Giving Myself an Allowance

I use an outdated copy of Microsoft Money to track my finances. It generates a lot of reports for me including a cashflow projector (which I use instead of a typical budget) and some really great spending reports. Month-end is almost here again so I've been poring over my reports. Out of curiosity I filtered out all unnecessary spending categories, just to see how much money I'd have saved over the course of three months if I could manage to radically cut my spending.

$2,622.62.

In THREE months. Mind you, that's after rent, bills, food, and gas. AFTER. I've known for a while now that if I could just figure out how to cut out frivolous spending and impulse buys, I'd be quite well off. I spend less than most of my peers, and I definitely save more than a lot of them, but I could be doing a lot better. I need to be doing a lot better.

More than once I've been told that I shouldn't fuss over every penny, and I do try not to get lost in the minutiae of every other little 3 cents. But I make about $1400 in a good month, so a certain amount of spending vigilance goes a long way for me.

Until I was about 16, I got an allowance of $7.50 every other week, which was enough to buy lunch at school. I could either pack a lunch, or pocket the money. I seem to recall having a fairly active social life and still having fun with my pocket change, so I'm going to attempt a grown-up version of the same.

Every paycheck, I'll get $20. I'm paid bi-weekly, so that $20 is my pocket money. If I blow it on beers at the bar, that's it until the next check. It will not roll over. If I have cash left over when my next paycheck comes, I'll only get enough cash to get the total back to $20. Except on days when I need to buy gas, I'll leave my debit and credit cards at home.

I already put away $125 or more a month, and if giving myself an allowance cuts my impulse spending the way I hope it will, I could potentially double, triple, or even quadruple that amount over the summer.