I hope everyone is having a great day! It’s finally Wednesday, which means it’s the last day of classes for the week for me. Feels great! Anyways…
Hey! I’m Brittany! I’ve been married for almost 2 months now. I can’t believe it’s been that long! It seems like just yesterday I was worried about music and thinking about the menu amidst a million other wedding related things. I can’t say I miss that too much right now! I loved planning my wedding, but it’s so nice to not have all that stress anymore.
One thing I was super worried about before we got married was finances. We are both still in college so I knew things might be tight. How would we manage our money together? Would we be able to pay all of our bills and still have extra “fun money?” Would we be okay?
Simple answer: Yes. We are fine. Actually, we are more than fine. So far we have managed to pay everything and still have that “fun money.” We still do everything we did before; we go out to dinner, we go to the movies, etc. And don’t worry, we’re not starving ourselves to do that either. We’re still eating healthy and living quite comfortably.
How do we do it you ask? Well, we’re smart about it. We try not to waste a ton of money on things we know we don’t need or that we might use once. We don’t buy something for the sake of convenience or “cool” factor. For instance, I really want a Keurig coffee maker. BUT…I have a Mr. Coffee brand coffee maker that works just fine. Why go out and buy the fancy one that I can live without right now? Maybe someday when we’ve got more “fun money.” One thing we do that really helps us out is that right at pay day we take the time to pay the upcoming month’s bills and rent so we know that it’s taken care of. That gives us a better idea of how much extra income we have that month.
To my surprise, it’s been a lot easier than I thought it would be. The advice I would give to a newlywed couple is pretty much the same as I would give to a single person: just be smart about it. The only difference is one person or two. Don’t stress out about money too much, just make sure you know everything that needs to be paid and when. Also, have a savings account that you are consistently adding to for emergencies and any extras.
Trust me, sharing your finances as a married couple is less scary than it sounds. Plus, it’s fun to figure out how exactly you guys want to work together.
My comment: Thanks Brittany for guest posting for me! Managing finances as a couple can be difficult at first, but as time goes on, I think it just keeps getting more and more simple. Setting an “allowance” or a designated amount of fun money each month is a great start. The BF and I have had joint accounts for quite some time now (almost 5 years), and it’s worked for us the entire time. However, it doesn’t work for everyone, so I do realize that different people have different methods.
How much is your “allowance”? Another topic that I’ve seen floating around in the blogosphere is how much money you tend to spend BEFORE you ask your significant other if it’s alright that you buy the item. Me and the BF pretty much tell each other about every purchase unless it’s just food because that’s just a part of the monthly money that we each get anyways. Some people say anything over $50, $100 or some other amount that works for them. What’s your amount?
What other finance rules have you learned in past relationships or your current relationship? Share any tips!
This is great! So many newlyweds argue over money because they're not on the same page. It's important to talk about money in your relationship with NO EMOTION. It's money, afterall. As for allowance, John and I have a $50 rule when it comes to consulting each other on purchases. However, we rarely shop for anything without the other person present, so we never really have to "ask" each other for approval. It works well for us!
I really like that rule!!
only if the extra item is over $100 or so, we'll consult each other to make sure we can afford it. We're not asking permission, just checking to make sure it's going to work out with our budget.
We do the one joint checking for household bills and groceries and our individual accounts for everything else. So, we don't really consult each other on purchases. What we do with what's left after we put in our joint money is ours. We have a misc stream of money that goes into the joint checking that can cover "fun" or whatever else that pops up that month.
We're on a very tight budget, and almost every dime is allocated for, so we have to discuss purchases a lot. but mostly he just lets me know if its for school or not.. school stuff is always ok and we find ways to make it work.
I have enjoyed reading the comments on this post. I believe that it is important for couples to have their own spending money (within reason) but big purchases should be approved by both parties.
I couldn't agree with you more! Thanks!
OH MY GOSH! I am so so happy I found your blog. This is fabulous. Love all of the topics that you post about! Excited to follow along with you dear!xx
Congrats, Brittany, on making smart financial decisions so early in your marriage. We don't really have any fun money right now 'cause things are kind of tough. But we were just talking the other day that we need to start doing it again.
Thanks Lena! I hope that soon you can start saving up some "fun money" again!
Thanks everyone!
T has around 80 a week to cover his lunches and fun money. I don't really spend anything myself – am on a clothing/beauty shopping hiatus this year, and make all my own lunches, so it's only the odd occasion going out for a meal or something that I spend on – and most of those are with T and come out of our dining out budget. Extras like work expenses or video games he wants etc we talk about and usually find a way to fit them in.
I love this!! I enjoyed reading everyones comments too. I stress about $, bad, & I know I shouldn't. Like you, I make sure our bills are paid first on payday!