I was lamenting to some friends about my inability to stick to my “treat yourself” budget and the quick and unanimous response was that my $150 allowance was completely unrealistic. A more realistic budget would be in the range of $400-$500 monthly.
First of all, whew! If I redo my budget, I will actually have a shot at sticking to it! Second, are we really spending $6,000+ a year on non-necessities? Third, I think this means that everything that is not food, rent or utilities will be counted as “treats.” Fourth, how come no one gave me a reality check sooner?
I’m going to redo my budget and this time around, I’m going to base it on facts instead of denial/delusion. My plan is to total up my January treats and base the new number off that. To be honest, I’m actually a little scared of what my January total will be because of a couple big-ticket items:
- aforementioned Dine About Town restaurant extravaganza
- belated 2011 Christmas date with V at Gary Danko
- new cell phone
And if I’m including more categories, I’ll also have to include:
- gym membership
- incidental expenses like doctor visits and prescriptions
- birthday gifts
Stay tuned for the big number next week!
Tags: money
Maybe the problem is that you need to redefine treat vs. necessity. Gym is necessity. Doctor is necessity. Massage is treat. Birthday gifts for others falls under “gifts given” category.