Can You Survive On $60 Per Month?
I don't often re-blog but, this one caught my eye and reminded me of the post that I wrote yesterday: At It Again! I keep my 'mad money' in a 'secret' compartment in my wallet and before my boys went off to college, it would just sit there for months and months! Now, every time that they come home from college, I spend my 'mad money' on them so that I can keep our family budget intact (and keep my CFO hubby from nagging me)!
I would like to challange all of my friends here in the RAIN to try this! Let's begin on November 1 and go through the end of the month. Now this is going to mean no new outfits for Thanksgiving (unless you go to your favorite consignment shop!) and will require alot of discipline--especially on MY part!
The election will be over in a few days and I think that we're going to see consumer confidence rise. This should get some of our buyers off the fence. When we start seeing more closings in 45 - 60 days, we'll appreciate that we're not in the 'credit card hole' from overspending our 'allowance' money!
Let's try it!
I'm going to share a secret with you - my allowance is $60 per month. That's right - $60 dollars to spend on dinning out, movies, coffee, and anything else I may want to treat myself to.
I wasn't always this frugal. In fact, my family can overspend with the best of them! Fortunately my wife and I decided to stop the crazy spending and put ourselves on a financial diet.
Should your allowance be $60? Well that depends. If you are putting 10% of your gross income into savings every month and have no credit card debt I'd say you could probably bump that figure up. If, on the other hand, you have less than 3 months worth of your income sitting in your regular savings account for emergencies, have any credit card balances, or are saving less than 10% of your gross income I'd suggest your number should be less than $60 until you can achieve those three benchmarks.
So how exactly do you get yourself on such a financial diet and then maintain? It's called "CASH ONLY."
For all your personal expenditures you must pay with cash from your wallet or pocket book. The amount of your allowance is not the critical part of this diet, it is the use of cash that is key. Having a finite amount of paper in your pocketbook that you can see every time you reach for some more is the only way to reign in the spending.
Pay yourself the allowance on the first of every month and then have fun! Of course, when the cash runs out you are done for that month. No reaching for the debit or credit card when you run out mid-month. No cash, no play!
We implemented this for our entire family, including our 13 year old and 10 year old. It's amazing the choices each individual will make when it is THEIR allowance on the line. There will be times that we drive through McDonalds' because one person wants to waste their money on some fries and the rest of us will not order anything and wait to get home to snack.
For each of the last 6 months I've managed to spend $20 or LESS of my allowance.
My passion is my involvement with Spokane County Search and Rescue, so I put away $40 per month to buy my SAR toys (er...equipment!). I never realized I could be THIS frugal until I had a finite amount of cash in my pocket.
How low do you think you could get your allowance to?
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