Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Allowance Challenge

Chitown over a windy city blues had a great post on possibly using the allowance system to control spending.

Basically this means you are giving yourself a set amount of money to spend each week and after you have spent it there should be no more spending. Reader Aaren commented on how she puts $250.00 a month into a separate checking account that is simply for her allowance and gas. There are several other PF bloggers that are trying the allowance system as a way to focus on goals such as saving more and paying off debt.

I want to try to use the allowance system for one month and would love to have some people participate with me so we can hold each other accountable.

I know DD is moving in the beginning of the month and the first weekend of the month is also the 4th of July but lets all see if we can pick an amount for an allowance to give ourselves for the month. Perhaps we can post at the end of every week how we did with spending and what we bought with our allowance. We can update on our blogs how we did each week.

Who's in??


6 comments:

CeCe said...

I've been doing this for years! I am really disciplined when it comes to saving and spending so this just sort of worked naturally for me. It just makes sense. I get paid monthly so I have to be smart with the way I budget my money.

Shen Dove said...

This is a great idea, I'm in!

S.H said...

I'm in! I give myself a monthly budget but I almost always go over.

Eve said...

yeah!! SBBS and EclecticSoul!!! I'm looking forward to it.

Chitown said...

Oh crap...I missed this post. When did you guys start?

I am trying to make it on $100/week.

Myron said...

I just started doing this about nine months ago. I opened a second checking account and use the primary one for direct deposit and fixed expenses. Then after I budget all discretionary expenses for the month I write one check to fund the second account. This amount does include grocery,gas,entertainment,misc. all rolled into one. The advantage is that even though i still track my spending in these areas, I can cut a little from one to compensate for another.

Since then, I have saved significantly as there is a cap monthly with no refunding. More importantly, If I go under the cap, I can adjust the next month with a smaller check and use the difference for debt repayment or savings.