Monthly spending money?

[Martha]

How about 200-250 a month?

 

[crazy connie]

I tend to take a simplistic approach. Pay all the essentials and if there is anything left I can choose to indulge a bit. Right now I am living off of AT monies and trying to grow the IRA's & 401K. The less I waste now the longer the growth period. The longer the growth period, the more discretionary income there will be. I tend to be low mtc and not into frivolous spending. Once I start the SWR of 4% there should be more than $1500 a month not spoken for. If I downsize housing that goes up substantially. Month in & month out I doubt I could spend any more $500 a month on what nots & lunches. So, unless I learn to share more with the kiddo's, socialize and shop more then the money will just pile up and my kids can FIRE the day I turn up my toes. Hopefully in 2 or 3 decades.

 

[greg]

How about 200-250 a month?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Would I get the same amount?

 

[Cut-Throat]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Would I get the same amount?

For sure, if Martha went back to work!

 

[HelpMeRhonda]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Would I get the same amount?

I gotta know Greg, does the $1500 fund 6 months for you or 3 months for each ?

I'm feeling a little guilty about a small windfall I came across a while back. :

 

[greg]

I gotta know Greg, does the $1500 fund 6 months for you or 3 months for each ?

I'm feeling a little guilty about a small windfall I came across a while back. :

In all twisted seriousness, what's mine is her's. We've been married too long to separate out differences or sources of income now. The sold item that made the $1500 was not an item that I owned before the marriage. (But I do think I sold it for a decent profit.) So in some way or another half is hers. Maybe all if she can make a good or fun argument for it. A laugh is worth a lot.

PS, Martha I'm thinking you can have it all if you'll pay me an allowance for making you laugh. I would prefer a piece work rate. Plus, I want an advance and retainer today. How about $1500? To start?

 

[kcowan]

We still have separate accounts for checks and investment but I manage it all and we take turns funding expenses out of each checking account. We track expenses monthly with an outlook for YE. If the outlook is above budget, we have a conversation about causes and potential corrections.

Windfalls such as income tax refunds just go into the investment account. If we run under budget, we don't take any corrective actions.

 

[greg]

For sure, if Martha went back to work!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I think that's something nobody wants--even me. I think it's more a case of me trying to expand money for mutual entertainment by an attempted reductions in private entertainment. Martha wants it all--no work, lots of expensive vacations, pampering, and me not cutting her hair (don't we all?); I'm just trying to bring a little reality to the situation--maybe, kinda . . . maybe not :. If we budget more on personal allowances, we spend less on vacations and stuff.

And, yes, I am trying to control shape our future--somewhat, kinda, for sure. But not in a nasty, argumentative way. We talked about Nord's comments last evening. More tonite after reviewing posts.

 

[shiny]

Now that I know we don't have to value the "health and beauty" category equally ...

I'm trying to come up with a real answer and it is hard to do as neither of us spends tons of money seperately and almost all of it goes on the credit card. The best answer I can say is that whenever I take $200 out of the ATM he gets about $140 of it and I get the rest and we run out at about the same time. He stops by the coffee shop for a coffee and scone on the days he walks to work and occasionally buys a newspaper, but other than that I can't think of much seperate stuff to account for. I spend some out with the ladies, but its generally not that much.

We obviously don't have a problem with it, but I think couples who do (I know a few) should get a set amount of money per month that they don't have to account for.

BTW, HA - yes, I fully agree that women should get enough money to look their best for "bimbo defense"

 

[pfpelican]

We talked about Nord's comments last evening.  More tonite after reviewing posts. 

I've heard of couples whose only communication is via email.  I'm glad to see, G & M, that this forum is not your only means of communication. 

 

[uncledrz]

G: WTHeck. You don't need that . . . . if you get that then you have to go look at shotguns with me.

M: OK

G: Here's a nice 20 gauge. We could start bird hunting, get some exercise in the fall.

M: I like this little one. It fits better.

G: Naaaa. That's a .410. You could shoot me right in the face with that and I wouldn't even feel it.

Ouch, that hurts. Tell that to the rabbits, partridge and squirrels who've made it onto the dinner table, curtesy of my ol' .410.

