Managing Money as a Couple: Why Budgeting is Important in a Relationship

ad// Relationships are built on a number of things: trust, honesty, respect, money. Yep – you read that right. As much as we sometimes want to pretend otherwise, money does matter. Both in life and in love. Whether you’re financially secure or not, budgeting is important to your relationship health.

Understanding how to manage your money as a couple is critical.

Keep reading to learn exactly why budgeting is important in a relationship. And for more information on how to create a better budget, click here.

4 Reasons Budgeting is Important in a Relationship

1. Less Relationship Stress

Money is a huge relationship stressor. In fact, it’s regularly cited as one of the most common things that couples fight about. Sometimes, that stems from one partner making more than the other or having different spending habits.

It could also be due to the underlying financial issues. If you’re in debt or regularly worried about money, that creates stress. Being stressed in general can lead to fighting more than usual.

By creating a budget together, you can work to prevent this particular stressor from impacting your relationship.

2. Improves Communication

We’ve been somewhat conditioned to view money as a taboo-subject. It’s just not a topic we openly talk about. For many of us, doing so feels unnatural and, honestly, uncomfortable.

When budgeting, though, talking about money is sort of a must. You’ll need to tell your partner about your income along with your expenses. And, you’ll need to do so honestly and openly.

Naturally, this will go a long way to improving your overall communication.

Related Read: How to Have More Effective Communication in Relationships

3. Promotes Better Understanding of your Partner

We all have what’s known as a “money-mindset.” Basically, that’s our relationship with money. Shaped by your experiences and underlying beliefs about money, your money mindset is what drives your financial decisions.

Your spending habits are also driven by what you value. People spend more money on things that matter to them.

So, by setting a budget together, you’ll inevitably learn more about your partner.

Related Read: 5 Ways to Practice Financial Self-Care

4. Helps with Planning for the Future

Unless you’re dating someone casually, chances are you and your partner are making some sort of plans for the future.

Even if you’re not quite to the ‘commitment’ stage of things, there are always future plans to consider. Maybe you want to take a vacation soon. It could be an upcoming concert you’re interested in. Or, maybe you just have a few expensive date-nights in mind you’d love to experience.

And, for more serious couples, you could be thinking of things like buying a house, getting married, or having kids. All of which require financial preparedness (with the possible exception of a courthouse marriage.)  

Wedding Planning:

Once upon a time, I was married, and although our wedding was incredibly small, it still cost over $1,000.

So, if you’re planning to get married, you’ll need to figure out how much your wedding will cost. Then, whether or not you’ll be paying for it yourself or having help from family. Even if you do have some assistance, you’re probably going to have to spend some of your own money.

Once you determine the cost, look at your income between now and the wedding date to figure out how much you’ll need to set aside each month.

Buying a House

With a wedding, there’s a one-time cost. But, with buying a house, it’s not quite so black-and-white. Of course, you might have a down-payment. And for that, you can use that same method of looking at the cost relative to your income.

But, then, there are the additional expenses: the monthly payments, taxes, home-owners insurance, etc. Plus, all the home decor stuff you might want. And, then, of course, there are the things you hope don’t happen – plumbing issues, mold, roof damage. As they say, hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Having Kids

Oh, this is a big one. So big, in fact, that I’m not even sure there’s an adequate starting point.

There are the initial costs of pregnancy (if you have fertility issues, this could be pretty extensive.) Then, the baby stage costs: diapers, clothes, doctor visits, daycare. And, of course, the next 18 years of various expenses.

So, while you may not be able to set a fixed budget for this one, it’s incredibly important to understand how to budget. Because once you have kids, you’ll have to do it continuously.

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s no wonder budgeting is important in a relationship. Being able to talk with your significant other about your financial goals and expectations will go a long way to bettering your overall partnership.

Do you think budgeting is important in a relationship? Are you able to talk openly about money with your partner?

Let me know in the comments below!

xx
Katie

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