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I’m a spender, not a saver. One summer I made $12,000 as a waitress in Central WA and had it all spent by the end of the year. I spent it all during a time when my parents were paying for my schooling and housing and giving me a stipend for food. Very embarrassing.

When That Husband and I started dating, he made it clear that debt wasn’t ever going to be a part of his life, and if I wanted to be with him I would have to make some major changes to my spending habits. I began paying off my credit card debt and continued to pay off my car loan. I know, and he will admit if it you asked him, that he would have ended the relationship if he had not seen the changes he believed necessary in my habits for us to have a successful relationship.

When we got married, TH implemented a new approach to budgeting that has completely changed the way I approach my spending. Most people approach budgeting like this: Each month, you start out with $300 for groceries, then you spend until you hit $300 and try to stop spending. If you have leftover money it carries over into next month, but if you’re a spender like me you never have anything left, and you usually end up spending even more than your allotted $300. You start rich and spend until you are poor.

TH’s approach turns things completely upside down, approaching budgeting in a way I’ve never heard of, and most definitely would never though of. It’s based on 4 essential strategies.

1. Calculate what your total annual spending should be. We came up with a number by taking annual income and calculating money needed for savings, travel, housing, etc, and all other spending that falls under the “invariable” budgeting area. After we had removed all of the invariables we focused on creating a budget for the variables, the places where we would need to track my our spending most carefully. These categories include Groceries, Household, Jenna Clothing, Jenna Personal, Eating Out, etc.
2. Here is the step where TH’s system is so genius. Our Eating Out budget allots for$1200 of spending/year. Instead of starting out with $100/month, we started out with nothing and the amount we have in the budget grows day by day. It’s fun to say it that way. Instead of diminishing, our budget grows! Each day the Excel spreadsheet we use adds about $3 to our Eating Out budget total. If we only have $75 in the Eating Out budget and we overspend we have to wait until the daily amount builds up enough so we can afford to eat once more.
3. Credit cards only, no cash. Cash can’t be tracked as well unless you are incredibly diligent about keeping all of your receipts. Most avoid credit cards because you can spend money you don’t have, but in avoiding them you are also avoiding the rewards and bonuses that come with using them. Obviously, they must be paid off in full each month for this to work.
4. Using mint.com we can track absolutely all of our credit card transactions. We categorize them on mint.com and make sure that they go into That Budget on Google Docs as well.

He created an Excel spreadsheet that we use to keep track of our spending. It’s online using Google Docs so we both can access it at any time from our respective laptops.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I used to scoff at couples who claimed to marry solely for love but yet still insisted on that ugly ol’ prenup… Talk about unromantic and pessimistic, right?  Then I went to law school where I was introduced to Community Property States by adorable (but scary), crotchety Professor F.  And as he lectured on survivorship rights and traceable mutations, two thoughts consistently popped into my head:

1. “Mrs. F is totally screwed if they ever get divorced.”
2. Charlotte York firmly telling Bunny McDoogle: “I’m worth a million.”

Now, this is not the post where I tell you that I hollered “we want prenup, we want prenup, yeeeah” (sorry: shameless pop culture reference) - quite the opposite, in fact.  But understanding how our state views a married couple’s money and property (in Texas, what’s mine is Evan’s and what’s Evan’s is mine) gave me a whole new appreciation for having an agreed upon financial plan.

piggy bank by Esty seller Dog Star Designs

We started talking finances a couple months before saying “I Do” in an attempt to starve off those scenarios that result in money acting as the number one reason for marital discord.  For us, its easiest to live off of Evs’ paycheck and (for the most part) save mine.  Once every 2 months (so every fourth check) my check gets deposited into a “Fun Account” for travel or other large items we want but don’t need.  The rest goes towards a down payment in the “House Account.”   As far as day-to-day spending goes, we pared down the number of credit cards and set some ground rules.  Before getting married, we each had various credit cards.  We picked the two that give us the most bang for our buck (rewards wise), added us both to the account, and cancelled the rest.  The majority of our daily expenses go onto those cards or onto our separate store accounts (Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, Neimans) - all of these accounts must be paid in full every month.   We have a standing “consult if its a personal item more than $100″ rule”… Evs’ gets a gold star for following this rule, while my Marital Finance Report Cards reads “needs improvement.”

Its not for everyone but this situation works well for us for the most part.  However, I can’t help but feel a little like I’m on an allowance.  As someone whose been in school for twenty years, I still get a little thrill every two weeks when I collect my regular paycheck (yes, my firm does not have direct deposit…and yes, this is superbly annoying).  And sometimes I just want to take that paycheck and invest a third of it on something pretty for my feet without a second thought.

But, then again, I’d also like to be sittin’ pretty in retirement before I’m 89 - preferably with a husband who hasn’t gone mad with rampant handbag bills.

How do you handle the finances in your relationship?  What works for you?

{via The Image Is Found}

I’d love to have enough cash to do this, but the truth is that I count my dollars obsessively.  The husband agrees that I am the money manager in our house hold (I love the planning, he doesn’t).  So here are some of my favorite website to help motivate you, organize, manage your finances.

Organize your Finances here:

• Mint
• Buxfer
• Wesabe
• Geezeo
• Thrive

Learn how to get out of Debt here:

• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already
• Bluntmoney
• Squawkfox

Save your money here:

• HSBC
• SmartyPig
• ING Direct

We can all agree that finance and money management are rarely funny.  Other than the creative tax deductions and “getting one over on the IRS” we have very little to amuse us. When I came across this post by Punny Money, I actually snorted.

A few excerpts on ways to creatively save money by using work resources….

• Water. If your workplace has free exercise facilities, chances are it also has showers. Even if exercising isn’t your cup of tea, you can still take advantage of workplace shower facilities to cut down on hot water consumption at home.
• Storage. This doesn’t apply to those of you who actually use your office or cubicle’s space for storing work items. But I know plenty of you administrative types have nothing but empty lockable drawers that you like to pretend are full of important papers. Why not use some of that space to store books, old clothes, and other stuff you don’t want cluttering up your house? (Not that you even need a house if your office is that spacious…)
• Toilet paper. In general, you should be doing about 75% of your toileting at work anyway. You’ll find that doing so will really cut down on your household’s TP consumption. I’m pretty religious about my workplace potty break; stop by stall #2 on the third floor around 12:15 some day and say hi!
• Landscape. You may not realize it, but that finely groomed campus landscaping you see outside your window at work probably costs more money each month than you make in a year. I think that entitles you to make off with some posies and maybe a few small bushes.

Nuf said!

While cruising the Kiplinger website, I found an article on a new type of savings account called SmartyPig. They immediately sucked me in with their cool graphics and savvy website.  I’m a sucker for good design!

I thought it was a great idea for short term savings goals.  It has a fantastic APY of 3.9%. The best part is that your friends and family can contribute towards your goal.  The account is free (as shown by the great graphics!). The constraints are a minimum goal of $250, a minimum time period of 3 months (but it can stay there for as long as 50 years), and a minimum initial deposit of $25.

A.