Father Sez

My wife and I have been happily married for 24 years now.  

Ever since an almost tragic accident happened to our second girl, when she was 3 months old, my wife and I decided that she would be a full time mother and home manager, whilst I brought home the bacon, so to speak.  

It was accepted that I’ll be the general and she the major. So she made all the major decisions, while I made the general decisions. 

Though we never make any significant purchases without consulting each other, (now we consult our two elder girls, too), my wife and I have never sat down and drawn up a family budget together. 

I took the plunge this year.

I fortified myself with a wealth of advise and ideas from :- 

a)    LazyMan’s “How to have a successful budget meeting with your spouse”, 

b)    Yahoo Finance’s Five-point peace plan to help couples avoid a war over finances, and

c)     Millionaire Mommy Next Door’s “How to make money management a family affair”. 

I am the accountant in the family, so I drew up the monthly list of expenses, expected for 2008, and discussed it with my wife. (I think this is also the first time, my wife has a clear and complete understanding of the expenses of our family).  

We have now agreed that we shall have a budget day every month to review actuals against budget. 

I am glad and actually feel a sense of relief that we have done this.  I am looking forward to the day when the family is comfortable with the monthly budget day, and we can then move to Stage 2 - Implementing the Millionaire Mommy’s great ideas to make our family money management a family affair. 

I am sure that many couples do not have family budgets. Perhaps because of earlier experiences or disagreements on spending etc. After all women and men do not think alike, do they? 

I ask you to persevere. I am sure only good can come out of this joint facing of the major issue of family expenses.