How much "mad money" do you have?

[DecemberGoneWild]

Assuming that you are comfortable-ish. I know there are plenty of people who dont have anything. This is for people who are fortunate enough to have some.

By "mad money" I mean "pocket money" or "selfish money" ie money that is set aside for you to blow on whatever you like and doesn't have to be accounted for.

And what do you spend it on?

I get £400 a month. It's meant for haurcits, clothes, nights out etc but I currently fritter it away on crap and then have no money to buy things I need (I need new trainers but spent it all so am currently wearing trainers that are worn and give me blisters).

Sadly I also ran up £3000 on my credit card (mostly non-essentials) so most of my £400 going forward will have to go towards paying that off next year. So I'll still be (relatively) broke!

That's the mind set I need to work on.

“mad” is definitely the right term where you are concerned OP

£200 a month but that is just for me. Anything for family days out or holidays is from a different budget.

I wouldn’t call clothes, hair cuts or time with friends selfish. I think going into debt for this stuff when you clearly don’t need to spend that much plus debt isn’t a wise decision.

I know. I was stupid.

I don't think I have any "mad money", I've never heard this term before.

Like PP I'm a bit boggled by the idea of having a pot of money dedicated to spending on personal luxuries every month, especially £400 🤯

Surely dedicating money to be spent means..it gets spent. Regardless of whether you really wanted or needed something?

I can see this is a nice thing to have if you can afford it, but if you are running up credit card debt then ...you cant.

I'm more inclined towards saving than spending. I spent too much of my youth very poor and always in unstable accomodation. I did a lot of sofa surfing. Since then I always like a buffer fund for emergencies. I don't think it would ever be big enough to stop worrying about being homeless 🤣

No set budget. Buy things when I need them from joint account (DH does the same. But we are the rare couple who don't need separate finances and there's no bitterness if one person buys more for themselves that month). But we also do not go mad and if we have spent too much one month then we wait until next month. But I get my hair cut when I need it, not when I have 'mad' money left. We also are by no means overly wealthy, although I feel very fortunate. I also work PT.

With that debt and spending habit you have a problem and no MAD money. Stop

About a grand, maybe? Our salaries automatically go to several different pots for savings, investments and bills. What’s left just sits in our accounts and we spend it as we like. We generally don’t spend all of it, but I’d say I fritter away roughly a grand a month. There’s about £5K in my ‘mad money’ (not a term I’ve heard before) account at the moment.

We don’t really do credit cards. No moral objections or anything, we just don’t.

Yes, I think I thought it would help me budget but it clearly made me think £400 went further than it does! 🤣
The cc has upset/shocked me so once it's paid off next year, I'm going to properly work through what I need (eg hair cuts) and what I need to save.

YOLO, there is balance to be had here I totally get saving for a rainy day but money is also to be enjoyed especially if you have plenty spare. What are you saving all of those investments for? Care home fees?

Is there is nothing you enjoy? Meals out, hairdressers, make up, nails, hobbies, holidays?

OP I also give myself a pot of money, I transfer it to a Revolut account each month and that is my 'spends'. I give myself around £70 a week usually, but usually spend it all well before payday. DH and I love eating out, coffee shops, visiting the bakery each Saturday for pastries and lovely bread.

I agree with this. But I need to re-frame it a bit eg instead of getting a cut and colour, maybe get a cut and a box dye and take the joy of seeing the extra £50 in my bank account.

My fun money varies each month after everything else is paid.

We’re a virtual pot household, I find it really helps me visualise what I can spend. We have joint ones for groceries and a pet expenses then I have them for celebrations, beauty and holidays. I top up pots if there’s not enough for an imminent birthday/holiday, pay any one off expenses and enjoy what’s left which can be £300 - £600.

I ran up a lot of CC debt in my 20s on frivolous spending and spent many years paying it off so I only use credit for big purchases now e.g house, car, etc.

No ones business, what i have.

I never had any such thing. If I really wanted or needed something, and we could afford it, I’d buy it. If we couldn’t afford it, or money was generally tight anyway, or needed for other things, I wouldn’t.

I don’t know the term “mad money” but I spend about £400 per month on average on me. Most of which is health and beauty. Gym & classes, yoga, haircuts, occasional massage…. So I really wouldn’t say it is “mad” or even frivolous to look after my health although it is a privilege to be able to afford to.
Probably about £150 on going/eating out and £50 buying things like books and towards clothes (which I don’t buy anything like every month).

We pool all money. If we need something we buy it. We don’t really buy things we don’t need because we’re savers. We spend socially, I.e. will go to the pub with friends and buy rounds etc, but wouldn’t be as wasteful to buy daily coffees etc. we’d never say “how much did you spend on that?” because neither of us would fritter any money away so any spend is considered and needed. We have £200k in savings and pay heavily into pensions as we want to retire early, but that option is open to the OP too if she stops wasting money.

I probably have about £3500 spare each month, and put whatever I don't spend into savings. My discretionary or fun spend is probably about £250 looking through my last credit card bill. Obviously can spend more, just couldn't think on what. I haven't been to a hairdresser since before covid and I sort my own nails and brows. I by high end make-up but tend to buy a few christmas sets that work out good value then last me through the year.

Just things like he vapes which I hate. I buy (or did buy!) coffee and cake once a week or so which he would never do. So we both see that as a waste of money and when looking over back statements we would both comment on stuff like that and it was just easier to avoid feeling like we have to justify ot to the other person. It was never meant that way but would be felt that way.

You must realise that people who have enough money to just go out and buy what they want, are mostly in this position because they don’t splurge money.
You really need to get out of the habit of just buying things for the sake of it until you have cleared your credit card debt and have some savings in the bank.
We have been careful (not mean) for most of our lives but have no desire to go out and splash our money all around. Our biggest expense is lovely holidays with business class travel.

Nothing

My husband and I give ourselves around £250-£300 each for personal spending. Simply so it’s fair. We could have a bit more but we choose to save a lot of our income. I find it really useful to have pots for different things. When it’s gone it’s gone, so it makes us think twice about what we are spending. It’s way too easy these days to waste it.

The irony is that every couple of years we have a big spend that we have saved for.

Sometimes it's boring (currently saving for a new roof) but sometimes it's big holiday (last year we went away over summer for 4 weeks). Never on credit btw.

I just need to get out of my "buy it now" with my personal spending mindset.

Best thing to help with the buy it now mindset it to never check out immediately online. The reason my monthly spend is low is I have a rule where I never check out online the same day. I leave it in my basket and go back three or four days later, often by then the impulse to purchase has gone and I happily walk away. If I still want it, then crack on!!

Basically this.