Sugar Baby Money Rules: 12 Things Smart Sugar Babies Know

Congrats. You finally got that sweet sugar baby money. There’s moolah in the bank, your wallet’s full of cash and you can’t stop thinking about all the things you can buy and do with this newfound wealth.

Stop right there.

Before you get to spending all those dolla dolla bills – it’s time to talk about sugar baby money. It’s the main reason so many of us enter the sugar world.

And yet, it can be such a tricky thing. It can lead to a life of dependency and desperation or it can be your shortcut to financial freedom.

Yes, we know. This is a sugar baby blog. And no, we’re not here to give financial advice. But if there’s one thing that every successful sugar baby knows is that you got to have your own back in this game, no matter how great your current sugar daddy seems to be. Here’s why.

Why Do You Need Sugar Baby Money Rules?

Simply put: the truth is that the life of a sugar baby can be full of ups and downs. Just because you’re getting the allowance of your dreams, don’t fool yourself into believing that it’s going to continue forever.

An allowance is not like a salary, where your employer has to abide by certain termination laws. You can’t claim unemployment insurance if you and your sugar daddy part ways. If, for whatever reason, your sugar daddy suddenly decides he’s out – the last thing you want is to be left broke and desperate. And with more expensive tastes on top of that.

The perks of being a sugar baby can be fantastic. But smart sugar babies aren’t just indulging and becoming complacent – they’re also planning for the worst. Because what will happen to you when the gravy train comes to a stop? Are you going to be dead broke and unable to survive without a sugar daddy…or are you going to have enough sugar in your pot to be able to pick yourself up and move onto better things?

We want it to be the latter for all of you.

That’s why we’ve put together these sugar baby money rules. These are all the steps you’re going to want to take while you’re in a profitable sugar relationship. Think of them as a smart sugar baby’s guide to financial success.

Here are the smartest things to do with your sugar baby allowance that will pay dividends in the long run.

12 Things to Do With Your Sugar Baby Money

One of the most important things you can learn as a sugar baby is the fine art of covering your own financial butt. Because otherwise, you can become entirely dependent on the sugar daddy du jour.

Which can lead to a bit of a roller coaster lifestyle where one minute you’re dining on miso cod and foie gras and sleeping in luxury penthouses and then once the sugar daddy disappears, you’re in your cousin’s basement, eating cup noodles.

Nobody wants that.

You want to have your own back financially so that you can always maintain a certain standard of living for yourself. That’s why these sugar baby money rules exist. No, you’re not going to like some of these tips. But yes, they do need to be practiced.

Not only will these simple tips help carry you through if you find yourself suddenly without a sugar daddy – but these tips also allow you to consider other options if during the arrangement, you decide sugar dating is just not for you.

Okay, here’s goes…the 12 sugar baby money rules to spend and save by.

Keep Your Essential Expenses Low

When you first start getting a sugar daddy allowance of several thousand dollars rolling in every month, it can be mighty tempting to upgrade your lifestyle. You start perusing through rental listings and imagining yourself living in some luxury condo. Why not, you think.

After all – you have more money now. It makes sense to move into bigger, better quarters. And thus begins the cycle of lifestyle inflation.

But all we got to say is – don’t do it. Rent is most people’s biggest monthly expense and the thing that will really make you suffer if your sugar arrangement comes to an abrupt halt. This is your home we’re talking about – an absolute essential – and the last thing you want to have to do is scramble to find a new home quickly when you can no longer afford your luxury condo.

Ideally, try to keep your rent at or below 30% of your monthly allowance. Go as low as you can go without compromising your safety and comfort.

Pay Yourself First

Financial advisers have been saying this since the beginning of time: You must pay yourself first. It can be tempting to go on a massive shopping spree or take your girlfriends out for a wild night to celebrate your first allowance check.

You can do all that. But first, take what’s yours and tuck it away. You’ll thank yourself for doing it when sh*t hits the fan. So build that nest egg, babies, and save up a sugar stash.

This is crucial since it’s this security fund that will carry you through if anything goes awry in your current sugar arrangement.

I know it can be tempting to blow it all on all the things you’ve been wanting – trust us, we’ve all been there and no one’s judging you. But saving some of your allowance is probably the smartest move you can make.

We recommend quickly squirreling away enough cash to support you comfortably for at least 3 months. Once you have that, you can ease up a bit and more slowly save your way to 6 months.

Because it’s not a matter of if – it’s when. There will be times when you’re between sugar daddies due to being too busy with studying or simply waiting for the right one to come along. You’ll need something to tide yourself over with. It’s not only smart in the sugar world – you should try to always have a little cushion to cover yourself.

