“I can’t believe you are buying more clothes and shoes! Don’t you have enough already??”
“How could you go and buy a new iPad when we are already strapped for cash?”
“Who charged $700 worth of stuff on the Visa card last month?”
Sound familiar? If so, you are hardly alone. Most married couples admit to fighting about money on a regular basis. In fact, it is the #1 reason for divorce in this country - money problems and money fights. Getting on the same page with your husband or wife is essential to winning with money. “ Ha! Not likely,” you say. The surprising fix for money fights is having a budget that works for your family.
Now many of you cringe when I say that dreaded “B” word – budget… But a budget is simply a plan for how you are going to spend your money for the month. As Dave Ramsey says, “A budget is you telling your money where to go, instead of wondering where it went.” How does a having a plan for your money take the fights out of your marriage? Once you have agreed that you are going to spend a certain amount of money on something, like clothes, then there is no fighting when you buy clothes. If you’ve decided that we’re going to spend $200 on electronics this month, no one yells when electronics are bought, so long as you keep to the agreed amount. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Working through the budget with your spouse causes you both to communicate about what is important to each of you and your family. There is a learning curve when you get started with budgeting. The first couple of months, you will make a lot of corrections and changes to your family budget and that is to be expected. You and your spouse will probably fight through the first couple of months of budgeting, but don’t get discouraged. It will get easier the longer you do it. Doing a monthly budget is a small price to pay for financial peace of mind!
“How could you go and buy a new iPad when we are already strapped for cash?”
“Who charged $700 worth of stuff on the Visa card last month?”
Sound familiar? If so, you are hardly alone. Most married couples admit to fighting about money on a regular basis. In fact, it is the #1 reason for divorce in this country - money problems and money fights. Getting on the same page with your husband or wife is essential to winning with money. “ Ha! Not likely,” you say. The surprising fix for money fights is having a budget that works for your family.
Now many of you cringe when I say that dreaded “B” word – budget… But a budget is simply a plan for how you are going to spend your money for the month. As Dave Ramsey says, “A budget is you telling your money where to go, instead of wondering where it went.” How does a having a plan for your money take the fights out of your marriage? Once you have agreed that you are going to spend a certain amount of money on something, like clothes, then there is no fighting when you buy clothes. If you’ve decided that we’re going to spend $200 on electronics this month, no one yells when electronics are bought, so long as you keep to the agreed amount. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Working through the budget with your spouse causes you both to communicate about what is important to each of you and your family. There is a learning curve when you get started with budgeting. The first couple of months, you will make a lot of corrections and changes to your family budget and that is to be expected. You and your spouse will probably fight through the first couple of months of budgeting, but don’t get discouraged. It will get easier the longer you do it. Doing a monthly budget is a small price to pay for financial peace of mind!
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