Budget help, please

[Purple*Lotus]

I am trying to figure out what are reasonable amounts of money for my envelope system.

Some things are easy, like gasoline and groceries.  I am stuck on what is a reasonable amount to budget for entertainment and eating out.

I am single, no children.  How much would you allow for entertainment and for eating out?  My tendancy is to hoard money for a rainy day, and I still do, but I think I need to have some fun in my life.

I am at a loss because I have never had disposable income before. 

[VisionaryMom]

We tend to have 2 separate places for "eating out." One is the "oh, crap, schedule got crazy" kind of eating out, which may be a pizza or may be a rotisserie chicken from the grocery. We have that by padding the grocery budget by about 10 percent. The other is more special occasion type of eating out, which tends to go under entertainment. 

[texmati]

We are just working through this ourselves. What we are doing is looking at our last few months spending, and allocating that much. We will track it this month and try hard to come under. I'm not sure if this is the best approach, but I really fear not budgeting enough.

[crunchy_mama]

Eating out is $25 in our budget  Entertainment is $30- that is what our avg spent has been as well.

[Smithie]

These things just vary hugely by household. Eating out is $200/month in our budget and counts everylittlething that is not a grocery from the grocery store - fast food, cookies at the religious school bake sale, coffee, nominal fee paid at the door for civic group luncheon, anniversary dinner at nice restaurant, etc. If we pay money to put food in our mouths outside the home, it's in that budget. Other folks take a different approach. 

"Entertainment" in our budget is Netflix, iTunes apps, Kindle books, etc. Not food. 

For a single-no-kids budget, I'd say do the math on one Ruby Tuesday-level meal, one fast food meal, and one bar trip per week, and call that eating out. Two movies, a book, and whatever you spend on cable/Netflix/etc. for entertainment. Those are just starting places, obviously - but single-no-kids is the time to go out and socialize and entertain yourself, you won't be seeing any two movies per month and having cocktails once per week with friends when you've got little ones at home! 

If you have (or plan to acquire) suitors who are typically paying for things like movie tickets and food, then divert some money to a "grooming" envelope, because you know that you'll want to get your nails done or eyebrows waxed or something prior to the date. 

[crunchy_mama]

Yes, it would be lots different for a single person.  Even for us as a family we spent more before we had food intolerances there are such food choices now that it just doesn't happen.  We also don't go grocery shopping very often, or shopping period.

[redvlagrl]

DH and I have just increased our blow money to $100 apiece each month (it was $50). This includes all entertainment and eating out. Also alcohol. It's pretty stingy, i know. It makes me think twice about getting that coffee while out.

If I was single I would probably do more like $150 because you tend to go out more often

[A&A]

Think in terms of what you'd like to do per month.  Buy one book and  see two movies, for example, or whatever.  Then figure out how much that will cost. 

[Sativarain1]

Interesting to see other's opinions on how much to divide into entertainment purposes/ eating out. I like the idea of buying one new book each month. Most of what I read is from the library and that has been awesome, but sometimes I find a book I really enjoy and never buy it.