Get Rid of That Weight On Your Chest

After you’ve paid yourself, it’s time for yet another boring, but essential financial tip for smart sugar babies. Yup, it’s time to start paying off any debts or loans you’ve accumulated. This is especially true if this is what got you into sugaring in the first place.

Perhaps you went to an expensive university or studied abroad. I did both for both my undergrad and postgrad degrees and found myself racking up quite a bit of debt.

I managed to make a pretty substantial dent in my loans and to be honest, sugar daddies I’ve had in the past liked that they were helping me in this way. Hearing that they’re helping you with student loans tends to make them feel useful and like their money is going towards something worthwhile.

For Christmas one year, my sugar daddy even gave me a cheque of $3,500 specifically towards my student loans!

Don’t Spend a Fortune to Look a Million Bucks

Manis and pedis. Blow outs. Waxing and threading. Facials. Professional lashes. These all add up. They can actually end up taking a big chunk of your sugar baby allowance. And nobody needs that.

But at the same time, personal grooming is important. Especially in the sugar world, looks are always going to play a part. It’s a big part of what attracted your sugar daddy to you in the first place and you don’t want the relationship to break down due to complacency.

So take care of yourself but do it without spending too much of your own money. Here’s how.

Nails. Keep them neat and clean. Have a fresh nail file handy. Use a strengthening base coat to keep your nails looking neat and healthy. If you don’t want to shell out for manis and pedis, try gel nail strips.

Skin. Go for ingredients rather than name brands. There are dupes of everything. Use chemical exfoliants – i.e lactic, salicylic, glycolic acids to slough off dull skin. Brighten with vitamin C and Niacinamide. Clear up hyperpigmentation with ingredients like kojic acid. Moisturize like you mean it with hyaluronic acid and ceramides. And always apply sunscreen.

Hair. Professional blow-drys are great, as is the Dyson Airwrap. But those are pricey. You can mimic the look at home with a dupe blowdryer that gets you that sleek, shiny salon finish and then top it off with a very good hair serum, like Kerastase Nutritive 8HR Magic Night Hair Serum. It smells and feels expensive but a bottle will last you months.

Don’t Blow It All On Things

If you ended up spoiling yourself with the first few sugar baby allowance checks – we’ve all been there. It’s a classic sugar baby mistake. But don’t keep blowing the entire allowance your sugar daddy gives you on things.

Because if your sugar arrangement suddenly comes to a stop, you’ll be left scrambling and desperate. That’s not a good place to be in when looking for your next sugar daddy.

So before you check out the cutest couture and envision how you’d look in Celine pants and Tom Ford sunglasses or finally decide to “invest” in the full set of MAC makeup brushes you’ve been eyeing – think about what good these items are going to do you if your sugar arrangement suddenly ends tomorrow.

Are those new Louboutins going to feed you, clothe you, and shelter you? Hell no. Luxury items like these lose their value as soon as wear them. So hold off on these purchases.

If you absolutely can’t resist giving yourself a little treat – then splurge on something small and tell yourself that once you have a safety nest of savings tucked away safely, you’ll get that fill-in-the-blank expensive item you’ve been eyeing.

Sensible Shopping Sprees

The very first thing you may want to upgrade is your own wardrobe. It can be super tempting to go on an instant shopping trip the second you get your allowance but you need to be smart about this.

Occasionally buying a few classic items like a lovely little black dress, some gorgeous jewelry to complement your wardrobe, or even some proper interview clothes can be good investments since you can use them on future sugar dates as well as to advance your career.

Read: Sugar Baby Outfits: How to Dress Like a Sugar Baby

While you obviously have every right to buy whatever takes your fancy, try to focus on splurge items that can also be investments. Namely, several wardrobe staples, mainly ones that you can match with anything.

Buying a few classic items scratches the itch for retail therapy and upgrades your wardrobe. So focus on buying good quality wardrobe pieces that you can mix and match a bunch of times. As for the more high end things, well, that’s what gifts are for…

Choose Gifts that Double as Investments

One of the smartest sugar baby money moves is to be strategic with the gifts your sugar daddy buys you. Because there will be gifts. Not just for birthdays and holidays, but many sugar daddies like to spoil their sugar babies. So have a wishlist of items you want handy – and make sure they are good investments.

Like what, you ask? I used to have a wishlist consisting of whatever handbag I was lusting after at the time. My first big gift was a beautiful Gucci one and it’s safe to say I became hooked. But over time, I realized that some gifts make better investments than others. Here’s what I mean…

Designer Purses. Designers purses aren’t just gorgeous. They’re a staple sugar baby accessory simply because you’ll feel so much better if you fit in at the fancy restaurants and events your sugar daddy brings you to.

But they’re even more than that – if you choose the right designer purse, it can be a good investment that will hold its value or even go up in price if you ever need some quick cash.

