By Jeannie Rodriguez | Dr. Budgets
Next month will mark the five-year anniversary of the day Daniel and I met, and it has been a wonderful five years! Three years (to the day!) after we met, we were married and there are a few things I’d like to share about what it’s like being “Mrs. Budgets.” When I tell people my husband is a money coach, I explain that he’s like a personal trainer for your money. He sits down with his clients each month to review their spending, he looks for places to save money, and he helps people achieve their financial goals. I think people have some ideas about what it must be like to be married to a money coach – for example, that Daniel is very frugal with his money – and I’m here to tell you the TRUTH about what it’s like being married to a money coach:
We Make a Budget Every Year and Review It Every Month
When we first merged our finances, Daniel and I sat down and had a conversation about how we spend our money and how we want to spend our money. We mapped out our financial goals and what was really important to us – just as Daniel does with his new clients! You might think that looking at your spending is a painful conversation, but it’s not at all! Daniel gets right to the good stuff to talk about what your financial goals are, and it’s a really positive discussion. With those things in mind, we look at the different spending categories and determine how much we’re going to spend in each category.
Once we have our budget, we review our spending each month to see how we did. Most months, we do well in each category and might overspend in a couple of categories – but that just means we try to do better next month. I thought that I would DREAD these monthly budget reviews, but it’s so enlightening! Before I met Daniel, I couldn’t tell you how much I spent on dining out or groceries – and, I won’t lie, it would get away from me and I was overspending every single month. Now, I look forward to talking about our money because it’s such a positive conversation, and I know where we stand as far as spending and can see our progress toward our long-term financial goals.
I Get a Massage Every Month
When we talked about what was important to us, Daniel said that it was important for him to enjoy a massage every month, so we put that in the budget for him and for me! I think many people think of Dr. Budgets as being really frugal and not spending money on any type of luxury – but that’s not true! He’s all about cutting the spending that doesn’t matter so that you have money to spend on what’s important. He’d never tell me I couldn’t indulge in a luxury I want (mani/pedis, a facial or spa day) – we would just need to look at the budget together to decide from where the money would come.
I Buy Whatever I Want and He Never Questions My Spending
You’d probably think there are a few months where the monthly budget review could get pretty intense (around the holidays, for example, when I can get a little carried away with gifts, holiday parties, and decorations!) but it never has. We have structured our budget in a way that we each get money every week to spend on whatever we want – and I love it! Basically, each of our incomes goes into our joint account, and from that account we pay for our joint expenses like:
- Savings
- Mortgage and Utilities
- Automobile Expenses
- Groceries and Daily Living
But also from that account, we each have money transferred to our personal accounts each week for spending outside of joint expenses. That’s the money we use to buy gifts for each other, special indulgences (spa days, the latest tech toy, etc), going out with my girlfriends, and whatever we want! Daniel never questions this spending because it’s my fun money. I’ve never felt like I had to hide big purchases or justify a new dress – he doesn’t question how I spend my money.
We Treat Our Friends
Imagine you go out to dinner with Dr. Budgets and his wife, and the check comes… you might think that he’d bust out the calculator and determine (to the penny!) how much you each owe – but that’s not the case! One thing that is important to us is that we want to treat our friends occasionally and never let money come between friendships. It’s nice having money in our budget set aside so we can treat friends to a ball game, dinner, or movie tickets.
I Don’t Clip Coupons (Although Daniel Does Sometimes)
I do not enjoy clipping coupons. If I see a coupon for a place I shop often, I might stick it in my wallet to use later, but I’m not coupon crazy. You might think Mrs. Budgets is an “extreme couponer” by association but, while Daniel will use coupons for things, I almost never do (and he’s cool with that) 🙂 Since I do all the grocery shopping for the house, I do have some tricks to saving money on food without clipping coupons.
I Never Worry about Money
When I met Daniel, I had a lot of credit card debt – but I was well on my way to paying it down. I was renting out a room to help pay my mortgage, and at the beginning of each month, I remember rushing to deposit her rent check because I never had a buffer in my account to cover the mortgage payment. I also remember checking my credit card balance while standing in line at the grocery store to see if I had enough funds to cover what I needed to buy. Basically, I was constantly worried about money.
After I paid off my debt, I felt like a huge weight was lifted! And after Daniel and I merged and organized our finances, I soon realized I wasn’t worried about money at all. I never need to worry because we have automatic payments and buffers, and anything I need or want to buy is accounted for in the budget.
Being married to Dr. Budgets sounds pretty great, huh? At least, I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m married to an extreme cheapskate who makes me eat Top Ramen every night, as many people might think when I say I’m married to Dr. Budgets 🙂
The best part? I’ve heard numerous Dr. Budgets clients say they have many of the same benefits by having a Dr. Budgets money coach! If you’d like to get a massage every month, review your monthly spending and financial goals, and stop worrying about money, then you should talk to a Dr. Budgets money coach! If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments section below.