1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Ask The Readers: Fun Money Account?

by 52 Comments

Giveaway!

Before we get down to business, I’m having a giveaway this week. Read on…

In last week’s post, I included a ridiculous photo of me posing with my beloved Wahl shaver:

Wahl caught wind of our fun and games. Instead of sending me a cease and desist, they sent me a shaver:

Dinosaurs not included

How awesome is that?

However, I already have two Wahl shavers, so I don’t need another. This one deserves to go to a home where it will be used and loved. So, I’m going to give it to one of you. But wait, that’s not all!

Jim, tell the audience what else they’ve won!

Wahl is a great company that makes a fantastic product. Because I like them so much, I’m going to pony up the money for two more. Because I love you.

Here comes the fine print! Come on, you knew that there would be a catch. It’s easy though; just a simple contest… Hmmmm, what should I do though?

No clue.

And when you don’t have clue, go with the Haiku! Yep, that’s right. The Japanese poetry you learned about in 4th grade. Here are the hairy details:

Write a haiku about hair or shaver or dinosaurs (or all of the above). I’ll pick the best three and send each of you a shaver kit. And maybe a dinosaur. Here is an example of a very bad haiku:

Wahl, you’ve never failed,
Twenty years of cheap haircuts,
Shaver, I love you.

Here’s another one for your reading displeasure:

No more fancy hair,
The garage is my salon,
Cutting hair is fun.

Yeah, yeah, those were the opposite of good. I’m no Shakespeare.

Maybe Shakesbeer?!??

But what do you want? This blog is 100% free and your shaver will be too if you win the contest. Leave your haiku in the comments section.

Fun Money

Last week, I asked you about buying local. This got me thinking to how others allocate money for indulgences. I want to know how you do it.

First, we must get to your comments. Here is what you had to say last week:

Reader Sarah:

For me, it’s less about buying local, and more about buying ethical. I want to buy things where workers were treated well — clothing that wasn’t made in sweatshops, coffee that wasn’t grown with child labour, etc.

I like this a lot.

Gwen from Fiery Millennials:

I’m happy to buy local…..to a point. I do like to support my neighbors, but some things just aren’t worth it. I’m about to sign up for a gymnastics based gym close to home ($200/mo unlimited classes) and for a meat CSA share ($100/mo). I’ll be excited to work out and learn new skills AND I’ll be eating free range, grass fed, sustainable, organic local meat products from an area farmer. That being said, I’m still going to order a pack of underwear off Amazon.

Amazon underwear! I’ve never done it myself, but maybe I’ll go for it the next time I need new ones. On the other hand, do I want Bezos to have me by the… Oh, never mind. This is a family blog…

Reader Brian:

As for beer… I am going to splurge and go to Dark Lord Day this year, which is around $200, which gets you 5 bottles of beer (and a festival too i suppose)

Dark Lord Day! This is a bucket list item for me! Damn, I want to go. It’s pretty ridiculous though to fly to Indiana and then pay $200 to listen to metal and drink beer. To be continued…

Reader Jamie V bought a snowblower local:

We decided to buy our [very first] snowblower from a local mom’n pop shop instead of a big box store because in the increased price (it was only another $30-$50 if I recall correctly), they showed us how to use it, and we’re allowed to bring it in for any future tune-ups/repairs/issues (and we get put to the front of the line for same day service!).

And the Graying Saver bought a bike from a local shop:

A few months after the purchase I brought my bike in for a derailleur adjustment (free tune-ups and adjustments for a year) and worried that the owners were going to give me shit about how dirty the bike was. Instead they told me it made me look like a badass. No one from Amazon has ever told me I looked like a badass after buying something from them.

Money Beagle supports his local hardware store:

I wrote a post last year about how we support a local hardware even though they are a bit more money than the big box store. The thing is, the local shop is right on the way home. The local hardware is also smaller so I can generally find what I want very quickly. Also, they have never failed to be able to help me when I have questions, which is pretty common when I walk in there. All three of these things save me a lot of time, which makes it well worth it to me to support the local shop.

Jamie V, Graying Saver, and Money Beagle all show that even though it may cost more to buy local, there are secondary results that outweigh the price. Money isn’t everything.

Us?

We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, but in moderation. Mrs. 1500 will keep going to her fancy salon, but only every 9 months. I’ll keep drinking fancy beer, but cut back (thanks Mr. Done By 40 for keeping me honest). Less is more.

Do I feel silly for spending the money? A little. Maybe I shouldn’t because we have a lot. But, should you spend more just because you have more? I don’t think so. If I had a billion dollars, I’d still fly coach. This brings me to the question for this week.

