Comments on: I Coached My Wife On Budgeting Before We Were Engaged

By: Fun Tax Facts | Credit Wise Info

Fun Tax Facts | Credit Wise Info — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:08:37 +0000

[...] from No Debt Plan presents I Coached My Wife On Budgeting Before We Were Engaged. Kevin shares a few examples of how he and his wife first started budgeting, and how they do it [...]

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:24:12 +0000

That is a very scary conversation! Did she know how responsible you were? Or were you preaching from a false pedestal sort of situation?

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:22:07 +0000

Our financial life became much easier when we had a 6 month emergency fund, $1000 padding in each of our checking accounts (Chase and ING Direct), and we started living on last month’s money. It took us about a year (2005) to get everything squared away after we got married and we’ve been on track ever since.

We make about $5000 a month after taxes. At the end of our billing month, we pay all of our bills, we pay ourselves (all 6 of our savings goals), and we split the small amount left between our Emergency Fund and our Vacation/Fun Money account.

This system allows us to sleep easy.

By: Fun Tax Facts - Carnival of Personal Finance #242

Fun Tax Facts - Carnival of Personal Finance #242 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:42:47 +0000

[...] from No Debt Plan presents I Coached My Wife On Budgeting Before We Were Engaged. Kevin shares a few examples of how he and his wife first started budgeting, and how they do it [...]

By: Roundup and Link Love: Crashed Hard Drive Edition

Roundup and Link Love: Crashed Hard Drive Edition — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:02:44 +0000

[...] I Coached My Wife on Budgeting Before We Were Engaged. Bold title! [...]

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:55:08 +0000

Absolutely. It could have gone over like a lead balloon.

Lucky for me it was meant to be.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:54:22 +0000

Thanks! I should do that more often. I’ll post later in the month asking if people would want something like a review of the same month from the previous year. Sort of like a “best of January 2009…” post.

By: anastasia

anastasia — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:07 +0000

I have to strongly support the idea of the extra 100 quidt in your account! In the last couple of months (once I have started budgeting and monitoring my finances) I have coame to realise that we were paying each month overdraft charges that were higher than the actual amount that we have overdrawn by.
Ok, now we are changing the bank, but none the less those extra 100 would have saved me over 200 in charges:-)

By: Vonny

Vonny — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:49:44 +0000

It’s pretty hard to advise people (i.e. friends) on money issues. It seems kinda nosey and I wouldn’t want to intrude or offend. For a partner that is different because you’re usually closer but I do find it hard to talk to many friends about mine or their finances.
I always spend more than I earn but I know it’s not a usual thing with most people. I think it’s because my personality makes me a big saver. My strategy is kinda similar to saving last months pay. What I do is, I leave a small amount in my regular transaction account (AU$500), then I leave the months budget plus a little extra in a higher savings internet account (AU$3000 which allows instant transfer to the transaction acc), then I take the rest of my pay for the month and put it in another high interest savings that I never touch except for big budgeted expenses (this is the savings for my house). During the month if I need money, I move the money from the $3k acc to the transaction account. At the end of each month, I usually have left over in the $3k acc (similar to last months pay), so the next month i just top it up so that again i have $500 in one acc, $3000 in the other and the rest is savings. This is done as soon as I get my pay so I don’t end up spending what I shouldn’t and i’m saving before i’m spending. I never spend more than $3500 in a month except when there’s a big purchase like bookings for holidays and in that case, I take money out of the big savings acc. The 3500 total, means that I can see when I’m spending more than usual (the money runs down alot lower and earlier in the month). I find that I am never out of money this way and I never spend more than what I earn. Even when I was earning half the salary I do now, I saved a huge chunk of it. I confess I never really “budget” in terms of working out every little cent of what I spend, but I do a budget once every few months to see where I’ve been spending my money and if I look like I’m on track. Because I know how much I have in my account at the beginning of each month, I know how much I spend in total without having to do much paperwork.

Note: that I’m in Australia so it’s all in Aussie $ and this is all personal income because my bf and I manage our incomes separately. Also I get paid once a month – might be harder to do this if u get paid every week but it’s possible if you use smaller amounts and budget for the week rather than the month.

By: Megan

Megan — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:28:53 +0000

Wow, that’s impressive! When you think about it, it could have ended very, very badly – what if she thought you were being snarky about her expenses, for instance? (I’m picturing something along the lines of “You’re spending HOW MUCH on clothes/food/going out?!?”) Or, after getting her budget together, you realized that she’s not following it at all?