 

[JonnyM]

We couldn't conceive of separate "Fun" funds, or any type of division of finances. About 10 years ago, she took over the checkbook (bill paying) in exchange for my cleaning the cat boxes (we had alot at the time). Seems like a good deal to me to this day. I like to tease about "When do I get my next allowance", but it's more of an inside joke than anything else. We each try to have about 4 c-notes in our respective wallet/purse for emergency gottahavits that require quick cash. OTOH it's not my fault that she provides for my every want, need, and desire, including about 2-4 new guitars per year whether I need them or not. She is just about making sure I have any and all toys I want. I do the same do support her hobbies and collections.

We do have one agreed upon rule. Any item that can be construed as a "Tool" is purchased immediately without any budget considerations whatsover by either of us together, separately, or diagonally.

So far we've never dipped into our savings, so that is slowly growing, and all expenses are met; with some never calculated unknown precisely to us Money-for-whatever-seems-like-fun-stuff left over that we use to support our consumer economy.

P.S. Ebay is Evil 8) :

 

[greg]

This discussion on spending money started when Greg saw my credit card bill. I had just bought all new curtains and two new lamps for the living room, dining room and computer room. He wrote on the outside: Holy crapola Martha!

We're still fighting over the curtains too. Last nite I glanced over at the curtains and saw 'Fidel Castro' where one part of the curtain flower design folded over another. I pointed that out to The Martha and she denied its existence. After pointing it out from up close, she agreed it might be a person's face but NOT Fidel's. This went back and forth for for 2-3 minutes while a series of commercials aired on TV, with my accusations shrilled to the point point of saying she might be a latent Marxist AND a feminist. She stated it might be the Beaver from "Leave it to . . . . This quieted me down as I looked deep into the curtains for more signs of Beaverhood. New TV program . . . off on another tangent. 8)

 

[yakers]

We have one checking account which I generally manage, although we have two checkbooks. DW retired earlier this year but the financial agreements are still in place; we each will buy anything we want up to $100 without consulting each other, over that we need to discuss & agree. And we each have a "mad money" account with $100 a month added to it (@$3K right now for each of us) which we can spend on anything we want period. Cost of wife's hair do's is a family expense; the family is much happier when Mom is happy.

 

[greg]

I think settling on $100/mo. sounds good (We'll see how it works anyway.). It's usually pretty easy to just withdraw that amount early each month, and I won't have to identify it in the checkbook as anything more than a cash withdrawal. I usually take whatever money I have at the end of the day and throw it in a change dish. DW just takes what she needs and if more than a few bucks lets me know so that I'm not surprised to find nothing left. If we run out before the end of the month, it gives me something to niggle about.

 

[Hamlet]

This thread is pretty interesting. I'm living with my fiancee (we'll be getting married next fall). We just opened a joint checking account to start paying all of the shared bills with. Our plan was to take half our take-home pay and put it into this account. We would pay the mortgage, utilities, cable, etc out of the joint account. Our individual expenses (cell phones, car repairs, our various hobbies) will come out of our individual accounts.

Once we're married, the number of individual expenses will decline, but I think the principle is solid. As the cars and insurance become joint expenses, we can increase the % of our paycheck that goes into the joint account. That way we each always have money that we can spend without a committee meeting.

Neither one of us is going to go crazy with spending, but each of us has spending that would drive the other nuts if we had to look at it every day.

The only challenge I see with this plan is what to do if she stays home with our children at some point.

 

[Nords]

The only challenge I see with this plan is what to do if she stays home with our children at some point.

That's easy-- you do whatever she wants you to do!

 

[kowski]

$290 per week total $90 to her for whatever. $200 to me for groceries, dinners out and whatever. Gasoline additional $250 month average on credit card. Big purchases are out of interest income as needed. (grass seed, fertalizer, furniture, paint etc) Similar arraingment as to when we were both working but different amounts. We find it less stressful to not know what each other is spending $ on. My stuff looks like junk to her and vis versa.

 

[WilliamG]

Wow. We track things very closely on Quicken, and don't split anything down into his/hers. I would hate to do this and glad we don't feel we have to. Early in our marriage when things were very tight we had a budget which included his and her personal. Her ice cream allowance never was enuf to balance what I wanted for my beer allowance. Glad those days are over.....

 

[REWahoo]

Wow. We track things very closely on Quicken, and don't split anything down into his/hers. I would hate to do this and glad we don't feel we have to.

Just as some reach FI via real estate, some via individual stocks, or mutual funds, or inheritance or by some other means, how couples manage their finances varies widely. There is no right or wrong way to do it as long as it works for you.