Fun Money?

Last week, I tweeted about Mrs. 1500’s expensive haircuts: Jillian from Montana Money Adventures had this to say:

Mrs. 1500 and I started thinking about her comment and the idea of having a fun money account…

We’re frugal most of the time. In February, we spent about $3,500. Subtract the mortgage and we spent $2,000. If we paid our house off, we could get by on $30,000 per year. However, there is also a big caveat to our spending. Did you notice the loaded word a couple of sentences back:

…we could get by on $30,000 per year.

Cue the scary music!

In December, we blew $8,000, more than double our normal monthly spending. We were on vacation and burned money on restaurants, rental cars and sloth sanctuaries.

Hanging out.

How does one reconcile a mostly frugal life with a month or two of crazy spending? That’s where the fun money account comes in.

A fun money account is one where you set aside money for indulgences including salons, sporting events, vacations, dinosaurs, and sloths. It’s like having a separate box of FU Money on top of your original stack of FU money. The FU Money of FU Money. I like thinking about this money separately:

  • The day-to-day stuff is what matters most. These are the core expenses that will determine how long you have to stay at your job. Keep them low by living in a modest home, driving an old car, and eating at home.
  • Having a fun money account allows you to focus on the required, core expenses while also setting a limit on luxury spending.
  • Fun money gives you a buffer. If your portfolio goes to hell, you can cancel on Mickey Mouse and use your fun money to pay the bills.

This is how we’re going to think about money from now on. At the end of the year, we’ll consider how much we spent on the essentials and how much we spent on dinosaurs and beer. I believe that this will give us a better understanding of our spending.

You?

What do you think?

  • Do you have a fun money account or do you think this is a stupid idea?
  • Do you put spending limits on indulgences?
  • Are you in Camp Sloth or Camp Dinosaur?
The dinosaurs are fans of the finer things…

Don’t forget to leave a Haiku in the comments for a chance to win a fine Wahl shaver!

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

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Comments

  1. Mrs. Tako and I have had fun money accounts for decades now. It’s also a really important part of why we’re still married. She gets to spend her fun money however she wants. It gives us a sense of independence and financial autonomy without fear of criticism or argument.

    If she wants to spend her fun money on a fancy hair cut — so be it! Likewise, I can spend my fun money however I want.

    Mind you: These are very small sums of money — we get $200/month to spend. Barely a blip on our monthly expenses.

    Reply

  4. I don’t want the Wahl
    I’m a girl with longer hair
    but Haikus are fun

    I don’t have a fun money account. I used to and guess what happens to fun money? It gets spent. It didn’t matter if I put $20 a month in it or $200, if it was there, lets spend it! I’m still working for the man at this point so I want to keep a little more conscious thought behind spending money than how my brain processes a fun money account.

    That said, I did do fun money with my kids one summer. Rather than me trying to decide a couple fun things to do (swimming passes, theater tickets, eating out, frozen yogurt buffets, ALL THE THINGS!!!!), I gave them each a bag with $50 in it in June, added another $50 in July, and another $50 in August. They had the choice in how it was spent, but when they made a choice, they had to pay for everyone in the family. So if kid 1 wanted to eat out, they picked the restaurant but had to pay the entire bill out of their bag of money. If kid 2 wanted to go see a concert, they had to buy everyone a ticket, you get the point. In addition, I made the deal that at the end of the summer, they got to keep whatever was left – 50% of it would go into their savings and the other half was theirs for whatever they wanted. It worked out pretty well.

    I cut my own hair
    and have a lady shaver
    Haikus are still fun
    Nearly Fit Mom recently posted…The Word that Hurts the Most, Helps the MostMy Profile

    Reply

  5. Terrible Haikus
    A form I’ve never enjoyed
    Limerick’s my jam

    A guy in Colorado with a FIRE blog
    Had enough money, so quit the daily slog
    Now there’s a competition
    with rhymin’ repetition
    A shaver’s the prize. Epilogue.

    Reply

  6. Ok, my wife (the haiku police) says that was not a haiku, so I have to amend it so that it conforms… I thought that art was allowed to ignore the rules, but she’s the linguist. So here I go again….

    Dinosaurs they died
    They might have lived had they hair
    Will shaving kill us?

    See, doesn’t sound as good. Maybe it would be better after a beer or two…

    Cheers!

    Reply

  8. Mine hairs hath grown long
    Brave sharp Wahl to the rescue
    Short hair again reigns

    I am good shopping local to a point. We don’t have dedicated “fun money” but usually have some fun wiggle room.

