I am a stay-at-home mom. That means, there’s only one bread-winner in the house – my husband. Although what he’s earning is enough for the family, we need to carefully manage our finances. You know, finances could make or break relationships. Probably it’s not because of lack of finances, but a misuse or mismanage of it. And you know, I have noticed that conflict of finances are often the primary cause of broken relationships. Here are a couple of tips on how to manage family finances that I have learned over 5 years of being married:
- there must be open communication regarding family needs, priorities, and even extras. if one spouse is left in the dark, it could endanger relationships.
- from this comes budgeting. we have to do a monthly budget to see whether what we buy that month is included in the budget. this way, if ever we have extra, we would know and could spend on some things a little bit more. Budgeting is quite a challenge. Sometimes, when you have a lot of needs, you don’t know which comes first.
- don’t use credit card for unnecessary buys. Too much usage could lead to bad credit and it does require a credit repair. Make sure to repair credit the earliest, if at all you realize that your finances is already in bad shape. You can find a lot of companies online that offer credit repair services. They even do a bad credit repair!
- save, save and save. this is a good alternative to using credit cards. If you know that you’re going to need some cash ahead of time, save some. Could save a lot of trouble looking for some place else to find money.
- don’t forget to tithe. our income is a gift from God, a blessing from Him. In tithing, you put money in it’s proper prespective. I realize that when you establish giving as a priority, even when you’re in debt, you tend to keep your other priorities in better order.
by: janet
My husband and I have a rule – if you’re going to spend over $100 on an item, consult the other person before buying. This has helped us TREMENDOUSLY in our budgeting.