I looked up Money Management International to see if I could find any bias, and all I could see are that they help people with debt relief. So, I guess when you are at risk of bankruptcy, it makes sense to budget very little (but still some!) for fun.

I notice that if you add up the debt (14%) and the savings (7%), you get a pretty nice total (21%) to apply toward savings once your consumer debt is paid off. And that’s about the percentage I save.

I spend more like 20% on miscellaneous, though–14% on short-term fun (movies, lessons, music, parties, gifts) plus 7% on long-term fun (travel and expensive toys like computers). To make up for it, I spend much less than average on housing (small house) and transportation (old but reliable car). I pay more for insurance, more for utilities, and less for food than indicated here, even though I do eat out occasionally and am eating more organic and whole-grained foods than I used to.

Also, I thought the savings % too low & the personal debt too high – but then I guess the budget is one designed for people paying down balances, in which case you’d want to pay down the debt before flipping more money over to savings.