3 Simple Ways for Couples to Budget

I strongly believe that we should design our life and things we want to do in it before thinking about how much or how little money we are spending. We definitely should not let money rule our lives. Instead, we should find out what makes us happy and do that, regardless of the cost!

However …

As everyone knows, money is a finite resource. Although it is possible to plant a money tree, money certainly does not grow on trees and spending more than we should will actually not make us happy. Instead it will make us nervous, depressed, and ultimately, will provide for less freedom and happiness as our lives go on.

Therefore, I strongly believe in the philosophy of Life Before Budget, but I also believe that there must be a budget.

Although a budget is necessary, I know that making one and sticking to one can be next to impossible, especially when there are two people trying to follow one budget. Despite the difficulty of budgeting, there are a few simple things that we can do to be successful when budgeting as a couple.

1. Communicate our needs and wants

One of the most overlooked aspects of any budget is communication before the budgeting period starts. Some questions that could be asked include:

• Is there any unusual spending coming up?
• How much will we spend during this time period?
• How does this fit into the bigger picture of our finances?

Whether we decide to budget on a monthly or weekly basis, it is smart to try and figure out what we will be spending our money on before the month or week begins. We may know that we typically spend $50 per week for gas and $200 for food, but there also may be other expenses that don´t happen each week.

Communicating our needs and wants allows us to see and plan for this unusual spending. By communicating early and often, we can make sure that one partner is not surprised when the other spends money on something.

After talking about typical and unusual needs and wants, we should come up with a dollar amount for our spending. My wife and I usually set this up as a maximum amount that we will spend and divide it into categories such as gas and groceries. We also have categories that are for each one of us individually and a category for spending done at the end of the week to ensure that we don´t spend all of our money in the first few days of our budgeting period.

We have found that it isn’t necessary to divide our expenses into dozens of categories. Instead, we just pick a few broad categories and put our spending into these sections.

As we are setting up our weekly or monthly budget, it also helps to determine how our spending will impact the larger picture of our finances. If we are trying to save for a newer car or an unexpected expense, then we may need to reduce the amount of money that we spend each week.

2. Use a tracking system

One thing that is absolutely necessary when trying to work on a budget together is using something to track the spending. Over the past several years, it feels like my wife and I have tried every single tracking system available!

The Envelope System: When we first started budgeting and had a little less money to work with, we tried to do all of our spending with cash and with the envelope system popularized by Dave Ramsey. Using cash allowed us to make sure that we did not go over a certain dollar amount each week.

We found that the envelope system was great in theory, but it was difficult to actually implement in real life. This system involves getting money from the bank every week, dividing it into categories, and physically putting it into envelopes that we will take our spending from. Honestly, it was just too much work to do!

Paper and Pencil: Another tracking system that is popular is writing a dollar amount at the top of a piece of paper. After this amount is written down, we just subtract money every time that it is spent. Of course, my wife and I tried this system as well, with varying degrees of success.

We found that this tracking system is real easy to use for one person, but it is more difficult when two people are trying to stick to one budget.

An App: Currently, the tracking system that my wife and I use is an app called Goodbudget. This app allows us to set up categories for our spending and put money in these categories on a weekly basis.

When we make a purchase, we just type it into the app and it syncs on both of our phones. This lets my wife and I know exactly how much the other person has spent and it helps us to ensure that we will not go over our budget.

Many people have also suggested apps such as YNAB, Every Dollar, or Mint. Although I do not have any personal experience with these budgeting tools, almost any budgeting tool can be good, as long as it is used properly. When choosing an app, I always try to keep the costs of it to $0.

3. Agree on the budget

Whether you decide to use an app, a paper and pencil system, or a cash envelope system, the most important thing to do is to agree on the budget. A budget will definitely not work if only one partner sets it up without the agreement of the other partner. Inevitably, the budget will fail and both people will become frustrated when it does.

Agreement is key!

After the budget is agreed to, it is really important to do everything possible to actually stick to the budget. We can´t see a budget as a mere suggestion. Instead, it has to be seen as an ironclad document that cannot be broken without the agreement of both of the people that made it.

The good thing about doing a budget is that it gets easier with time. When my wife and I first started budgeting, it seemed like we went over the budgeted amount every other week. Now it is much easier for us to actually meet the budget because we have a better idea of the amount of money that we will spend.

I don´t think that budgeting will ever be easy, for us or many other couples, but it can be one of the things that help lead us to financial success.

Let us know in the comments if you budget, how you do it, and the successes (or failures) that you have had.

And thanks for reading!

~Nathan

Let’s keep living a great life … with the help of money. So what’s next?

• You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
• You can get motivated and get out of debt.
• You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.

But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!