Moms on a lower income, how much 'fun money'?

mamastich

I was just curious about moms whos husbands dont make huge bucks, how much do you allowed youself and baby for fun every month? I think about what I spend now and am convinced it will be less when im home just hanging out w baby. thanks!

sophie206

For DH, DD, and I, we budget just $50/week which includes dining out/take-out, Starbucks, classes for DD and I, swimming, etc.

Since it's summer we have tons of free/cheap activities available and I cook at home unless we have a party, bbq, wedding, birthday dinner...so it's not really too hard to stay on budget unless DH and I have a date night! 

penguingrrl

None, we just look for free things. DH is in graduate school and his stipend is not terribly high (just enough to make our bills) so we have to be very frugal. Luckily he's graduating in about 10 months, so then things will be different!

If WOH made financial sense I would be, but my paycheck  was lower than daycare for 1 would be around here and our combined income put us above qualifying for daycare aid.

muddin_lil_sis

Um fun money? lol Once every 15 days (when DH gets paid) we go to McDonalds and eat. That's about as fun as we can afford to get. DS and I sit at home everyday all day while DH goes to work. On weekends, we may go to DH's dad's house and hang out for a while or over to a friends house for a cookout. If it works out that we have a little extra cash, DH keeps $20 out of his check for snacks and cokes through out the week or we may spend it at a thrift store on something for  DS.

mamastich

Im in a similar situation, going back to work would just cover daycare and since were military were far from family or anyone to help out. Im so nervous about losing one income and adding a family member, I do look forward to taking advantage of free things!

MrsBalletStar05

We go to McD's once a week and spend about $5 or less (happy meal for DS#1, nothing for DS#2 since he's not yet into real food and something off the $1 menu or a small coffee drink for me).  During the week we usually go to the gym (I work there pt and get to work out and use the daycare for free), go to the pool at our apartments, or go to the spray park - all free.  Besides, it's way too hot to do much else - blech!  I do probably spend a little extra at the store on yummy treats - like this week I bought some smirnoff and some chocolate :-) hehe

MamatoJackson

We are working to pay off debt so are limiting our fun money - $100 for the month for miscellaneous and $50 specifically for dining out.

mrsolsen2000

I would say we are lower income (ie 50,000/year in a HCOL), I budget about $25 a week for DD and I to go out to eat, go to the zoo, etc. DD is in activities that are already included in our budget (ie gymboree, parented preschool program).

 

EveryNameIWantIsTaken

Some weeks we spend probably $25-$50 and other weeks we don't spend anything aside from a drink from somewhere when we are out.  We do have a zoo membership and a pool membership and there are a lot of free things to do here though, so it's not like we are stuck at home all the time.  The biggest problem from this lately is gas because I drive an suv and if we went as many places as I'd like to, we'd go through a tank or more a week which gets expensive.

eilatan&nhoj88

We don't really have fun money. We have about $120-$150 every two weeks for groceries, household needs, clothes, etc. If there is any leftover its for fun money. DH just got a new job so things will improve. With the job he's about to leave he makes about $21,000 a year. Ds and I stay home everyday except on one of Dh's days off. Even on his day off tho, we usually either do something cheap or stay home. We go out to do something a little more costly or go out with friends once to twice a year.

sophie206

Now I feel like we are spending too much after reading these posts! Although we do not always spend the $50 and do live in a pretty HCOL (Seattle Metro area) Dh and I both only work part-time and he is a full-time student so we are definitely currently on a tight budget. We use coupons, do free activities and don't go out much to the movies or dinner. We rent, own our cars and have very little debt, however.

mamastich

I think the range here is what I learn to work with, do you ladies ever feel like you dont get out enough? Im worried about being couped up all day with a baby and not alot of money. I know ill make it work and im chosing to give up work to be able to raise our child. I just worry about my mental health I guess.

lorist202

Fun money?  I'd say about $50/ month. That's what I miss the most about working.  DH pays all the bills.  My income took care of home improvements, vacations, fun, building savings, and of course, anything I wanted for myself or DH wanted for himself.  Talk about shock to your system... but it's all worth it and I couldn't be happier.

lorist202

mamastich:

I think the range here is what I learn to work with, do you ladies ever feel like you dont get out enough? Im worried about being couped up all day with a baby and not alot of money. I know ill make it work and im chosing to give up work to be able to raise our child. I just worry about my mental health I guess.

