money squabbles with spouse

Dave Ramsey - get his book and read it, or go to FPU. You will never ever be able to manage your money until you know what you have, and where is has to go, before you spend a nickle. Every dollar coming in needs to have a destination before it gets there. A budget is what you need and you BOTH must agree on the budget and then do you best to stick to it. Things will ALWAYS come up unexpectedly, so you need to budget a monthly amount for those surprises...that money eventually starts to build up a bit but you have to remember is is NOT extra money...it is ear marked for "the unexpected". Once you do your budget you might find out you don't have enough income, or you might find out you have more left over than you expected...deal with it.

My husband and I have allowance for each of us, and we can spend it on whatever we like. The only things in our budget are things that we can both agree on—food, gas, eating out, rent, car payments, bills, etc.

But the biggest thing that keeps it civil between us is that we are both understanding and have grace towards each other if one or both of us spends money outside of our allowance that wasn't in the budget. I know it is annoying and can cause you to be short in other areas, but you have to respond calmly and with forgiveness. If you just get mad and hold on to it, things won't get better... nobody is perfect, and you'll both go outside of the budget occasionally. Not the end of the world!

I got a divorce. Considering she married me for money, it fixed all my money problems. In the 15 months since our divorce she married a private in the national gaurd that she knew all of two months and is living with her parents, and I have my kids and my salary.

Of course, her having an affair, a federal felony conviction, and a domestic violence conviction all the last 9 months we were togother played a role also. But still.

Dave Ramsey - get his book and read it, or go to FPU. You will never ever be able to manage your money until you know what you have, and where is has to go, before you spend a nickle. Every dollar coming in needs to have a destination before it gets there. A budget is what you need and you BOTH must agree on the budget and then do you best to stick to it. Things will ALWAYS come up unexpectedly, so you need to budget a monthly amount for those surprises...that money eventually starts to build up a bit but you have to remember is is NOT extra money...it is ear marked for "the unexpected". Once you do your budget you might find out you don't have enough income, or you might find out you have more left over than you expected...deal with it.

I agree Dave Ramsey's book or Finacial Peace University class is the best thing out there. It has hanged our lives by teaching us how to handle money. We are almost 100% debt free. Check it out, it's not easy but it's worth it!!!!