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Living on a budget isn’t always easy, especially for beginners. Your excel sheet or envelopes are ready to go and it’s time get started, but you can’t seem to get your spouse on board. He loves the idea of saving money and becoming debt free but the idea of planning weekly or monthly just doesn’t sound like fun. How can you make it work? I’m sharing all about money and how my husband and I make a budget work in our marriage. Continue reading to hear our ideas and grab a few simple tips!
It’s no secret that money fights are the number one cause of divorce! Whether or not times are lean, talking about money can be difficult and being on the same page as your spouse is very important!
I’ve shared with you before that I’ve been on a budget since I was 15. Even though he’d never been on a written budget before we were married, Trent was extremely wise and responsible with his money! After we married we combined our finances and decided we’d be on a written budget together. Since I enjoy the numbers, we decided that I would work the budget each week.
Now, before I share a few tips with you, I must say that Trent and I don’t have this money thing figured out. Like many of you, we have
fights
discussions about money. God made us both unique so we each have different ideas about how we’d like to spend money!
That being said, here are a few tips that we’ve found to help you make it work when it comes to budgets and spouses!
Agree From The Beginning
Whether you’re setting up a budget for the first time, or revamping the budget that you currently have, it is important that you both agree from the beginning. Like I said before, God made each of us with our own ideas so we’re naturally going to want to spend money in different ways! Take the time to go through each line item in your budget and agree on it. You could even spit shake on it (as Dave Ramsey says) if you’d like!
Don’t Do It Alone
If you are the spouse working the weekly budget, it’s inevitable that unforeseen expenses are going to pop up. Before you “rob Peter to pay Paul,” talk with your spouse and decide together where the money should come from.
There have been plenty of times when this has happened to me. Instead of asking Trent what he thought, I’d stress about where the money was going to come from. When I started including him in the decision making process, he’d quickly have an idea where we could take the money from. It was as if his decision was stress free – because it was!
After I asked for his help I would always wonder why I hadn’t done it sooner and eliminated the unnecessary stress for myself.
Have A Monthly Overview
Much like not doing it alone, every month it is important to let your spouse know what’s going on with your finances. Sit down and have a monthly pow-wow and take a few minutes to look over your finances line item by line item. This allows the spouse that doesn’t work the weekly budget to ask questions and know exactly where you are with your finances.
Have Separate Blow Money
Blow money is just that, cash that you can do whatever you want with! Whether it’s $5 or $500 (ok, that’s a little over the top), I recommend that each spouse have their own blow money.
If Trent wants to spend all of his blow money on fishing gear, I can’t give him a hard time. And, if I want to spend all of my money on massages, he can’t give me a hard time! That’s the beauty of having separate blow money!
Like I said before, we don’t have this money thing figured out, but these tips have helped us!
What’s your tip for staying on the same page financially with your spouse?
The post Budgets, Spouses & Making It Work! appeared first on Thrifty T's Treasures.
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