You will adjust.  Personally, I take advantage of all the projects I didn't have time/energy to do when I was working and then pregnant.  Just last week, I cleaned out all the junk in the basement.  Tomorrow I'll appeal my tax bill!  Also, I take advantage of the time I have to get done all the chores, etc. so that at night I can mostly vedge out- a luxury I never had when I worked.  Make yourself a routine too, it helps eat up a slow day.

varkeyr

We limit things to free or nearly free. Every so often we get drinks at Circle K or I will make something fun like popsicles or brownie sundaes. Nothing major.

muddin_lil_sis

mamastich:

I think the range here is what I learn to work with, do you ladies ever feel like you dont get out enough? Im worried about being couped up all day with a baby and not alot of money. I know ill make it work and im chosing to give up work to be able to raise our child. I just worry about my mental health I guess.

I'm not gonna lie, it sometimes (okay, so most the time), it sucks. DH takes my car to work everyday because its better on gas than his truck. I can't drive his truck because it's standard. So DS and  I are stuck at home all day every day. Even if I had my car, we couldn't afford to go anyway. I look forward to the weekends when DH is home with us, at least I get adult interaction.

sophie206

muddin_lil_sis:

mamastich:

I think the range here is what I learn to work with, do you ladies ever feel like you dont get out enough? Im worried about being couped up all day with a baby and not alot of money. I know ill make it work and im chosing to give up work to be able to raise our child. I just worry about my mental health I guess.

I'm not gonna lie, it sometimes (okay, so most the time), it sucks. DH takes my car to work everyday because its better on gas than his truck. I can't drive his truck because it's standard. So DS and  I are stuck at home all day every day. Even if I had my car, we couldn't afford to go anyway. I look forward to the weekends when DH is home with us, at least I get adult interaction.

Not having a car every week day would suck! I hope that you have lots of places/parks in walking distance and ,maybe friends over, too! I'm an introvert but even I need to get out and see people (other than my family) at least every other day or I feel isolated...

MamatoJackson

Take walks, play outside, go to splash parks (most are free) or regular parks, have a picnic... I think there's plenty of free or near-free things to do!  Also look for groupons for restaurants.

superherostocker

muddin_lil_sis:

Um fun money? lol Once every 15 days (when DH gets paid) we go to McDonalds and eat. That's about as fun as we can afford to get. DS and I sit at home everyday all day while DH goes to work. On weekends, we may go to DH's dad's house and hang out for a while or over to a friends house for a cookout. If it works out that we have a little extra cash, DH keeps $20 out of his check for snacks and cokes through out the week or we may spend it at a thrift store on something for  DS.

lol glad I am not the only one! For DH's birthday his treat is getting Chipotle.

kcisthebombdotcom

mamastich:

I think the range here is what I learn to work with, do you ladies ever feel like you dont get out enough? Im worried about being couped up all day with a baby and not alot of money. I know ill make it work and im chosing to give up work to be able to raise our child. I just worry about my mental health I guess.

In that situation, SAH wouldnt be worth it to me. I'd much rather work full time than live like that-I dont know how you do it! Can you get a job evenings opposite DHs schedule so you can earn some "fun" money?

Do you have a bit of extra money when taxes come in? I know this doesnt help now, but maybe you could buy a zoo pass or children's museum pass so you have somewhere to go a few times a week. They usually only run anywhere between $100-150/year. Maybe 2 days a week you could have the car so you can go somewhere like that. For right now, is there busses where you live? Maybe you could take the bus to the library and do story time. I'm sure that's better for your mental health as well as for your LO as well-interaction with the outside world is so important for them too.

kg_08

What's fun money? haha

Seriously, we are SO STRAPPED right now. I mean we have money, but we're putting a lot extra to bills so we'll be in awesome shape come Christmas time. Suffer now, have fun later I guess.

DH was a little irked that I spent $3.50 on some clearance remnant fabric to make DD and I BOTH a dress. Yeah... these days we talk about EVERY expense.

mamastich

Fortunatly I have my own car and 2 dogs, i plan on getting out on walks and my sister lives with me. The DH is in the military so hes away more than home whcih will help with money. Well have a cuople hundred a month for fun money so im sure well make it, we just need to new habits. I do think its worth it, and with childcare Id probably only be bringing home a few hundred a month. I think a small babysitting job here and there would help too. Ill definiatly update you ladies on my progress in a couple months!

mrsfirefly

Funny enough, DH actually makes what I think a lot of people on here would consider to be a lot of money and we should be pretty comfortable even with living in a HCOL area -- not rich by any means, but at least comfortable.  But due to some circumstances we can't change and just plain bad luck over the past year with regards to random acts of nature and our home and situations of our parents, I am in a situation with pretty much no fun money at all -- and I mean, nothing!  Truthfully, it hardly bothers me.  I haven't bought new clothes in ages, and when I must, I buy ultra cheap.  We do lots of free things, park visits, library storytime, pool visits, playgroups, playdates, trips to Petsmart (DD loves the animals), trips to see the flowerbeds at the church down the street.  I am very social and I find most other SAHMs are also on budgets or don't mind doing free things so I get out plenty.  I do miss going out to dinner or lunch with my non-SAHM girlfriends (seems to be the only thing they are up for doing), but that's life for now.    I guess DH & I do get take out once a week and we do still have cable & netflix, so that's our date night and our fun money (so I guess that would total $200 a month -- I'd cancel the cable altogether if I could DH to agree to it).  But since we can't afford babysitters and have no family to watch DD, we also take DD on picnics to free concerts and things like that to get out and about and have dates.  I think it's easier that both of us have been very poor in the past at different times in our lives so even though we were accustomed to a lifestyle with more "fun" money until about a year ago, we've adjusted pretty easily to no fun money now.

