How to Discuss Household Finances with Your Partne

Anonymous · ‎08-15-2015

There are times when ends just don't meet financially no matter how hard you try. Unexpected bills crop up and can easily get you behind on all your usual expenses. Discussing personal finance issues with your partner is a must. A lot of couples each have a partner playing a different role. One partner handles the finances and credit issues and one partner is pretty much ignorant to the credit and personal finance.

If you are the partner that is saddled with handling the personal finance issues at home and you find that you are in trouble and it is time to maybe look at loans as a way out you will need to sit your partner down and have a frank discussion about household finances.

youdontkillmoney · ‎08-16-2015

Putting the $$$$$ on paper makes it real. Use a speadsheet or even by hand, write down (1) all expenses/bills and $ amounts each month; note which are late (2) a list of all acconts and balances

Maybe the starting point is how much more money needs to come in and whether additional jobs are needed or even starting point can be which expenses in the list can be cancelled and or reduced

The discussion will go from there.

Anonymous · ‎09-04-2015

I agree with YDKM and will go one step further: you should be sitting down with paper copies of your finances at least once a month, every month, even if it's to confirm all is well. We compare to last month's expenses as well, to make sure electricity and grocery bills aren't creeping upward or our intro cable promo didn't end or something.

If you have kids at home, double the frequency, because no matter how many personal finance lectures they blow off, they will remember how you and your spouse got together every few weeks to reconcile your finances and discuss any other unresolved household family issues.

youdontkillmoney · ‎09-07-2015

yes after the initial review, regular meetings to update is a good idea.

I originally penciled it in to do it once a week ,but that was too frequent and not much changes, so now I penciled it in for once a month.

StartingOver10 · ‎09-07-2015

All of the above responses are excellent. The only tip I have is this: if you need to apply for loans to make your regular expenses, that is a huge red flag.

Yes, things come up in life, but that is what savings is all about so your budget isn't disrupted. In general, the larger your savings the less disruption you will have to your monthy budget.

Gunnar419 · ‎09-07-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
I agree with YDKM and will go one step further: you should be sitting down with paper copies of your finances at least once a month, every month, even if it's to confirm all is well. We compare to last month's expenses as well, to make sure electricity and grocery bills aren't creeping upward or our intro cable promo didn't end or something.

If you have kids at home, double the frequency, because no matter how many personal finance lectures they blow off, they will remember how you and your spouse got together every few weeks to reconcile your finances and discuss any other unresolved household family issues.

This is a great idea especially if the partners have two different styles of dealing with credit and money. It helps them see each other's point of view. In addition to helping manage the month's expenses it can, for instance, help a thrifty partner understand why some "excess" spending is not really excessive and help a more free spending partner understand where thrift is needed.