what is a fair amount of fun money?

determined_new_ms

I spend about £150 per month on whatever I want, going out, things for myself, dgd, any activities or outings etc

SeduLOUs

We have £100 a month each and that does seem to run out quickly. I will be looking to increase to £200 each once all the debts are gone.

x_raphael_xx

Took my friend out for a walk with the dog today on the grounds of a lovely local stately home that's 30 min drive away. A very pleasant (if a little sweaty and hot) day out, and all I spent was £1.50 on the ferry toll and a little petrol.
Fun doesn't have to equal £££

theoretica

A lot depends on what you budget as 'bills' and what you put as 'fun'. Some people put gym, more than cheapest mobile, cable tv, food out, coffees, holidays, hobbies, nicer than basic food and clothes and even running a nice car as bills - for me they are part of fun as I could cut them if needed but don't want to. It makes comparisons hard between people - some might sound very frugal week to week but have an expensive holiday, others spend more day to day but don't have the less frequent expensive fun.

cydney65

I have £30 a month for fun. TBH it tends to go on things for our DGD or I save some to put towards clothes. We don't have takeaways, don't have Sky, no expensive hobbies and no holidays; we live very simply, we are rural and can take walks in the woods or by the sea, but our life is not for everyone. What we call fun wouldn't suit others.

jimmy2times

Interesting thread.
Answers will typically vary lots i'd imagine.

I've got so many friends who go out 2 or 3 nights per week and probably spend at least £40 on each of those nights just on beer and kebabs!
They always seem to be treating themselves to little things here and there, too (new T-shirt, takeaway, bottle of aftershave etc)

They're all in fairly decent jobs, though
(Man I wish I had a degree/was employable, lol!!)

On_my_way

My boyfriend and I tend to go on quite a few holidays (up to four in 12 months!) but we live quite simply the rest of the time, always only buying food that's reduced or on offer, working out the unit price when things are on offer etc.

So, what I am trying to say is that we only spend money on things that are important to us. I buy cleaning products etc only when they are £1 and stock up, I would never spend £2 on a jar of curry sauce, we would only have it when it's £1 and stock up etc.

We only ever heat the house to 18 degrees too, we wear jumpers instead of paying extra!

BillJones

I don't have a separate pot for "fun". I've an amount going onto my current account each month for "nonessentials", which covers buying and maintaining car and bikes, holidays, food at home, food out, and so on.

We then have a joint account for all bills, mortgage etc.

This means, in effect, that I don't have a fixed budget for meals out, drinks etc (these are limited by how much I allow myself to consume, in terms of calories), but the more I spend on nights out, the less I have to upgrade the car or buy a new motorbike.

foxgloves

We both have £60 a month each for 'Personal Spends'. This is to spend as we wish on absolutely anything we want. We already put money away each month into 6 'Piggies' : Car maintenance, Clothes, Holidays, Leisure/Entertainment, Household maintenance & Presents, so our Personal Spends is more for things like a couple of pints, a lunch out, coffees, treating ourselves, anything, but when it's gone, it's gone. Basic toiletries come out of our Groceries budget ie shampoo, deodorant, bubble bath, etc, but if we want something more upmarket, say if I want an expensive moisturiser rather than a pot of Astral or Nivea, then that has to come out of our Personal Spends. We have both been big spenders & we find that the £60 a month Personal Spends really makes us focus down on what we want. No more paying money out for very average coffees....if we are paying for one now, we go somewhere where it's really good. Oh...should have said, the Leisure Pig only gets £20 a month paid into it but is useful for occasional concert tickets, meal out, etc. Our whole budget depends on spending as little as possible (preferably nothing) which has not been allocated to one of these categories. It really does make us think much harder about whether we want to buy several little bits of tat or one bigger more quality thing......because once that money's been spent, we can't get it back. That's how we do it, anyway.

roobee13

I've only just begun budgeting (recently become debt free) so this thread is really interesting. I agree with the poster who said a takeaway for 2 is easily more than £20, it's really hard to know what I need to put aside for 'treats'.

I like foxgloves approach, as 'fun money' can cover such a wide range of things I think I'd end up confused! I just need to get my OH on board with this now...