NSizemore2011

mamastich:

I think the range here is what I learn to work with, do you ladies ever feel like you dont get out enough? Im worried about being couped up all day with a baby and not alot of money. I know ill make it work and im chosing to give up work to be able to raise our child. I just worry about my mental health I guess.

Honey, I feel like that all the time. I understand where you're coming from. I had to make the same decisions. I worked all of the time, and my husband (my FI at the time) got to see my daughter more than I did. So I decided since we were getting ready to get married and trying to have a baby, on top of our daughter, that I would stay at home.

We're in a tight situation right now because we live in a small town and work is hard to find. But usually for the moneth we might have $25 to spend on us and doing things.   And believe me, it's tough sometimes. We're both 24 yrs old, my husband and I. We're still young and dont get to get out very often. But you know, other times, it's worth it. Crash on the couch cuddled up, family movie with baby girl, and then mommy & daddy movie when we put her to bed. Not everyone gets to do those things as much as we may get to.  

celiabwatson

So technically I was a WM but I'm a teacher so I hang out on this board in the summer anyway. Also my school just closed so I'm at least temporarily unemployed. Anyway, even with 2 incomes (but really small ones) we have $100/month for miscellaneous expenses (which includes clothes, car repairs/maintenance, and any other random expenses that might come up, including fun). I also get $80/month in a separate account for just me and so does my husband. Obviously that won't be the case if I stay unemployed. Anyway, we tend toward free stuff and I also ask for memberships to pools and museums from the grandparents for birthdays. It's way better than getting a bunch of toys and gets us out of the house. Meetup.com also has some great moms groups that tend to do a lot of free or relatively free stuff.

Temp36641187503164

I'm not sure if we would be considered lower income, but we are definitely on a strict budget (DH makes a good income, but things are still tight and we save/pay ourselves first).....well, we are far from a low income family, but we don't have a high income.

DH gets paid every other week and I take out $300, this is all the money I am able to spend on groceries, clothes, fun, birthday presents for friends/family, etc. We eat mostly organic and whole foods, so we spend a little more than most people on groceries. I don't include gas in the $300 because I pay at the pump. I try my hardest to save as much of that $300 as possible so we can go on date nights, nicer vacations or buy something special for DS. Whatever I don't spend is only saved for "fun" things so that is a good push for me to save!

We have a zoo and museum membership. Our local zoo is fantastic and you are able to get a family membership for as low as $69 a year. We bought the museum membership on Groupon for $35. It has a toddler area that DS really enjoys, but there isn't a lot for him to really do - so I probably wouldn't buy it again. We also go to the play area at the mall, Barnes and Noble to play with the train table and read books, story time at the library. When it's cooler we go to the park and on walks a lot.

I am an introverted person, so I do like at least 1 or 2 days a week that we just stay at home and relax (if you can call chasing an 18 month old relaxing). We also live 15-20 minutes away from everything, so I try to only go out when I have something else to do in that area. It seems like no matter how hard I try I have to put gas in my van every 10 days. I joined a mom's group on meetup, but haven't been very involved (just because most of the kids are older and the activities are geared more for the older kids) - they do a lot of free things and just meet up at the park for picnics, etc. There are at least 3 or 4 activities every week that are free. They also get together for crafts and just charge a few dollars for the supplies.

I think that social interaction for both kids and SAHM's is very important. So joining a mom's group is a good, cheap way to do that. Another good option is a good church. I'm actually agnostic, but was raised in a very active church. Even just going on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights is a nice, free way to get together with other people.....but then you have to tithe 10%, so it doesn't end up being all that cost effective

Que*Syrah

I don't know where we fall on big bucks vs. lower income but we don't do fun money. I typically spend about $50/month on activites for DS. We tend to do a lot of free stuff.

eilatan&nhoj88

A membership to a zoo sounds nice. We live 3 hours from the zoo and go once every other year or so. We are 45 minutes from all malls and department stores. DH takes the car to work. Our area is small enough there is no bus. Our park is where trouble makers hang out so that doesn't happen much. My son is still way too hyper for storytime. Church and grocery shopping are pretty much the only things we leave the house for. Just curious what other people in tiny/ no entertainment areas do?