Family Money Management: The Importance of Agreement

Are you having problems with debt? Are you afraid to answer the phone because it may be an angry creditor calling? Do you have problems getting from one paycheck to the next? The simple answer is that you need to budget. But for that budget to work, both you and your spouse need to be in total agreement.

If one of you loves to shop and doesn't worry much about credit card debt while the other hates spending money like death, you have a problem. You can create budgets till Honolulu freezes over, but it won't work and chances, are, you and your significant other will end up fighting constantly.

Even before you start to create a budget, the two of you must sit down and discuss your life objectives. Get out a piece of paper. Make a list of long-term objectives the two of you can agree on. One might be to get out of debt. Another might be to make monthly contributions to a college fund for the kids. A third could be to begin a retirement fund. Or you might decide it's important that one of your get some specialized training that would lead to a higher salary.

Once you agree on your objectives, the two of you can start work on a budget. Step one will be to decide how much you will need to save (or spend) monthly to meet your objectives. You should subtract this first from your monthly income so you can see how much you have left over to work with.

Next, subtract your "secured" debt. Typically, this would be your mortgage payment, car payments, and any other loan payments where an asset such as a boat or RV secures the loan. Then, take a hard look at your other expenses and debt ? for example, your rent, food, membership dues, clothing or credit card debt -- as these are the only areas where you can hope to make cuts.

It is important that you both agree as to where those cuts can be made. No matter how strongly you feel about drastically cutting a budget category such as clothing, if your spouse doesn't agree, you're going to have problems. A better solution is to find a compromise ? a number that gets you closer to where you think the spending should be but one that your spouse agrees is at least fair. Then, look for another category where you can make cuts to get your final budget number down to where it needs to be.

You should then sit down with your spouse twice a month to review where you are vs. your budgetary goals. You will most likely find that you're under in some categories and over in others. Don't worry about making adjustments at this time. Just make notes as to where you've over and where you're under.

After the first two months, you should know where you've been spending more than you budgeted and where you've spent less. The two of you can then discuss what adjustments you need to make. There should not be a lot of arguing because you have goals you've agreed on and a budget you created by working together.

The important thing is to keep the discussion from becoming accusatory. If one of you has been the "budget breaker," it's better to ask "it looks like we've got a problem here, what to you think we can we do to fix it?" then to say, "you really screwed up this time."

What can you do if you or your spouse just can't control his or her spending and keeps busting the budget, month after month?

Unfortunately that's an issue that probably needs the work of a good marriage counselor.

For FREE help with debt and credit, subscribe today to Douglas Hanna's free email newsletter "8 Simple Steps to Debt Relief" at http://www.all-in-one-info.com

---

How To Reap The Rewards With Rewards Programs

Recently, many of these loyalty rewards programs have come to the realization that they must change how they put these programs together if they are going to increase their share of the market.One... Read More

Saving Money On Gasoline For Your Automobile

The gas that we fill our tanks with every week adds up to be quite an expensive bill over the months and years. Thirty dollars a week in gas adds up to over... Read More

A Fresh Start for Family Finances in 2005

While 40% to 50% of us make New Year's resolutions on January 1-a ritual that has existed since ancient times-approximately 60% to 80% of us have already broken them by the end of... Read More

Whats The Truth Behind Your Finances?

Between 15 - 20% of people in our country (UK) own there own businesses. This statistic is on the rise thanks to the incredible invention of the Internet. The staggering truth is that... Read More

How to Balance Your Checkbook ? Get a Calculator and Pencil and You are Ready To Go!

Despite how easy it is to balance a checkbook, very few people take the time to do it and the few who do, don't always do it the right way. If you write... Read More

Save Money Off Your Home Utility Bills

Many don't realize that our basic utility bills provide the perfect money saving opportunity for practically every household!Especially with today's energy crisis so prevalent throughout many of the states, you've probably heard this... Read More

Students Investing in Their Future Need to Manage Their Finances Today

With the A-level results coming out, the long wait for UK school leavers hoping to go to university will soon be over. All the hard work that has been put into achieving the... Read More

Identity Theft ? More Tips on How it Can Be Avoided

Recent security breaches at several credit card companies continue to worry Americans, as stolen financial information can lead to identity theft. Identity theft occurs when someone obtains your Social Security number and/or other... Read More

Family Money Management: The Importance of Agreement

Are you having problems with debt? Are you afraid to answer the phone because it may be an angry creditor calling? Do you have problems getting from one paycheck to the next? The... Read More

Top 10+ Ways to Jumpstart your New Year?s Finances!

