Fabulously Broke in the City

How much is your miscellaneous fund?

COMMENTS: 4 Comments

Assuming you DON’T track how much you spend in expenses on a daily basis, and that you do spend on miscellaneous items that you haven’t budgeted for (if you even have a budget), is spending $48 on “I don’t know” seem reasonable to you?

That’s the dollar figure given on average when researchers surveyed Americans to ask how much they couldn’t account for on a weekly basis.

$48 x 4 = $192, almost $200 being unaccounted for that’s spend per month!

For most of us buried in debt, $200 can be quite significant, but if you have a general idea of “yes, it’s postage stamps, the odd chocolate bar here and there, and a lottery ticket, plus other snacks and coffees for when I’m out running with the kids”, then $48/week might be reasonable for you as a petty cash fund to dip into.

They were also assuming that this $48/week was spent on ‘useless’ things like (coffee, or snacks), although that may be debated, that isn’t always the case. That $48/week may have been on buying tokens to use public transportation, but you just never accounted for it, because you never bought a monthly pass, but just whenever you need the bus or subway. But even if it isn’t ‘wasted’ money, it might still be a good idea to create a fund for it, and see whether or not you still spent $48/week on ‘stuff’.

I’d personally suggest tracking expenses even just for ONE month, and seeing what you spend it on. It can make a real world of a difference for you to see where it’s all going, and even if you don’t want to change your habits and still want that $5 cup of joe in the morning, at least you’ll now be able to say where that $35/week of the $48/week is going, which only leaves $13 unaccounted for, which seems more reasonable to me.

Your money is personal to you, and if you want that $5 coffee in a morning because it helps you stay awake and feel good, and you don’t spend $50 in shops every day shopping for another retail pick-me-up, then by all means go for it.

All I’m trying to do is put into perspective that you may be able to take a cut in certain areas depending on what your goals are for the future: to be debt free? To own a house? To own every pair of Manolo Blahniks available? 

If you are still wondering where that cash is going but don’t want to track expenses (assuming you use credit cards and not cash), try a cash budget and see how you do.

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COMMENTS: 4 Comments

4 Responses to “How much is your miscellaneous fund?”


  1. Ms. M&P
    on Sep 22nd, 2007
    @ 2:51 PM

    Oh man. I can’t imagine not knowing where every dime goes! I’ve even started keeping pretty meticulous tabs on my cash spending. I hope I won’t always have to be this careful, but getting out of debt is paramount for me and every penny counts! I agree with you that everyone should look at what they spend in each month. It really helps you budget better!


  2. Fabulously Broke in the City
    on Sep 22nd, 2007
    @ 3:30 PM

    Ms. M&P: I’m really really happy that I started my 5 Excel Sheet system. I love being able to know at any time, anywhere, how much I have in any bank account or owing on a credit card and what’s waiting to be paid off… :) My budgeting skills have improved tremdenously with my system!!


  3. Mrs. Micah
    on Sep 22nd, 2007
    @ 8:59 PM

    My Misc. fund is $25 per month. It’s for things like birthday presents…normally there’s not more than 1 of those per month.

    Of course, I budget for dates and clothes and the like…and keep track of where the money goes.


  4. Fabulously Broke in the City
    on Sep 22nd, 2007
    @ 9:23 PM

    Mrs. Micah: Same here. I don’t like having a huge miscellanous fund. Actually.. my “misc” fund doesn’t even exist. I have a category for EVERYTHING, and usually know ahead of time whether I need to budget it or change the name of that budget to “gift” or “date” or whatever….

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