Daily Spending Allowance

By

ChloeA

I've done something similar where my discretionary personal spending is concerned, except it's on a monthly basis. I record what I spend on expenses that I've decided qualify as "fun money" -- in my case things like lunches out with friends, CDs, movies, clothing I don't really need, household items I could do without, etc. I keep a running total from month to month. Some months I'm under budget so I have more available for the next month. I've been doing this since January and it hasn't really felt like that much of a hardship.

I hadn't realized how much I was spending on Ebay and other online purchases at about $20 or $30 a pop. Those seemed relatively minor until I added them up at the end of last year and was shocked at the total. I reduced that total by 1/3 and then divided by 12 to get the per-month target budget I wanted for this year. It's worked well, and next year I may try cutting it a little more.