Welcome to week 3 of Budget Bootcamp! You’re almost at the halfway point. To liven up the party, this week we’ll focus on FUN! You heard me right.
According to Taylor, a friend of Goodbudget,
“It’s good to have a budget for fun because everyone needs to have the space for fun!”
We agree! Budgets should give us space to have fun and be creative. Otherwise, they just won’t work, and you’ll see why in today’s assignment.
So, this week, we’ll walk you through creating a Fun Envelope and planning for purchases. We find ourselves constantly updating our budgets and tweaking things to make it work. So do your best to make space for fun, and if you find the budgeted amount doesn’t quite work, you’ll have the chance to change things later.
Today’s Assignment
- Read Chi-En’s reflection on why saying ‘no’ too many times can actually be harmful to our budgets and make it hard to save in the long run.
- Make space for fun. If you don’t have a Fun Envelope or category in your budget yet, make one now. If you’re using Goodbudget alongside this course, be sure to fill your new Envelope so you can start spending from it later in the week. That might mean you need to adjust the budgets of other Envelopes and your Fill to make space for the new one. Note: See how to fill a new Envelope with money.
- Share a story with the group of a time you said ‘no’ to spending too many times, and why that didn’t work for you!
Note for couples: Consider making separate Fun Envelopes for each of you, like Fun: Hers and Fun: His. Because what’s fun for her might not be fun for him!
Happy budgeting,
-The Goodbudget Team
15 thoughts on “Budgets are fun. Yes, really!”
Awhile back I had a group of friends that liked to eat out, and to save money for awhile I started avoiding hanging out with them… but then I just felt left out. Turns out there were alternatives I could do (bring my own lunch, buy something cheaper, eat beforehand so I wasn’t hungry) that helped with both issues!
I think we will be able to add “Fun” to the budget once our spending is under control and we’ve developed good tracking habits.
My husband and I were really struggling last year because we took on a business we financially weren’t ready for and because of that we were struggling to keep up with just the bills and we didn’t have any room for fun except occasionally a few bucks to splurge or sometimes taking money from our bills which in turn put more stress on us because the next month our situation was the same. So we decided to take time to study how to budget – really budget. We got out of our business, at least for temporary, and decided what was most important to us to take care of right now. My husband and I have built a good savings account and paid off all borrowed money and have been able to keep fun in our lives. We budgeted out an amount each week for our personal fun money (hers and his), as well as a fund for our fun if we want to go out to eat or do something fun for a date night. We have a vacation fund for some trips we are taking this year and even signed up for a cruise for next year, which has been on my bucket list for a long time. We have established what things we need and want to accomplish and have made plans for what things we want and need to do in the future and because of that, we have so much more peace and fulfillment.
I was always saying no to things I really wanted in order to try to save money. That just led me to spend more money when I would have extra money to spend. I would always spend it on silly stupid things I really didn’t need because I felt deprived earlier for not getting what I really wanted because I was trying to save money.
I say no to a lot of fun stuff because of COVID-19
The moment I started to add a saving for fun, it changes the game. My wife and I, we don’t have a lot to start with. For the last year, she has been telling me places or things she would want to go and do. I always reply with “give me some more time and we’ll visit it next year”, then, next year comes and nothing happens. That is when I suddenly realize I always not have the money for fun. By adding it month after month, we are ready for a trip to Lake Tahoe this week and an amusement park next month. It gives me peace of mind knowing that I’m providing for her by taking us out for trip.
No fun envelopes until I go back to work
I always deny myself thing I need and occasionally want soo we can make ends meet only to find out my husband has made some form of purchase without me knowing granted only happens the times that I know of but they were big 500+ (we don’t even have that money available it ive placed on his credit card which we can’t pay) sorry venting anyway as for Fun we will do in house movie and popcorn or go walking at park till we can actual budget in fun but great lesson and can’t wait to be able to see that happen
We don’t have a large fun budget and therefore only have one. We call it the entertainment envelope. We use it on the occasional meal out or to do a fun one-on-one activity with the kids. This month we are going to see our local OHL team play. I set a little aside every week for this to happen but have occasionally gone over, meaning I’ve saved less, or paid less debt down but life is short…..
Year after year, I found myself happy to ski during long dark winter. It brought me energy from the snow, speed and skill I gain from coach and the small group. Later one of my friend also got exited about skiing and she really thinks big: skiing aboard in the Alps! Ye, of course I spend even more in skiing, but also gaining more experience and a lot of pleasure and good memories! Will continue reserving spending for this fun!
I appreciate some of the comments posted here, because I agree. I need a better grasp of my overall spending before I set up a Fun envelope. I need to be realistic about how much to allocate for that envelope.
I set up an envelope for mine and my wife’s monthly spend. This has helped in that we don’t judge each other now on what we bought, coz it’s our budgeted money. The budget however, is still on the high side, so my next step is to see how we can both dip into that, in order to forward plan for things like vacations.
I ended up merging one type of purchases with another to make way for fun. I had edit the purchases to add the two together. Once the fun envelope was created I found myself not only happy about it, but also having to control myself as I wanted to go spend. My impulse buying is going to have to be controlled even more.
Looked at my budget and did not have anything left over to create a fun envelope. However, eating out once a month, which is budgeted for, is fun. And my monthly pedi is relaxing. So, I had budgeted for fun activities – just by different envelope names. I’m expecting an income tax refund, so once received will put that into a separate annual vacation envelope. That will REALLY be fun!
I’m a compulsive buyer. So I am now waiting for a couple of days to buy something I like, but sometimes miss a good price by saying no.