Love your blog — I found it through J.D.’s Get Rich Slowly…

Great idea you have here. I do this too - budget for fun and goof-off money. Frankly, if I were single, I could probably get away with less “fun” money for the household, but it’s very important to my girlfriend that we have money for Starbucks and the occasional inexpensive dinner out.

So I learned a long time ago to just put that money in the budget, rather than be surprised. It’s a little less going toward debt reduction, but a LOT toward peace and happiness in the household — so on balance, it’s worth it

This is a great idea! My mother has begged me for years to get on a budget but I resisted, thinking it will be too restrictive and make spending not fun or impulsive at times…not true. You have to budget for the type of person YOU are, if it’s important to you to have an amount to “blow” on whatever, budget that in! Keep a list of fixed expenses (mortgage, insurance, etc.) and variable. For Variable like food and clothing, make sure you put in extra for what you really love and know you are going to give into anyways..you might as well budget for it! Just be sure to stick to the plan, don’t over spend and if you find that item(s) that you can’t resist and is “out of the budget”, try to save the money from other variable items, a little from here, one less latte there! And always put in a place for savings and vacation - future plannings!