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What is a slush fund? Wikipedia defines a slush fund as "a colloquial term which has come to mean an auxiliary monetary account or reserve fund."

For me, my slush fund is kind of like an emergency savings account but for the fun stuff. Some people set aside separate savings account for vacations, cars or other occasional expenses. I am a big technology geek and buying the latest electronic gadget was one of the ways I wound up with a mountain of credit card debt.

These days, I still buy the occasional electronic gadget on a whim. Although, now the guilt is not there because I've already set aside money to cover the purchase. I just pull the cash from my slush fund.

Each month, I set aside $100 a month for the slush fund. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take a last minute trip to the beach. The lodging was free and I only had to pay for food and drinks. I spent about $200 and I didn't have to pull the money from my regular budget and I didn't have to touch my emergency fund or regular savings. It was also nice to not have to worry about whether or not I could afford it. As long as I have money in the slush fund to cover the purchase, I can afford it. After all, that's what it's there for.

Do you have a slush fund? How much do you keep in the account?

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Yesterday, I wrote about my plan to hang out with my sister and spend some money at the mall. The day went as planned and I had a great time hanging out with my sister but the splurge did not go so well. As planned, I withdrew the $200 I budgeted for the trip in cash from the ATM and left my credit cards at home. We went to the mall and had a nice lunch in the food court and stayed at the mall for about an hour and a half. After an hour and a half, we walked out of the mall with.....NOTHING!

This is one of my favorite malls located in a high income area of town and they have the best stores. Whatever you are looking for, you can find at this mall. I even went into the Apple Store and I couldn't part with my money in there either. My sister wanted a new Ipod but since there was absolutely nothing wrong with her old one, it did not make sense to buy a new one. I don't know what got into me but I just couldn't do it. I just could not do it. There were several things that I wanted to buy but there was nothing that I needed to buy. Even though I had the cash in hand to make the purchase, I only spent about $20 for our lunch. On the way home, I went back to the ATM and deposited the remaining $180 back into my account.

Putting the money back into my account made me happier than my failed shopping spree.

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