Hobby Allowance

Evil Reny

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Hi all quick question what's your "Hobby Allowance" the amount per month your "allowed" to spend on arcade stuff with out having to beg, borrow or steal.

Just looking for a little ammo when discussing the budget with wifey ;)
 
Yeah anyway. Grown-ups don't need 'allowances'. Instead we get 'budgets'.... from our spouses. Yeah. :p
 
Great question -

I always try to convince my wife that the latest addiction will some how benefit us either short term or long term.

Short term usually involves something that my wife and girls will get to use.

Long term is how I phrase things that I want to do.

So with the arcade stuff, I have been saying that what I am learning is valuable and that I am saving money in the long run by learning how to work on these. Long term I may be able to make some $$ either servicing or "flipping". Not really much chance in that, but it keeps the wife happy.

As for your original question - my wife and I each have a seperate joint account and have XXX $ per month to do with no explaining neccessary.

Good luck!
Chris
 
To try to help you with actual numbers, my "fun money" allowance works out to about 5% of our total monthly after tax take home pay.

The wife gets the same (that may help win you approval ;) ).
 
To try to help you with actual numbers, my "fun money" allowance works out to about 5% of our total monthly after tax take home pay.

The wife gets the same (that may help win you approval ;) ).

YES!!! equal "fun money" accounts could definitely be a selling feature :)
 
Hi all quick question what's your "Hobby Allowance" the amount per month your "allowed" to spend on arcade stuff with out having to beg, borrow or steal.

Just looking for a little ammo when discussing the budget with wifey ;)

While I fully support talking to your wife about budgeting for your hobbies, if you go in there and say 'The other guys all get $X', you are NOT going to have a good discussion. You'll sound like my 6 year old.

Besides, we're all at different income levels, and have differing priorities. Nothing anyone here is going to tell you is likely to be a good match for your situation.

Sit down and figure out how much you are spending each month (trust me, I know this can be hard). Then figure out what else you want to spend that cash on and how much is worth diverting to this hobby. I highly recommending 'eating' and 'keeping the mortgage paid' being higher priority than this hobby, but your priorities may vary.
 
I have no allowance. My budget is kept within the hobby and pays for itself. I do this by buying less desirable non-working games,fixing them or parting out,then selling for profit which goes right back into the same fund it came from. Rinse repeat.
 
Probably around 350$-500$ a month for me. Though if I sell a game I usually use that for other arcade stuff
 
Hi all quick question what's your "Hobby Allowance" the amount per month your "allowed" to spend on arcade stuff with out having to beg, borrow or steal.

Just looking for a little ammo when discussing the budget with wifey ;)

Sounds like your wife wears the pants in the family if you are bringing this
topic up for discussion, if a game comes up that I want I buy it, no having
to get around the table and discuss finances with the Mrs. before pulling the trigger, of course though I'm a responsible adult, bills and financial obligations come first before game purchases.
 
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Allowance money????

I have no "allowance", I pay all of my bill's and I determine if I have any "hobby money" or not.
 
As the bread-winner for the family my job is to make money..... for my family. That's priority #1. The money 'I' make is not 'my' money. It's 'our' money.

Now if I have globs leftover then my wife and I will sit down and talk about what we want to do with it. (Home improvements, vacation, church donations, etc) Every marital situation is different but we've agreed that if either one of us is going to be spending more than $100 a month on personal stuff we need to let the other know.

Additionally, I repair arcade PCBs on the side and any $ I make doing that goes straight into my arcade fund for my to do with as I please, because the repair work is something I do in my 'free time' when I'm not busy being a dad/husband.
(which is prob why I haven't had much these days) :D
 
My allowance is whatever I have in my arcade account which is funded by me, there is no budget to discuss and agree on.

There ya go. When I sell something or do a paid repair, the money goes into PayPal, and I use it to buy parts I need (or don't need) later. When the amount gets fairly large ($400+ recently), I transfer it to a special bank account set up just for this purpose. And I've often used that money to pay for non-arcade things like car-repairs when we don't want to dip too far into our savings.

My wife used to always ask what money I was using to pay for something, until I explained that I paid for her car with money from selling three games. Now she doesn't ask, because she knows I don't spend money just to spend it...
 
my wife doesnt care how much i spend as long as bills and food is covered. her quote is "it's just money and you can always make more.. or do a little OT"
 
My allowance is whatever I have in my arcade account which is funded by me, there is no budget to discuss and agree on.

I have no allowance. My budget is kept within the hobby and pays for itself. I do this by buying less desirable non-working games,fixing them or parting out,then selling for profit which goes right back into the same fund it came from. Rinse repeat.

I'm in the same boat with these guys. The initial funding came from some work bonus and the rest has mostly been funded from parts sales and repairs and selling restored video games. Occasionally, I will dip into the "hobby" fund to cover unexpected expenses because keeping the house going is more important than the latest Craigslist bargain.

ken
 
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