How much $ do you fritter away?

[gecko10x]

I am curious how much people spend on "latte factor" type impulse spending. My household budgets this type of thing as personal fun money.

Define fun/blow/discretionary however you wish, but it should exclude anything large, like vacations, or it would seriously skew the numbers.

I'll define the calculation as:
(Average monthly spend per adult)/(Average gross monthly household income)*100

p.s. - Hopefully I'm doing this correctly, and the poll doesn't have any major flaws ;-)

Edit: Clarity on calculation

[AZDude]

Quick calculations have it at about 0.04% of monthly gross income. I will say we are pretty lenient on what is considered a personal/fun purchase and what is part of the household goods/food budget.

[gecko10x]

Quick calculations have it at about 0.04% of monthly gross income. I will say we are pretty lenient on what is considered a personal/fun purchase and what is part of the household goods/food budget.

That's crazy low. Of course, if you used my calc as I had it written, it would have given you a non % value; I have updated it.

[gecko10x]

Seeing two votes for the last option after only 6 votes cast, I added a couple more.

If those two people could please update their vote, that would be good. They are currently listed as "<= 4% HHI"

[wenchsenior]

Back of envelope calcs indicated about 0.02-0.05% of net income. So, we average 50-200 bucks per month each, usually staying near the low end at the low end. I'm not including very occasional budgeted trips, which we budget and plan for.

EDIT...ack. I can maths. That should be 2-5% of net.

[AZDude]

Quick calculations have it at about 0.04% of monthly gross income. I will say we are pretty lenient on what is considered a personal/fun purchase and what is part of the household goods/food budget.

That's crazy low. Of course, if you used my calc as I had it written, it would have given you a non % value; I have updated it.

Ok, those numbers are off. Its actually 1.7%. Not even sure how I got 0.04%. That's like $4 per $10,000 of income, which would be rather badass.

[gecko10x]

 So, over 300 views and only 26 votes? Clearly my poll is uninteresting ;-)

Oh well, thanks to those that voted! I have to say I'm a bit surprised by the even spread though.

[use2betrix]

So, over 300 views and only 26 votes? Clearly my poll is uninteresting ;-)

Oh well, thanks to those that voted! I have to say I'm a bit surprised by the even spread though.

I think a lot are curious and now are wondering such, but feel that many may simply not budget in enough detail to know the exact percentage relative to their HHI.

[JLee]

Quick calculations have it at about 0.04% of monthly gross income. I will say we are pretty lenient on what is considered a personal/fun purchase and what is part of the household goods/food budget.

0.04 or 0.04% (0.0004)? If the latter, that'd be just over $3/mo for me, lol.

[mandy_2002]

If calculated like my savings rate (non take home income like HSA Contribution and 401k/mega backdoor Roth added back), it would be less that 2%, but strickly takehome is less than 4% (my response). Honestly, but biggest frivolous spend is travel (on its own 6% of take home).