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Saturday, September 13, 2008

Fun Money - Fun Day

My husband and I have decided to use only 7% of the money that comes in from paychecks for "fun money". Things like eating out, coffee, clothing, buying anything for ourselves are all included. This has really made us stop and look at where our money is going and we have realized we don't like to be limited to 7%. Probably part of our consumer debt problem. It's our reality for the moment unfortunately. In order for us to have more fun money we really need to get our debt paid off.

The next couple months until the end of the year we have additional bills like tabs for both our cars (annual), life insurance (quarterly), an assessment to repave the parking lot at our condo and a dental bill I paid off this month. These items kind of cut in to money we would have had available either for additional debt reduction or basics like food and gas. There is also Christmas to consider too.

These restrictions I think will force hubby and I to really think when we want to spend money. Not only that but we have spent our food budget for the week at the grocery store and we will really need to eat what we have. We have been doing pretty good at that lately though. We went grocery shopping at PCC which is a little more expensive but goes along with our organic eating plan. A few items purchased today will last us a long time like steak rub and tahini garlic sauce (yummy for dipping veggies in).

Today hubby and I decided to go have some fun. We took $40 out in cash and new we had $75 worth of fun money to spend. We got a lot of bang for our buck though.

$2 - two CD's at an estate sale (Midnight Oil and Audioslave) both on our to buy list
$4 - marble and glass cheese cloche (on my list for kitchen and Halloween - more on that later)
$7.62 - Liz Claiborne green faux alligator handbag
$12.92 - stocking stuffers for the kids (never to early to prepare for Christmas) and fake spiders (for Halloween decorating)
$4.34 - spider web "stuff" (also for Halloween decorating) and a movie trivia board game
$8.71 - chair (technically not fun money)
Total cash $39.59



$11.88 - clip on devil horns (my Halloween costume), a haunted doorbell and a fabric mardi gras mask (an idea I have for Christmas ornaments)
$5.04 - Tully's (had a 50% off coupon for my drink)
Total $16.92

Grand Total $56.51

I have been wanting to get a more comfortable chair for our computer area. I can literally spend hours at the computer and after a while my hard wooden dining chair just doesn't cut it even sitting on a pillow. The chair we bought today is fine the way it is (it had a mate but hubby didn't want to get it) until I can take it apart, add more padding to the seat, recover it, sand the legs and stain. I may make a padded cover for the back as well. Technically this is a home improvement not fun money but we don't have a home improvement "account" at the moment.

6 comments:

Leslie said...

Looks like you got some cool stuff! I don't have any halloween decorations and have been meaning to buy some. It's fun (and needed) once in a while to spend money on stuff. (the bag is cute!)

Ry and I find that when we have the urge to go over the 5% fun money we allow that we really try to brainstorm fun things that are free. So we go to the park, go for walks, try a new recipe (not always free, but often cheap) play games together... it's not always easy, but we always have fun in the end. :)

paisley penguin said...

The bag was a hard one to consider. I actually would prefer to have a small (very small) collection of hand bags I can rotate through so my really expensive one I use daily can extend it's life.

Even though I new I had the money to spend it felt a little bad.

I have some totally great ideas for Halloween and Christmas decorating. Now I just need to figure out how to do it on a very restrictive budget.

Sallie's Niece said...

Ooh cute bag. I like to rotate my bags too and usually I can convince my sister to pick me up a knockoff purse once a year in NYC. That way I don't feel bad putting it on a dirty bar!

paisley penguin said...

Yeah, you should have seen the shoes I found to go with the bag. If they were not heeled slides I would have bought them because they were pointy toed, would have looked great with jeans or slacks and were on my list.

Alas, I would have killed myself in heeled slides.

KrisMrsBBradley said...

Sounds like you got a lot of bang for your buck!

In this financial climate, it just makes good sense to live on a budget.

Celtic Sprite Seeking Knowledge said...

Excellent Thriftiness. You can alway make a game out of finding the "Best Deals"