How r/personalfinance thinks about $2,500 in monthly "fun money"
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 31, 2026.
If you’re meeting your savings goals, then it doesn’t matter. Enjoy it. If paying down your debt is part of your plan, then it does matter. Don’t spend it. What others on the internet spend is irrelevant. Everyone is different.
A couple with $2,500 left monthly after retirement savings is split on spending it all versus paying the mortgage early, and 183 comments say it hinges on whether the savings goals are already met. Surplus cash with no assigned job turns into an argument.
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A post on r/personalfinance from user RitaRomano asks what a couple should do with roughly $2,500 a month left after taxes, retirement contributions, and shared household expenses.
Her husband wants the full amount treated as spending money, while she wants to cap fun money at $400 each per month and put the rest toward paying the mortgage off early.
The top comment argues that if you are meeting your savings goals, it does not matter how much you spend on yourself, but if paying down debt is part of the plan, the surplus should not be spent.
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Several commenters pushed toward a middle ground of $600 to $800 each per month, noting that any allocation is reversible after a few months.
The author grew up poor, a detail that shapes her instinct to use every spare dollar productively, and one commenter flagged that never allowing yourself to spend carries its own cost.