    Reply

  10. Oh shaver
    Thank you for the hours
    Of trim time with my growing boys

    Young man at 19
    In first salon
    “My mom has always cut my hair!”

    Same kid
    Six months later, shaver in hand
    “Mama, you do a better job”

    😊

    Reply

    • Or how about a limerick?

      There were two young men from the Northwest
      Whose curls grew as fast as the forest
      But wielding a Wahl
      Their mom trimmed them all
      And spent nary a dime at their own request!

      Okay, that was fun, now time to go to work!

      Reply

  18. Wahl, you’re getting dull
    You pull and don’t get it all
    Kid complains, send me one

    Hah. my 20 years old wah isn’t working well anymore. I really need a new one.

    Fun money?
    I don’t have any
    Go for free fun
    That’s how it’s done.
    😉

    Reply

  19. This is the best I could create in the 30 seconds I stopped working 🙂

    i need a new Wahl
    have five kids whose hair i cut
    Want to be FIRE

    Reply

  20. I rarely comment, but couldn’t pass this one up. Fun money accounts don’t serve frugality at my house. They serve my marriage. We discuss our major purchases in depth. We are financially responsible. We watch our spending.

    BUT….just about the worst thing you can do to your financial security is go through a divorce. This is why we have fun money. We have very different ideas of leisure and having that money to do with as we please without justification is a sanity saver.

    I know that sentence should have some more commas.

    Reply

  22. Now you’re just getting into a “regular person’s” budget territory. There’s always a line item for “entertainment”. Maybe that’s what a bunch of us super frugal (I am NOT super frugal…but reasonably) people are missing.
    A bit of that line item.
    Permission to buy stuff and spend money.

    Also- yeah, Haikus are much much better in Japanese, you can choose a whole variety of kanji to make different meanings and words, and almost every single word in japanese consists of a consonant and vowel (as one letter) or just a vowel.
    I too have a whal ,and cut the dude’s in my life’s hair with it.
    Cathleen Cooks Stuff recently posted…1 pot roast=5 dinnersMy Profile

    Reply

  23. Here are my best haikus.

    My spouse pays 30
    For each head and beard shaving
    Save him from himself

    Why not do at home?
    Razors slip and slide over scalp
    Until blood trickles down

    Reply

  24. OMG your blog posts are invading my dreams! I had a dream…nightmare! that I cut my own her and was dealing with the fallout.

    I have curly hair…I just can’t cut my own hair. If you think you know what you are doing with straight hair, with thick curly hair, it’s impossible.

    I do dye my own hair…so frugal win?

    I pay $60 every 6 months for my haircut. When I graduated college and started making money, I upgraded. I started paying $60 instead of $15 for a nice haircut. And I started using quality shampoos, conditioners, gels, hair cremes. I still try to stay frugal.

    Reply

  28. Yup. My wife and I take $60 each a week to do with what we please.

    Some times I dont spend any for a few weeks and just save it up for something I want to do.

    Usually mine goes to beer. Lol

    Wife’s goes to fancy haircuts. It doesnt bother me as its our fun money to do as we please.

    Guilt free.

    Reply

  30. though schwag stuff is cool
    I’m a female dinosaur
    no free Wahl needed

    As a single person, I’m only arguing with myself on what to spend discretionary/fun money on… mostly it’s wine, good food, good travel luggage/backpacks/packing stuff, and actual travel…

    I’m paying myself / futureself first, by maxing the 401k, putting cash aside each month for emergency/buffer, and for my post-tax investment account… I’m currently saving/investing more than I ever used to even earn…

    I’m within 5 years of FIRE (I think) so it’s more obvious (to me) when purchases could be put into investments instead… but with that being said, I do spend on things that I like that also distract me from the ongoing stress of my (well paid/golden handcuffs) job…
    I may have (ahem) just scored some of those cheap Southwest tickets for a totally unplanned unnecessary discretionary random mid-week trip to Maui in May…

    payday is now here
    delayed gratification
    is so hard sometimes

    my future self is
    hoping I pay attention
    to her wants and needs

    maybe Carl and co.
    will distract me from the lure
    of Southwest discounts

    Reply

  32. Now it’s just fun!

    I have no money
    I got expensive hair cuts
    This needs to stop now

    or

    Spend less than you make
    Put the rest in index funds
    Repeat this process

    Reply

  35. I need a shaver
    for my teenager’s long hair
    will I see his eyes?

    we do have a fun money account. Key is to not use it too often!

