Business, life, and money coach Vickie Champion suggests bringing the weekly allowance back as a way of helping adults to budget more effectively. Vickie is a master at helping people improve their spending and savings habits by changing the way they think about money. She says: Learn more about why a weekly allowance can be a good idea and how to implement it.
Eight Reasons to Use a Weekly Allowance
Keys to Implementing
Determining how much you can spend each week is the key to using the weekly allowance concept. Train yourself to accept that there is no more money available when your allowance is depleted. When you hit your spending limit, you’re done. There’s no going to the ATM or charging things on credit to tide you over. Restricting yourself to an allowance means that you might sometimes have to say no to going out with friends, or you might have to put off a home repair until you’ve saved up the money. It can feel good to be in control of where your money is going. If you don’t feel comfortable putting off necessary expenditures like groceries or home repairs, dedicate a portion of your overall budget to those things, so they won’t have to come out of your allowance. Of course, you may have to reduce your allowance to accommodate them, and they, too, should have a monthly cap. If you allow X number of dollars for groceries, you’ll be less inclined to splurge on a fancy dinner if it means your grocery budget might run out before the month or week does.
Do a Trial Run
You don’t have to commit to the idea of an allowance for the rest of your life. Try it for a week, two weeks, or even a month. If you find that you’re miserable, adjust your system or abandon it and try budgeting in another way. Who knows? You might find that the allowance idea works for you.
