The honeymoon romance
Coming up with a fair household budget may sound like a major buzz kill on the honeymoon romance but the truth is that money is the number one issue in marriage. If you can’t sort out your finances quickly, you risk landing yourself in marital trouble.
Don’t assume your new husband will take on certain financial responsibilities and don’t allow either of you to be blamed for any debt brought into the marriage. You married for love, not money. The important thing is to know where you stand financially, together as a married couple and that you determine a fair household budget to help you stay afloat.
Determine a Time Period that Works for You
Set the times that work for you, such as around pay days. Most budgets are worked out on a monthly basis but if you find it easier to deal with things in 2-week increments, do that instead. The concept works the same way, except that you will be basing all of your income and expenses, on a 2-week time period rather than a 4-week time period. Playing around with your budget a bit can make it work better for you and take pressure off of everyone. Photos by: bryllupsbilleder.info
Track Expenses
Once you’ve decided on a time period, use it to track your daily expenses. So if you decide on a biweekly budget, spend two weeks tracking every dollar that you spend. That means every dollar! If you buy coffee in the morning, write it down.
Once the time period is up, separate them into categories and put these categories into your budget. You can then budget for those expenses and determine which can be eliminated.
This is one of the biggest areas where it’s important to remain fair while drawing up your budget. There’s no reason why one person should be buying coffee every day on their way to work while another is scrimping and saving every dollar.
Some expenses you can’t track in the same way, such as household bills. However, these usually come at regular intervals so that you can use your previous bill to make an estimate of how much you will need to cover future bills.
Make sure you’re honest and clear about what you’re spending your money on and what expenses you are comfortable reducing or eliminating. Both of you need to be happy. Neither should have to sacrifice much more than the other.
It’s a Contract
It’s important to write your budget down. Not only does it help you stick to it but it makes you responsible to it, and to the other members of your household. Every person in the household needs to know the budget and where they fall within it and should they need to make adjustments, every other person in the household needs to be aware of, and in agreement with, those adjustments. Going against the budget once it’s already been determined only tells the other people in your home that you are disregarding their feelings, or their place within the budget.