    Reply

  36. This is my first trip to your blog, and there’s a fantastic giveaway? OK!

    My husband teared up
    Last weekend when his much-loved
    Wahl gave up the ghost

    True story!

    And as for fun money, we don’t have a separate account. Since we aren’t fired yet and don’t have a complete handle on our budget, it’s something I should think about. But then my husband might notice that I spend $$ on haircuts and color, while he spends nothing due to his trusty Wahl.

    I’m excited to explore your blog, but until then, count me on team dinosaur (although I’m lazy so sloths are inherently attractive – they’ve got it figured out).

    Reply

    • Thanks for the great Haiku and for picking the correct team, Team Dinosaur!

      “although I’m lazy so sloths are inherently attractive – they’ve got it figured out”

      Ha, yeah! Except for the occasional eagle attack, they have it pretty good!

      Reply

  37. I was living in home haircut bliss this past weekend until the dream was shattered by the sound of our Wahl’s being dropped while my wife was trimming the back of my head.

    I had just given our son a damn good looking flat top (YouTube – I love you) and then did a fairly decent trim on my own graying head. My wife was doing just a bit of touch up on the back when the clippers fell out of her hand and crashed to the floor. Pieces of the clippers went flying. The motor still works, but several of the metal teeth were broken off, which makes the clippers far less functional. Sigh.

    I commemorate the passing of my beloved Wahl’s with these lines of verse:

    Where has my hair gone?
    With my Wahl to the tile floor
    Now both are no more

    If you would please join me in a moment of silence.

    Thank you

    Reply

  39. Smart move by Wahl, getting virtually free advertising for just the cost of a set of clippers by someone who has an audience of readers that are of the target audience that would buy their products. I own two sets of Wahl clippers, and while I am not getting paid for an endorsement I will say the ones I own are good tools. My wife bought a set of Ion clippers she intended to use to give her boys their haircuts and I own a set of peanut clippers I originally bought for trimming my beard. She attempted to do haircuts for the boys, but she didn’t feel comfortable doing them and she asked me to finish and take over the chore. They are quiet, cut well, do not vibrate nor heat up as they are a better than entry level quality and they have worked well for over six years with just cleaning and oiling after each use. I use a spray called Clippercide. I wash the attachments with warm soapy water and let them air dry. The peanut clipper is a great tool for the fine work doing the neckline, side burns and by the ears. We bought a child size and later an adult size cape to keep the loose hairs off their clothes and from going down their necks, less squirming children during the haircuts. I also bought a good quality pair of hair shears years ago which have gotten used for hundreds of haircuts. Good quality shears hold an edge and can be resharpened, rather than the cheap ones people throw away because sharpening cost more than the original cost. Doing a good job takes time and practice, and when the teen boys prefer getting their haircuts at home because their friends get crappy haircuts at the barbershop, and they like the way they look, I call that a win. I have had to look at images on the internet and watched YouTube video tutorials to do more than just buzz them as being that kind of simpleton approach wouldn’t play well in the family and the boys would lose their trust and their would be arguments. It easily saves us hundreds a year. And from my experience it is easier to cut their mother’s hair than it is the boys. Hers takes longer because one she has more hair to handle and two it is with scissors only which takes longer, but the process is easier. But I do recommend getting good tools and keeping them clean and well maintained.

    Reply

    • Just to be sure we’re on the same page, I’m not really getting paid either. Well, Wahl did send me clippers, but I’m giving them away and I expect nothing from them in return. If a product is good, I don’t need to be paid to support it!

      “It easily saves us hundreds a year.”

      Yep, and all of that adds up. I’ve given myself at least 240 cuts with my clippers. If a haircut costs $15, that’s $3,600. Most of the cars I’ve owned in my life haven’t cost that much.

      Reply

  42. We bought clippers for me to start cutting my husband’s hair when it really started to get thin on top. I love running the razor right up the middle of the back of his head once and declaring, “done!” But because I *love* haiku, and run my own haiku contest at work, I am entering your contest. But not for me – if I win, I’ll give the Wahl to my neighbors who have two young boys with thick hair and recently borrowed our razor to try it out. One of the boys is adopted and they are fostering the other. I’d love to help them save some money on this useful tool.

    Zip, whir, goes the blade,
    Up the back is one long line
    A reverse mohawk

    Shed the hairdresser
    FIRE says: a penny shaved
    Is a Wahl well earned

    We don’t have fun money accounts. It hurts my head to think about what would come out of that, and what comes out of other funds. My husband mentioned that he would be interested in starting this because he worries what I would think when he spends money, but I think he’s too hard on himself and I don’t think I criticize – or even care – all that often.

    Reply

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