This month, I am trying something new. This month when I created my December monthly budget, I decided I want to try something new with how I handle the fun money that I have budgeted for in this month.

What is fun money?

Fun money can also be referred to as discretionary spending. Fun money includes money spent on anything outside of essential spending (bills) and savings. It includes eating out, buying clothes, makeup, getting a pedicure or manicure, etc. These are expenses that you don’t need but are nice to purchase.

Why am I changing how I handle fun money?

I have noticed staying within my fun budget has been challenging. It is an easy area for me to overspend because there are so many things to do and buy. I know I am not the only one. However, it is my goal to stay within my budget so that I can reach my financial goals.

This month, I decided to break down my fun budget by the number of weeks in this monthly budget. This will give me a weekly fun budget or an amount I am allowed to spend per week.

How this looks in my actual life:

Fun Budget for the month = $300

Weeks in this monthly budget = 5 weeks

$300/5 = $60 a week

I am doing this to help me to avoid spending all my fun money too quickly. This is a problem that I have had in previous budgets. Once I get paid, it is so easy for me to buy everything that I daydreamed about before payday. Then I blow through all my money almost immediately.

I don’t like this. It makes it more likely that I will go over budget With a weekly fun budget, it will help me to pace myself throughout the month.

What are some tips and tricks that help you not overspend on fun?