An allowance is the spending money that you use to pay for out of pocket expenses. What comprises your out of pocket expenses is up to you. How much allowance you need as well as how often you will get your allowance is also up to you. The idea is to give yourself an allowance amount that consistently lasts only until you get your next allowance.

Failure to limit the amount of spending between paydays is the primary reason people get into financial trouble. When spending money is not controlled, it usually gets totally spent between paydays. That means each payday the only money available for paying bills is limited to the amount of the next paycheck. High bills on a payday results in little spending money which often leads to ill advised use of credit cards.

Failure to manage spending money usually leads to steadily growing debt. If you have debt, the first step to paying off your debt is to start managing your spending money by giving yourself an allowance every week. With a weekly allowance, you are never more than 6 days from your next allowance. Paydays become unimportant. With a weekly allowance, you ignore your paydays except to enter deposits.