[ianferrel]

My wife and I do this, and while we're both savers by nature, I'm more of a saver, so I end up piling up the fun money while she tends to spend hers (I think. Mostly. I don't actually know how much she has in her personal account because I don't care)

There's no resentment because we already agreed that fun money isn't part of savings or long-term planning. And the fun money is a small enough part of our overall budget that it doesn't impact important goals.

From a "resentment" point of view, it's much better for me to have pre-agreed on $x a month that's going to be spent frivolously than it is to have a conversation about each frivolous purchase as it comes.

And I do still spend my fun money, I just spend it in larger chunks. She's more likely to spend regularly on things like lunch and events with friends, I'm more likely to save up for a while then buy a new power tool, or rent a cabin for a weekend ski trip.

[kelnos]

> I don't actually know how much she has in her personal account because I don't care

I feel like this is a useful thing to do for people who feel like they might feel resentment (or guilt) at their partner for spending too much (or for spending more than their partner) on fun stuff. As long as neither partner goes over the fun-stuff spending limits, it just doesn't matter, and there's no reason to even know.

> And I do still spend my fun money, I just spend it in larger chunks. ... I'm more likely to save up for a while then ... rent a cabin for a weekend ski trip.

Out of curiosity, what happens if your wife wants to come with you on the ski trip, but because she spends her fun money regularly and doesn't save for larger purchases, she doesn't have enough to cover her share of the cost? Or is that just not an issue, because you'd plan it far enough in advance that she'd have time to save? Or would you just say screw it, and call it a gift to her?

[zrail]

Not the GP but in my relationship if both of us are doing a thing and it isn’t already a gift of some sort it’s going through the joint accounts, not the fun money accounts.

[username90]

> Mostly. I don't actually know how much she has in her personal account because I don't care

If you divorce you will, since she will be taking half of yours if she didn't save anything.

[oarsinsync]

The point of 'fun money' is that it isn't money that goes into savings. There's money allocated into savings before any 'fun money' allocations. Anything you have in your 'fun money' account isn't part of your savings, and can (and should) be spent guilt free.

This works as an individual as well, and is the mechanism I used to get myself out of debt. The vast majority of my remaining income after essentials went into paying down debt, or into my savings account. A small amount went into a discretionary spending ('fun money') account. Anything I didn't spend that month simply rolled over to the next month. It never went into my savings, and eventually got spent (usually after several months of 'saving' in the 'fun money' account, in order to buy a new phone / other gadget)

[username90]

> The point of 'fun money' is that it isn't money that goes into savings.

This is wrong since they specifically talked about saving their fun money.

[oarsinsync]

> > > > And I do still spend my fun money, I just spend it in larger chunks. She's more likely to spend regularly on things like lunch and events with friends, I'm more likely to save up for a while then buy a new power tool, or rent a cabin for a weekend ski trip.

> > It never went into my savings, and eventually got spent (usually after several months of 'saving' in the 'fun money' account, in order to buy a new phone / other gadget)

> This is wrong since they specifically talked about saving their fun money.

Saving multiple months of fun money to blow on something frivolous should probably not be the same as a savings account. That's not what the article (nor myself, nor I suspect the GGGGP) was talking about. Savings are for long term planning, for long term investments, for large scale purchases. If you need to save >12 months of 'fun money' for a purchase, then this might not be the correct approach for you, as you're right, and that's effectively a savings account at that point.

[soperj]

>That's not what the article (nor myself, nor I suspect the GGGGP) was talking about.

It was exactly what I was talking about actually. I'm not going to blow money period, so I'd end up saving the >12 months of 'fun money' not for a purchase at all.

[loco5niner]

Actually, I suspect oarsinsync was referring to this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ianferrel

Although I could be wrong. GGGGP would point to your comment, while the statement makes more sense applied to the other.

And you are going to be spending the money on a purchase, just not right now.

[loco5niner]

You are wrong because fun money is to be used however you want, whenever you want by the one person. Savings here referring to the couples savings.

[loco5niner]

If you taint everything in your relationship with "if we divorce", that is not a good sign, nor is it a healthy thing for a marriage.