LET’S DISCUSS RING BUDGET

How much?

Figuring how much you should spend on a diamond ring is one thing. Trying to buy her the ring of her dreams is another.

The two are miles apart, and could be totally unrealistic or feasible.

Sure she may want a 1 carat diamond solitaire ring, but if your budget is tight (and who’s isn’t?), then you may have to face the facts and buy what you can afford.

It’s like wanting a Lamborghini, you have to know your limits, and live within your means.

So figuring out what you should spend on a diamond engagement ring, should be based on what you make, of course.

You’ll have to seriously look at how much money you make a year, deduct 30% for taxes, then remove your bills from the equation.

What’s left?

Doing this will give you a better idea about what you can spend per month. But you still have to figure in other things like food, expenses, emergencies, and so forth. You have to eat, you can’t spend every dime on a diamond.

No matter what her girlfriend’s ring looks like, you’re not competing to buy the biggest or the best. You just have to get something that’s nice, something with sparkle, and something that’s beautiful to propose with. You can always upgrade later in life when the money tree starts growing.

So don’t rush it.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Most couples will spend anywhere from $1,500 – $5,000 on an engagement ring. The average comes to around $3,000. And if that seems a lot, then move down to a grand.

There are many options as well that can help:

• You can wait to propose, put it off for another couple of years.
• You can buy matching wedding bands to start, and get her engagement ring later.
• You can put the ring into layaway and make monthly (no interest) payments on it. That way you can chip away at the cost little by little… This moves you at your pace and doesn’t feel so frightening.
• You can finance it as well, just be careful with rates and fees (some are sky high), penalties, on-time payments… otherwise, they could void your lovely interest free plan. You could easily double the amount of your purchase if you’re not careful.

And, you can do other things like use trade-ins to help keep costs down (or wait until they have a sale, like during Black Friday).

Or, see if family members have a diamond you can use. Many mothers and grandmothers have diamond rings they can pass down. You may get lucky. You could easily reset those diamonds into a brand new mounting to make it modern and unique as well.

There are many tricks to reducing price as well…

• Buying shy; buying slightly under the desired carat weight to cut cost; like buying a .93 point diamond instead of a 1.00 carat.
• Breaking the carat weight up; instead of one single 1.00 carat diamond, buy a ring that has multiple stones that all add up to 1.00 carat instead (see image below).

That’s probably your best bet to buying something affordable… smaller stones with lots of bling.

And they make tons and tons of diamond rings with smaller center stones, that still give you a big look.

Take a peek:

Some of these rings are even UNDER $1,000.

Plus, if you buy fancy cut diamonds, that often can reduce price too, anywhere from 20%-50%.

And who says you have to jump right into an expensive engagement ring…

You can always buy a promise ring to begin with.

A promise ring is a diamond ring that looks like a small engagement ring. These can start from just $200 and up. Like these rings here…

Getting engaged doesn’t mean going broke or bending to peer pressure. That’s not a great way to start out your life, maxing out your income will only lead to stress and financial difficulties. You don’t want that coming between you…

So take it easy, do what feels comfortable and obtainable. Not what you feel obligated to do. There’s a big difference.

Great places to shop for budget diamond rings are:

• Zales Budget Engagement Rings
• Fred Meyer Jewelers Budget Engagement Rings

Cheers! :)