So what are the best designer purses to invest in? On the lower end, go for Louis Vuitton. According to The RealReal, the iconic LV Neverfull holds an average 91% resale value. On the slightly higher end you can’t go wrong with Chanel purses, especially the classic flaps.

Last but not least – if you or your sugar daddy can afford it, nothing can top the Hermes Birkin when it comes to designer purse investments.

Gold Jewelry. There comes a time in every sugar baby’s life when a sugar daddy will want to buy you jewelry. Say that you like gold. Say that you have sensitive skin and can only wear 24K gold.

Because gold is one asset class you can use and wear that will pretty much always retain its value. Jewels – even diamonds – are not the same. Depending on who you ask, a diamond ring, for example, will lose 50%-80% of its value as soon as you walk out of the store.

Gold, on the other hand, has historically proven to do an amazing job of retaining value.

Stocks and Shares. One gift that most sugar daddies will rarely say no to are stocks and shares. If you’re young and inexperienced in the world of investing, a sugar daddy will want to help you get a leg up. Especially when what you’re wanting is just so smart and sensible.

Express interest in investing, ask him for advice on what you should have in your stock portfolio, and that you’d love to own some shares yourself.

Drop Hints for Big Purchases

Most sugar daddies will offer you gifts on their own, but some need a little nudging. So use subtle suggestions and hints to make your requests. They work a lot better than asking outright because it makes it seem like the sugar daddy thought of it all by himself, which makes him more likely to act on it.

Here’s an example: When you first start seeing your new sugar daddy, leave your phone at home and carry your older, crappier, beat-up phone. Make a point of taking it out at some point while with your sugar daddy. He should notice.

In the next few days, drop subtle hints here and there about your crappy phone needing an upgrade. Like, don’t answer your phone for a couple hours and when you next talk, say that your ringer is wonky and only works sometimes. Or say you got lost for an hour in a new neighborhood and had to ask someone with 5G on their phone for directions.

If he’s a good one, he’ll catch on and you’ll have a new phone soon.

You can do this for bunch of things: your laptop crashed and you have a project due in a week, etc. Just make sure to only use this for items that are fairly expensive. Why? ‘Cause there’s no point in going through the trouble for some $100 dress.

Don’t Splurge with Your Own Money

You know it’s smart to save a significant sugar stash. But luxury products, vanity items, the sheer indulgence spa days – you still want them. We get it.

If you strongly feel the urge to have everything that glitters in sugarland – do yourself a favor and go shopping for a gift daddy.

Gift daddies may not be able to provide you with a regular allowance, but they can be great to have on the side when your allowance is taken care of. They don’t even have to be a regular thing. For some reason, men are a lot more willing to give gifts than they are to fork out a regular allowance.

So keep your sugar daddy and save the allowance he gives you and for luxury items – get yourself a temporary gift daddy if you must. Just don’t spend all of your own funds on frivolous stuff.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Here’s one creative thing to do with your sugar baby allowance: Buy your sugar daddy a gift! I know this might seem like a strange one – you’re meant to be the one getting the gifts, right?

But it’s actually one of the smartest things you can do.

It doesn’t have to be expensive but it does have to be thoughtful. They have enough money to buy almost anything they want but getting a gift from you will show you’re thinking about him and that the give and take isn’t just one sided.

Gifts I’ve bought sugar daddies in the past have included his favorite cologne, a jersey from his favorite sports team or even personalized golf balls for one golf mad sugar daddy. It always put me in good standing and remember, a happy sugar daddy is a generous sugar daddy!

Use Your Time Wisely

One of the biggest perks of being a sugar baby is all the free time you have. Sugar dates aren’t exactly a full-time job 🙂

Use this time wisely to give yourself other options. Do an internship that you’re pretty sure will lead to a well-paying job in your chosen career field. Read and educate yourself on other options of making money. Learn about investing or even starting a business of your own. Network and mingle to make yourself more valuable contacts.

Whatever you do – don’t squander the free time you get from sugar dating. Use your most precious asset (your time) to create a better life for yourself.

Treat Yourself

Okay, the above rules are important and all but once you’ve allocated parts of your allowance to the above, remember that you are in this to enjoy and have fun. Once the boring parts are taken care of, go ahead and treat yourself. If you see a pair of killer heels, buy them! If you’re dying for a massage, book it! If you’ve been dreaming of that vacation, take it!

Life is way too short to not enjoy yourself and there’s no point putting all this effort in if you don’t get to have fun. Being in the sugar world means you get to experience the best restaurants, hotels and events out there so take advantage while you can and enjoy it.

Just don’t blow it all on this last category – be smart with a portion of your money and have massive fun with the rest!

This post is brought to you by one of our contributing SB writers, Aly, aka The Travelholic Sugar Babe. You can check out her sugar baby story here!