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It might not have been much, but it was your money - to spend as you wanted.
Those days seem so simple now.
Why not try to re-create that simple aspect of your younger life? You can do it.
And there's good reason to do it today.
If you take a small amount of money from your household finances to be your "allowance" you will need to be firm with yourself, much like your parents were about the allowance they gave you.
Maybe they told you, "This has got to last you all week.
When it's gone, it's gone.
Spend it wisely.
" That's what you have to tell yourself now.
The next step is to determine how much of an allowance you should get.
And if there are other people in your household, they should get an allowance, too.
This will be easier to manage if everyone plays by the same rules.
When you think about how much money you should get for an allowance, realize that everyone in your household needs some money to spend.
All of the allowances added together must be money that is available in the household budget.
And not everyone's allowance will be the same amount of money.
So, how much money do you need for a spending allowance every week? Add up the personal expenses you have on a regular basis such as haircuts, gas, and dining out and start with that.
Think back on all the money you spent during the past week.
Now ask yourself how much of that was a wise use of your money.
Next ask yourself if there are other ways you spend money on yourself that might happen only once a month.
Include those items as well.
But add the amount you need for them on a weekly basis.
Once you have this amount determined for yourself and have done the same for everyone else in your household, add maybe 10% of that amount to allow for special occasions (more on that later).
By now you might be thinking, "This will never work.
We don't have extra money for allowances for each person in our household".
In reality, you do.
The amount of money we are talking about here is probably already being spent, whether you control it or not.
A personal allowance is a way to transfer control of a fixed amount of money on a weekly or monthly basis to each individual.
People who do this find they actually spend less money because they are not constantly dipping into the family cookie jar.
The next time you go out the door to shop, or to work, or with friends, you will have money available to spend without asking permission, or having to explain later-when the family's bills are being paid.
Without an allowance, the question that gets asked every time you pay your bills is "Where did the money go?" Now you will know it went for major categories like housing, food, transportation, clothing, and allowances.
No further questions are needed, because allowances are now a predictable amount of money.
If it doesn't work out that way in your household take a look at how the allowance program is working.
Nobody should ever take more money (from the general fund or cookie jar) for their personal spending than they have in their allowance.
And there should be a little extra money in the allowance that can be saved for "special occasions"-like buying a gift for someone.
In many households today, when one spouse is buying the other a gift there is no surprise about it.
That money comes from the family general fund and the element of surprise is lost.
It feels like the gift came from shared money.
If it comes from a personal spending allowance, the surprise can be kept until the moment is right.
Even better, the person receiving the gift knows it came from the other person's limited personal money.
It wasn't bought with common funds.
One other benefit to controlling the household budget can be found in the types of things you expect each person to pay for from their allowance.
One of my favorite strategies is to include clothing and personal hygiene items in the personal allowance.
As a result, designer jeans may take a back seat to having money for outings with friends.
Or, buying a new cell phone may have to wait until money has been saved by not spending as much on entertainment.
What I include in an allowance is lunch money, gas for my car, entertainment, dining out (my wife and I go "Dutch"), magazines, gifts, toys for myself (electronics), clothes, etc.
Anything on this list that I buy on a credit card must still be paid for from my allowance money.
So, I have my own credit card that I pay off with every statement.
The use of an allowance does simplify your life.
It makes it much easier to answer "Can I afford to buy it?" when you want to stop at the local coffee shop with your buddies.
It quickly explains why you shouldn't spend your money every time you want something.
It frees you to say "No.
" to yourself when you need to.
Better yet, if you have children, it provides them early lessons in how to handle money.
When they get their first job or leave home for college, they will be much less likely to end up drowning in credit card debt and needing to be rescued by mom and dad.
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