The "two months' salary" rule was written by an advertising agency in the 1930s. Ignore it. A budget is whatever you can spend without it affecting anything else you care about.
Decide the number before you look
Set a figure first, then see what it buys. Doing it the other way round, falling for a stone and then working out how to afford it, is how people end up uncomfortable with a purchase they otherwise love.
Where the money goes furthest
- Buy just under the round weights. 0.90–0.95ct instead of 1.00ct; 1.80ct instead of 2.00ct. The visual difference is negligible, the price difference is not.
- Drop a colour grade, not a cut grade. In white metal, G and H look colourless to almost everyone.
- Buy eye-clean, not flawless. VS2 and a good SI1 are indistinguishable without magnification.
- Consider the setting separately. A simple setting now can be upgraded later; the stone cannot.
Tell us the number
Sharing a budget does not mean we will spend all of it. It means we stop showing you things you did not ask to see, and start showing you the best two or three options within it.
