It can be frustrating if one spouse won’t participate in the budgeting process, in fact, it can often end a marriage. Whether or not you are financially compatible, you can make your marriage work as long as you are both willing to communicate openly about your finances and work to make compromises on each issue. Sitting down now can help you avoid major financial mistakes in your marriage. It can be very frustrating to have one person spend money frivolously while the other one saves money constantly. You need to work together to find a happy medium. You will need to come to major decisions together, and decide how to deal with financial pressures from extended family or other tough financial decisions that may come up. As you work together to achieve these goals, you will find that the direction and purpose help to strengthen your marriage. At first, you may need to go over the budget every night and report your spending to each other. Once you have been budgeting for a few months, you may be able to talk about your finances just twice a week. By discussing what you have spent and kept a running total of your budget, you will both be involved in the daily financial decisions and work together as a team. As you work at it, preparing a budget will get easier. Take the time now to great good financial habits in your marriage. An allowance for both of you can help stop money fights and give you money to spend on some of the things you want each month. Make sure you work on building your relationship. Even when on a tight budget, you can still afford cheap dates. You will also need to adjust your budget when you have kids. When you are married, you take on both the positive and negative aspects of your spouse. It is important to consider the debt and savings as “ours” instead of “yours” or “mine.” This will lead to a much more positive experience for both of you. You may want to talk to a marriage counselor or a church leader about these issues before you get married. Doing this can prevent you from going through a divorce and the financial problems that divorce causes. If your spouse refuses to combine finances, it may be a sign of deeper marriage issues. You should seek counseling to address the issue. You can keep your finances separate while working through those issues. Remember that you both need to reach the same decisions about lending money to your parents, how to care for them as they age, or other major financial decisions.
