love our fun budget. We have a set amount of date money and personal money each pay period. Otherwise he rebels against the budget.
We have fun money in our budget but not a separate fun budget. Sounds like a good idea though.
A fun budget is a necessity. It’s what makes budgeting fun and not boring!
Agreed! Its what allows me to get through budgeting.
If you have a little extra, then a fun budget is a necessity. We need to have fun once in a while and although we can have a lot of fun for free, spending money once in a while feels good. 🙂
As long as you are saving so much, I think it’s great that you budget for some fun.
Before I started budgeting, my entire income was a “fun budget.” Having recently discovered the critical importance to budgetining, I feel relieved to see that you have credited a fun budget. I will definitely allot some room in my budget for fun.
I fear that a constrictive budget, without any room for fun, would lead me to go off the deep end one day with unnecessary spending (i.e. maxing out my credit card!). Thank you for reminding us that its okay to live a little.
I love that your fun budget isn’t what it sounds like; putting aside money for things you probably can’t really afford and shouldn’t waste your money on. Going out to eat is also a treat for us. A major treat! Great job being responsible at a young age!
That is an absolute must. Even if your financial goals aren’t 100% met, you should still find a way to budget in a little bit of fun. Otherwise, if everything is always so serious and saving-driven, it will get old quick and harder to keep up with.
Besides that (and I probably say this WAY too often) nothing in life is guaranteed: not the rest of today, not tomorrow, and certainly not 20+ years in the future. If you don’t take the time to enjoy life now, you may never get that chance. That isn’t to say saving for the future isn’t important, but when something as rare as time is involved you need to be able to balance both before either one runs out.
I’m surprised you two were operating so tightly before, actually. I don’t think having zero money for fun is healthy or sustainable long-term. We actually budget quite a bit for fun if you count traveling to weddings. We don’t spend it so much on purchases as experiences, though. I wish we had a little more room so I could buy some more clothing!
The best part about having a fun budget is that it means all of your other money is assigned elsewhere. When we didn’t have any fun money (we call it “spending cash), we ended up actually spending more than we do now that it’s in the budget. Since we didn’t have a budget for it, we would just get frustrated and spend without a limit.
Right now, my wife gets $40 a month and I get $20 a month. I don’t need extra cash because I get free food/soda at work and she’s at home raising our little one. We also have a “date” category. I think that you MUST date your spouse once a week to keep yourselves from GOING INSANE 🙂
I think you are being more responsible by putting this in the budget. Nice work!
I completely agree that people need a fun budget. While it’s important to save money and pay off debt, enjoying your money is almost as crucial.
Even without loads of extra income, my “blow” money in my budget definitely makes being on a budget so much easier. “Blow,” “Fun” or whatever you want to call it, its so good to have 🙂
My version of a fun budget is using a specific debit card for it. That way I don’t overspend after having all of my monthly expenses taken care of