Getting on the same page as your spouse financially will be one of the most important things you can do for your relationship. You want to have honest and open conversations consistently with your spouse. Not sure where to start? Let me help you out!
For starters, don’t spring a financial conversation on them spur-of-the-moment, especially if it’s your first time having a big conversation like this. Money can be a touchy subject for some people. I want your conversation, whether it’s your first or your 100th with your spouse, to be productive.
If you are brand new to this, let me give you an example of how my husband and I handle finances—maybe it’ll help you come up with your own ideas and plans. My husband and I combined finances when we got married in 2014. Before that, I handled paying all bills and my husband would get me cash for his bills or his portion of bills.
How We Handle Finances and Budgeting
- We assigned the task of handling the budget and paying bills to me. I love spreadsheets and tracking. My husband doesn’t care. It works perfectly.
- We set as many bills as possible to autopay, for ease.
- We use an Excel spreadsheet for our budget. And we have a tab for every single pay period; we can also track by month. You don’t have to restrict yourself to a spreadsheet if that’s not your thing. I have friends who use their Notes app, Post-its, or a calendar. Find what YOU will be consistent with.
- Have frequent meetings. The frequency might depend on your money goals. If you are looking to save lots of money for a specific thing, then I would meet at least monthly to discuss progress.
- Don’t get complacent. Maybe the Excel budget needs to be updated. Maybe you’ve figured out trends, so you want to discuss cutting back. Or, maybe you always go over on your grocery budget, and that IS with cutting back…then it might be time to update that category and amount.
Ready to learn more? Check out our Financial Health Series!
