Budgeting For Newlyweds: Couples Money Tips

Why is budgeting for newlyweds so important? Financial arguments are the second leading of cause of divorce! There is also a direct correlation between the amount of debt a couple has and the amount of disagreements they have over money.

More debt means more arguments.

Given that information it is a good idea for every married couple to take financial planning and financial decisions very seriously.

Learning To Budget As A Newlywed Couple

Open communication in all aspects of your marriage, including your monthly budget, is extremely important. But if you are not used to talking about money issues the idea can be very intimidating.

I have put together a premarital counseling toolkit that is perfect for opening the lines of communication. Do not let the “premarital” aspect of the title fool you. This amazing little toolkit is a fantastic (and free) resource that is great for any new couples. Also, there is an entire section devoted entirely to your financial future.

Download The Premarital Counseling Toolkit

Download The Premarital Counseling Toolkit

How Do You Create A Budget For A Beginner?

Budgeting with newlyweds begins with sitting down with your new spouse and take a look at the best way to manage your monthly budget.

The following six tips are a good first step towards ensuring that everyone is on the same page about the family budget and your financial situation.

Can Families Make It On One Income?

Yes! You absolutely can.

I will use my own family as an example. We are a one-income household. With careful planning, working to have less debt, and aiming for a lower cost of living we have successfully made it work as a single-income family for the majority of our marriage.

Working together to establish long-term goals, learn about our spending habits, and a whole lot of money talk has made a big difference for us. We also read The Total Money Makeover By Dave Ramsey and learned a ton from him and his expertise.

We personally prefer zero based budgeting and have found it to be the easiest way to ensure that we are fully in control of where our money goes. Zero based budgeting means that every single dollar that comes into the home is earmarked or assigned a place in your budget. For example, if your paycheck is $100 then every bit of that $100 will be budgeted towards expenses, savings, or debt.

Staying On Top Of Your Budget

One of the hardest parts of of managing household expenses and joint accounts is making sure that everyone is on the same page of the budget at all times. For this I prefer to use a budgeting app. In most things I am an old fashioned pen and paper girl but keeping track of our spending plan and joint checking account on a regular basis has been much more simple since we started using the app.

Our favorite budgeting tool is the EveryDollar app from Ramsey solutions. I like that it is a free app and that my husband and I can login at any time and know exactly how much money we have in each category of our budget. It is super user friendly and I have really enjoyed it. There is a paid option for the app that syncs with your bank account but we have only every used the free version and it has been a great way to manage our monthly income.

Another app/program I have heard recommended is You Need A Budget or YNAB. I have not used this one myself but I have some friends that swear by it. From what I understand it is also a free app that can sync between two users.

Whatever system works best for staying on top of your budget is the one that you should use. If you are not sure then try out a few options to find what works best for you. Married life comes with a lot of changes and even some challenges so give yourselves permission to try new things and experiment a little to find the overall best system for you.

How Do Newlyweds Budget?

The first thing to do when creating your budget is to establish how much money comes into your home each month.

My husband has a salaried position so we know down to the penny how much each of his paychecks will be. Having one source of income has made it fairly simple for us to establish our income level.

I know that may not be the case in your family. If your take-home pay is not as predictable then I would suggest using averages to establish expected income. A lot of folks have jobs where they cannot rely on a consistent amount being deposited into their checking account so you are not alone if this is you.

You can change the averages to fit your particular circumstances. If your career has busy and slow seasons then it would be a good idea to adjust your calculations to have one average expected income for the busy season and a separate one for the slow season. Use past bank statements to calculate the averages of your income.

Once you have established your income you will next need to make a list of all your monthly expenses, debts (such as credit card debt or student loans), and how much you are currently putting away into your savings account.

Here are some different categories you may see in your list.

• Mortgage/Rent
• Utilities Bills
• Garbage
• Phone
• Internet
• Car Insurance / Life Insurance / Health Insurance
• Grocery Store
• Gas
• Medical
• Loan Payments
• Car Payments
• Credit Card Payments
• Savings (Retirement Savings, Rainy Day Fund, Etc)
• Personal Budget

Finally, you will subtract the total amount of expenses of your monthly bills from the total amount of income. This is the point where you will be able to make adjustments as necessary. If your monthly expenses are higher than your income you will need to find ways to cut back on your spending habits or lower your cost of living. If your income is higher than your expenses you can consider the best ways to save some additional money or pay down any debts more quickly.

These are the steps that you will take when you are figuring out how to budget for your one income family.

How To Save Money On Groceries

Without hesitation I would say that the area of the budget most likely to get out of control is the grocery budget. Now when you add in inflation and supply issues…whew. It is a complicated line item in your budget.

I will not go too far into depth on this topic because I have an entire blog post dedicated to How To Save Money On Your Groceries but it is something that I want to bring to the forefront of your mind as you are starting to budget. Talk about what your grocery budget should look like and what steps you are going to take to achieve that goal.

In our budget we include groceries and household expenses in the same line item so that is something you may want to take into consideration as well. Will you include things such as toilet paper, shampoo, batteries, cleaning supplies, and laundry detergent in your grocery budget or do you prefer to have one amount strictly for food and one amount for household expenses? There is not a right answer but only the answer that works best for you and your spouse.

Credit Cards, Debt, And Student Loan Debt

It should go without saying that any debt that one person brought into the marriage is now the responsibility of both of you. It is no longer “my debt”, “his debt”, or “her debt”. Like everything else in marriage it is now “ours”.

In order to be truly successful at budgeting and meeting your long-term financial goals then the two of you will need to have an open discussion and be completely transparent about the amount of debt that you are bringing into the marriage. Only then will you be able to make a realistic plan to get out from under the debt and reach financial security.

Credit card use should also be discussed when you are planning your budget. Will you or will you not use credit cards? If you choose to use them how will you budget for them? Often people who are working to get out and stay out of debt will avoid credit card use, financing anything other than a home, and taking out any kind of loan. If you and your spouse are serious about money management and planning for the future then this is something you will absolutely want to consider and discuss.

Making Mistakes

Regardless of if you are brand new to budgeting or if you are just new to budgeting with a spouse there are bound to be times that one of you will make a mistake. Money mistakes happen and they especially happen when you are learning something new. Be kind with one another and do not shame the love of your life for a mistake.

Creating an environment in your marriage where you feel safe and comfortable admitting your mistakes to your spouse is important not just for your financial lives but for the success and quality of your marriage.

If you are looking to improve the communication in your relationship I recommend this list of resources as well as downloading the free Premarital Counseling Toolkit.