As the holidays draw to a close…. I know, I know, they are over… but I’m thinking more and more about past Christmas lately….. Christmas spending to be exact. I had a well thought out list with details on what I wanted to spend…. A budget if you will… and then I remember adding it up, gasp! It was a chunk of money, but reasonable for the amount of people I was shopping for.
Before I started to spend any money I ran it by my husband. Our money is our money meaning we are equals even through he does make more than me. However, I choose to be a full time mother with Ember and work less hours so my earnings are substantially less than my husband because of this choice. Regardless, our money is still ours.
I feel completely confident spending our money using my best judgement. My husband has told me multiple times that he agrees. Yet I still run it by him before I do any spending outside of the normal household shopping…. Like groceries and gas.
Am I asking for permission? No, not really.
I really do think that having a healthy relationship involved compromise and communication.
I know that my husband trusts me with our money. He’s not worried that I’m spending my days at the local casinos and buying $2,500 shoes. I could go about spending for gifts and our household needs and not mention it to him and he would rarely ask about these things. But I think that it’s important for us to talk about where the money is going. We need to communicate our financial goals etc.
If you are new to talking about money here are some quick tips to get the conversation going:
- Set up a time to talk. Make sure you both know when and where. It can be informal, like when you are driving in the car…or more planned out and over dinner.
2. Have some info. Ready to go. Jot down some current financial info. Like how much you have in the bank and what you normally spend on certain things like gas and groceries. This talk is just to get the conversation going. Future talks can get into more detail.
3. Talk opening about your goals. Think big. Where do you want your future financial picture to look like.
4. Talk about the immediate purchases. Where is the best place to shop? How much should you spend?
5. Take notes during our meeting and after. During the meeting write down ideas that you both come up with that you want to explore more. After the meeting write down some quick thoughts to discuss at your next meeting.
As we were sitting in living room a few weeks before ‘Black Friday’ I did a quick recap for my husband on where we were at for Christmas spending. I used the opportunity to “fill him in” on the actual amount we were going to spend, what gifts I was going to buy and where I was going to buy them. His ideas on other places to shop and other ideas for certain people where great. By working together we were able to make sure that the gifts we were buying would be well received and that we saved some money.
I do talk to my husband about the money I spend, but I wouldn’t say that I ask permission.
Do you?