Of course, these don't have to be done in any particular order! Just pick one or two that particularly apply to your situation. * Create your 2005 filing system. This might include new... Read More

Personal Finance - Have Consumers Had a Belly Full of Personal Debt?

For months, we were trigger-swipe happy, putting our groceries, clothes, holidays and service charges on our credit cards. We wanted mortgages, we took out loans, we watched Property Ladder and What Not To... Read More

Grocery Savings - Your Kitchen is a Goldmine!

Your food budget is the most flexible area of your household budget. Grocery savings will free up a significant amount of money if you need to balance the budget, or fund your savings... Read More

Saving Dimes Can Go a Long Way

On the other hand, there are those people who are saving dimes and every other cent. Perhaps its because they hate the clutter of change but want to get rid of it instead... Read More

Expenses A ? What Are They And What Can We Do About Them

It is crucial as an individual who is striving for financial freedom to be able to recognize the different type of expenses in our lives. It is a proven theory that it is... Read More

Financial Fitness - Are You Exercising the Right Muscles to become Financially Fit?

Are your financial muscles well toned and healthy or flabby and weak? Do you want to change your relationship with money so you can have control over your financial future or do you... Read More

UK Parents Inactivity Harming Their Children?s Future University and Mortgage Savings

The British government at the beginning of this year officially launched its Child Trust Fund (CTF) initiative in an effort to encourage parents and children to develop the savings habit and to teach... Read More

How To Free-Up 10% to 15% of Your Income

Would you be interested in freeing up 10% to 15% of your current income? Just imagine what you could do with this money. You could pay down your debts, increase your savings, or... Read More

Can You Afford Not To Look After Your Personal Finances?

Investing is a subject a lot of people don't want to think about. And there is good reason for that. Investing seems scary. It either sounds like something only the rich do or... Read More

10 Money-Saving Tips

1. If you have your haircut every 3 weeks, try going 4 or 5 weeks in between haircuts. If you pay $10 for a haircut, you could save $70 a year by having... Read More

Car Donations and Used Car Donations

Car donations and used car donations are the way many people choose to recycle their older model cars without having the headache of repairing, advertising, showing, and hopefully then selling them. Being able... Read More

How To Get Ahead On A Low Income

Do you struggle from week to week trying to make ends meet? Are you consistently going without things that you really wish you could afford? Well I have some possible and practical solutions... Read More

Saving Money - The Magic 20 Percent

Saving money is not easy and is made more difficult if you have a short-term outlook regarding your personal finances. If, like many people, you are living from one pay cheque to the... Read More

Save Money on Gas

Gas prices have soared to unimaginable heights of late. Since most of us are not likely to turn to bikes or horse-drawn buggies we will have to learn to get the most from... Read More

Why You Should Seek Professional Help With Asset Management

Everyone needs to maintain their lives. What I mean by that is that we all need to take certain measures to make sure that we have a home, transportation, food, entertainment etc.One of... Read More

How You Feel Affects How You Shop & How Much You Spend

Have you ever stopped to think about how your "mood" affects the way you shop, not to mention the amount you spend? Think about it.If you want to save a lot of money,... Read More

College Expenses: Seven Ways to Save on an Education

Many people graduate from college owing thousands of dollars in student loans. It isn't uncommon for students to graduate owing $30,000 to $40,000. For people that get married shortly after graduation that means... Read More

If I Had a Structured Settlement, I Would Use It to Pay for Gas

Has anyone been to the gas pumps lately? Soon $3 a gallon will be the asking price and we'll either have to become cyclists or create some additional income. I plan to do... Read More

More Money? My Cup Runneth Over...But Im Still Thirsty

Most of us, especially those of us who have debtor's disease (if you have it you know what it is!), have commented or at least thought, "If I could just win the lottery,... Read More

Budgeting Your Way to Financial Freedom

Financial freedom cannot be achieved without budgeting. Budgeting involves tracking your sources of income and more importantly tracking your expenses. It is novel tool for controlling your expenses and making you aware of... Read More