8/16/2010

Allowances at Work

I think this whole allowances 'thing' is really working.

During one of our excursions while on our camping/cabin-ing trip we wound up shopping.  I bought two new great sweaters (total was $55.68) and a new bathing suit (total was 65.53).  I also bought a couple of albums on iTunes (total was $19.96).

I used my credit card for these purchases, and the grand total is $141.17.  I'm going to pay the $41.17 now, which will leave me about $40 for the rest of the week.  I'll pay the remaining with next Friday's $100 allowance.

I don't know Jordan's exact balances, but I think that he is enjoying having the allowance too - we always know how much we have to spend w/out worrying about it.

6 comments:

  1. The system may need tweaking, but I'm sure it will work. It's just hard to think of everything you need to plan for, isn't it?

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  2. it is great. It works for Boris and I. Of course, over time we have both learned how we like to handle it. For example, Boris likes to take 30% of his allowance in cash for spending, 15% to his bank account to pay for his credit card purchases (typically just itunes), and a whopping 55% to his longer term wants...like clothing. So he actually has an ING account set up for his longer term wants. For myself, I spend about 75% of mine in clothing or whatever and I reserve 25% in an ING account for future big fun (like a weekend with the girls).

    So yeah, it's really working for us. And it keeps things really fair.

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  3. So is your allowance $100 of free spending in each week?

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  4. @ Matt

    That's right, we each get $100 every Friday - but it's not all free spending. With that allowance we are responsible for:

    - Our cell phone bills
    - Any lunches/eating out at work
    - Clothing purchases
    - Medical (glasses, or prescriptions that our insurances don't cover)

    then, any fun stuff :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ Financial

    right now, for every $100 I get - I put $25 away in a separate ING account (see my Jess' Money tracking bar). This could be for travel with my BFF or any other 'larger' self-purchases (be they clothes or something else)

    ReplyDelete
  6. We haven't found allowances helpful over here. Instead, we have an "other" jar that gets $100/month. THAT needs to cover any small surprise expenses, coffee's on the run, lunch dates, medical costs, and anything else that comes up that isn't food, gas, entertainment or an expense for the kids. If we give ourselves more than that, we'll spend it. We've had our "other" jar funded at $100/month for a year now and we've been managing just fine, but it does mean that I don't get to buy myself too much clothing or makeup, and hubby doesn't get to buy himself too many tools or computer bits but really, we don't NEED those things so we don't buy them.

    Keep in mind that we are at a different place in our lives than you two, though, so that accounts for the difference in what you allow yourselves and what we allow ourselves. We are supporting 4 children, saving for their post secondary education and quickly approaching retirement so we NEED to save!

    ReplyDelete

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