Monday, June 21, 2010

Allowance…

Do any of you use the allowance system? Do you allow a certain amount of money per week? I am thinking about trying this method and allowing myself $80/week or $320/month to start and see how it goes. In a perfect world, I would like $200/week or $800/month. I am going to try this out for a week and see how I do. I am going to take out $80 in cash and try to make it last through Sunday. Wish me luck!!!

On a side note…

My boyfriend stepped up for me big time this weekend! He knows money is tight and he finally received his tax return. Not only did he take me out to dinner and a show on Thursday to see the Conan O’Brien writers, he also purchased joint gifts for his Stepfather, my Dad and my Brother-in-Law for Father’s Day. I only had to spend $25 for a gift card to the local golf course for my Dad. I am so thankful!!!
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14 comments:

Aaren said...

I use an allowance system, and I get $125 twice a month, or $250/ month. Of that, $100 is allocated toward gas, so for fun money I get $150/month. I could give myself more, but I'm trying to pay off these credit card and medical bills, so it is what it is until they're done. I have a separate account that the money is automatically transferred to each payday, and it includes lunches out if I don't bring my own, happy hours, clothing, jewelry, makeup, everything. The only thing not included is time spent with the boyfriend, as we have a joint account that we use in those cases.

12:58 PM
Chitown said...

@ Aaren: Wow!!! $150/month or $75/two weeks for fun money. You put me to shame. I am not even including my gas in the $80/week.

You must bring your lunch almost every day. What do you typically bring?

1:35 PM
Aaren said...

Hey girl. I either bring leftovers (I try to crockpot once a week or every other week, which gives us a bunch of food for cheap), and honey and I can eat leftovers for lunch and dinner until they're gone, OR (I'm bad, I know) I eat frozen meals. I know they're not the healthiest thing, but I can get 9-10 meals for $20. I also bring yogurt and fruit to the office for snacks.

Most of my fun money goes to happy hours, and I try to keep the bill under $20 a pay period. I used to give myself a lot more (around $75/week), but after the car accidents I had to start socking away funds to take care of that. I want to get back there, it was fun, but gotta take care of business first.

2:25 PM
Anonymous said...

My fun money is $50 a week, but that doesn't include gas. Most of this is spent on lunch, after work drinks or maintenance such as manicure or blowout. I'm thinking of putting myself to a challenge where I don't buy lunch for an entire month. Want to buddy up?

4:18 PM
Chitown said...

@ DD: I need baby steps. Can we start with 2 weeks?

It's funny. I got this whole idea of an allowance this morning. I know my spending is out of control but I also know I get crap for a manicure or pedicure. So I figured, hey...I get $80/week (I hope to get this down) to start of with and I can spend it on whatever, food & dining, groceries, manicure/pedicure, entertainment...whatever.

So, I really want another one of those no chip manicures but the darn things cost between $30-$40. I realized that was half of my allowance for the week and passed. Who knows...this may work.

I literally walked in the salon last week, took a seat and walked out again. That is huge for me but yet, I was asked to speak to an employee in a mentoring/netorking scenario and decided on lunch instead of coffee. That meal cost me $60 bucks last week and no...the bank is not picking up the tab. I should have used better judgment.

5:07 PM
Eve said...

Wow!!! You guys are great. I think i might move to the allowance system to. I can put it in my ingdirect account and that could be it. I think I'm going to try with the $250 a month. Starting July 1!!! Maybe we could make it a challenge... who's in?

5:42 PM
Chitown said...

A challenge sounds fun AND it may help motivate me. Who's in?

5:50 PM
Anonymous said...

hi chitown, i've been reading your blog for a couple of months now. i've climbed out of that debt hole and i read your blog when i'm tempted to buy something online to remind me how badly i don't want to keep paying credit card bills. so, i hold you partly responsible for keeping my credit card debt in check. thanks ;)

i use an allowance/reward system. $10 a day is my allowance and then for every day i go to the gym, i give myself an extra $10. in a good week, i end up with a $120 weekly budget. and i've lost a few lbs in the process :) $70 a week is totally doable but giving myself the ability to bump it up for good behavior helps me stay on track without beating myself up over the occasional frivolous expense (damn starbucks!)

it doesn't have to be the gym. if you are working a part time job and a full time job, it could just be $10 extra every day you work both. anyway, this is how i do it and sometimes it works better than others.

keep going. it will be so worth it. and thanks for sharing. -Linda

5:56 PM
Anonymous said...

Just began an allowance system on 6/1 of this year and I'm allowing myself $150/week for groceries, entertainment, dining out, & routine pet care. This was an attempt to pump up the volume on my scheme to pay off the mortgage before I'm 50 and, since I turned 48 on Saturday, I only have 2 more years. In my current scenario I have 25 months to go. In one month alone, I think it's made a difference of about $1000. That has been VERY soberingl. Another thing I'm doing is using CASH and you truly do spend cash more carefully than you spend with a debit card.

7:54 PM
Anonymous said...

I'd be down for a challenge. My goal is to bring my lunch to work everyday for the entire month of July.

9:03 PM
Carly said...

I use an allowance system but mine is a bit more generous and broad. I get about $900 a month - but that covers EVERYTHING. Groceries, gas, clothing, makeup, meals out, drinks out, weekend trips and even oil changes and minor car repairs. I try to set aside about 25% toward those infrequent bigger ticket items, so maybe my real allowance is closer to $650 or so.

9:17 PM
Unknown said...

Re: Carly's comment, I must note that my groceries ARE NOT included in the allowance, nor are things like car repairs, etc. I do maintain separate accounts for those things, and honey pays a portion of groceries since we live together. That would certainly increase my amount, but I'm not nearly as disciplined as Carly obviously is, because there's no way I'd set the appropriate amount of money aside!

9:51 PM
TeacHer said...

Hi Chitown, I've been reading your blog for a while now, but this is my first comment!

When I was in aggressive debt payoff mode (I had a $5,700 personal loan that I had used to pay off my credit card debt - I paid that baby off in 10 months!) I used an allowance system. I gave myself $100 a week for groceries and fun. After I paid off the loan, I loosened up a bit, but now I'm trying to pay off my other debts so I'm back on an allowance.

This time I get around $300 per month, just for fun (groceries and gas aren't included). However, this is flexible. I write a budget every month and sometimes get more, sometimes less based on other, irregular bills or expenses that might be coming up in a given month.

Just my two cents - hope you check out my blog, too!

3:15 PM
Chitown said...

@ Linda: I like the reward system. I may have to incorporate that somehow. Thanks for reading and yes...Credit Cards are awful!!!

@ Anon: You can do it!!! Kick that mortgage debt in the butt!!! =)

@ Carly: I can make it on $800/month for sure but I wouldn't include gas or maintenance in that amount. I consider gas a committed expense since I can't go without it.

@ TeacHer: Welcome!!! Obviously there is something to this allowance system. I am really going to try it out. Just cash though!!!

4:03 PM

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