Together on Tuesday: Dolla Billz, Y'all

Alright, so I know I should have put, "Million Dolla Billz, Y'all," but I was being more realistic by scaling it down a bit to fit my budget.  That just so happens to be the topic of conversation for this week's "ToT" (otherwise known as Together on Tuesday).  Here is the official Topic: "How do you manage money? Do you have a budget? Do you do this as a family or is one person responsible for the budgeting? If needed, how could you improve your budgeting skills?" Here is my official response: "Oh crap, this is going to be a bit embarrassing for me." So, let me explain....

By the way, I feel this may be the shortest post I write for ToT.  Ever.  Why do you ask? (let's just pretend there is someone out there actually asking that) Well, it's because I have absolutely nothing to do with the budget at my house. Nothing.  My husband is the budget guru.  He is very knowledgeable in all things finance.  He is a math whiz.  I on the other hand am not.  Period.  End of story. I let my emotions take over. Seriously. I will go ahead and embellish a little bit just to make this a tad bit more interesting.

The reason my husband manages our budget is not that I'm irresponsible with money or anything like that.  Actually, it's more that I'm probably too tight with the money.  If I were running the budget we would have all of our money locked into some dumb savings account, not earning anything, but safe and sound.  We wouldn't live in a nice house or have cars-period.  We would never take vacation or get new clothes.  We would borrow clothes from other people and wear them until they literally fell off of our bodies. So that may be a slight exaggeration.  I have a real problem with spending...okay, no, wait.  I have no problem spending money to buy new things when I'm in the actual purchasing moment.  I have a HUGE guilt problem after I have spent the money.  I begin to question everything about the purchase. Even my sanity.  I think, "if I would have waited, there could have been a sale" or "if I checked out x, y, and z, store they may have had it cheaper" and my standard, "I will wait until I get a coupon for that."  Sometimes I let my guilt win out over actual logic.  A lot of the time I will end up talking myself out of things before I even buy them.  "Do I really need this new ____?" You can fill in the blank with anything: shirt, underwear, toothpaste-whatever.  I'm sure I've agonized over it before.  I'm the person walking around the store with their cellphone calculator trying to figure out the best deal by calculating the price per ounce in one hand and a stack full of coupons in the other.  It stresses me out beyond belief, and I'm not even the one in charge of the stinking budget.  So, to save my sanity and my marriage, I let my husband take care of the actual budget.

I think allowing one person to be in charge of the budget can help save a lot of headache when it comes to the organization of paying off bills, depositing money into the account, moving money around, and investing money.  There is no confusion, of when a certain action with the accounts was taken, or who remembered to pay what bill.  That being said, I think it is also vital that both parties have a say in how the money coming in is being spent, and how it should be spent or invested.  There has to be an extreme case of open communication and flexibility on those points.  Jake would never make a large purchase (i.e. house, car, computer, boat, etc.) without consulting me first, and vice versa.  We also discuss how we will save our money, and how we want to invest in our future and the future of our children.  I think you definitely need to be on the same page with your partner if one person is taking care of the budget. It's also important not to make the person who does not handle the finance side of things feel like they have to justify every purchase they make.  In our situation, I always want to make sure I'm spending with in our means, since I'm the one that does the grocery shopping, and clothes shopping for myself and the kids for the majority of the time.  I am making the majority of the day in and day out expenditures for our family. I like knowing where we are at with things, and all I have to do is ask or take a look at the checkbook.  No big deal.  Also, I have to say, I don't believe there is any completely right or wrong way as to how the budging responsibilities get dolled out.  I've seen so many different ways of doing it between couples that I know.  It's whatever works for you and your family. Just remember-if you want financial advice....ask my better half. If you need a coupon ask me. lol.

Okay, so I guess this was a bit longer than I thought it was going to be-now go check out what Danielle, Nancy, Sarah and Charlotte have to say about managing their Dolla Billz. I know I could stand to learn a thing or two. :)