Buzz
Maybe you kicked off 2020 with a carefully structured, pristine budget designed to set you up for financial triumph. You figured out a few ways to cut down on monthly expenses or perhaps stash away a bit of extra money for a rainy day.
So, uh, what did you allocate for fun things? You know, the stuff that doesn’t really fit into any sensible budget category, but somehow ends up in your shopping cart anyway?
If you're not accounting for even a tiny bit of indulgence, you might be setting your budget up for failure.
It’s the common mistake that trips up so many budgets: you make it so strict that any deviation from the plan feels like a failure. That’s why you need to include a bit of flexibility. For what? Honestly, it doesn’t matter.
Here’s how Anna Marquardt put it in a recent tweet, explaining that she set a monthly limit of $200 for whatever the heck she wants.
In her thread, she describes 'Online Nonsense' as 'clothes, accessories, unnecessary beauty products, and basically anything I don’t truly need.' She gives the example of buying new moisturizer, which she likely uses daily, versus buying a new eyeshadow, which would be less practical. Only the latter would count as nonsense.
If you think $200 is too much for a 'random fun' budget line, don’t worry – you can set whatever amount suits your budget. Maybe money is tight, but you can still carve out $10 or $20 for something that brings you joy.
And this rule doesn’t mean you have a free pass to spend impulsively as long as you stay within your set amount. Not at all. You should still think carefully about each purchase before you make it, especially those online extras that can quickly add up in your cart.
What the slush fund truly does is eliminate the guilt of a rigid budget and grant you some flexibility. At its best, it helps you clarify your budgeting priorities. And at the very least, it prevents you from going overboard and later wondering where things went wrong.
