Why Budget
Budget to Better Marriage
When you truly understand the answer to the question why budget, you realize that there are many benefits to budgeting. Some of these benefits are much more apparent than others. For instance, everyone expects to benefit financially with a good budget. That's an easy one. There are several others not quite so apparent. I want to show you how developing a good budget can affect your relationship with your spouse or partner. I want to show you how a good budget can make for a better marriage.
Marriage is the act of joining a man and a woman together as husband and wife. I am not sure that is the politically correct definition today, but it is the generally accepted definition. It is the joining of two individuals to form a couple. Husband and wife do not lose their individuality, but their functioning as a couple presents a unique picture. The creation of that picture, quite often will involve conflict between the individuals. The two main reasons for conflict in marriage are sex and money. I will not try to give you advice about sexual matters. I'll leave that matter to professionals in that field. I want to show you how developing a good budget can eliminate a main source of conflict within a marriage.
Why budget? A budget is a careful plan regulating your financial life. To develop that plan there is some effort involved. There must be an extensive analysis made of both your income and your spending. There is an allocation of your spending to categories determined by the goals that you have established. The final step is to make a commitment to let the budget determine your actual spending. A good budget is developed through careful thought, thorough consideration of your goals, and a firm commitment to abide by the budget.
If you take the time, as a married couple, to develop a good budget, you should eliminate most conflict about money. To develop this budget, you are going to have to communicate. You will have to spend time talking to do the necessary analysis of your income and spending. This is not something that you will accomplish in one session. You will have to talk a lot to really see where your money is going. When it comes to spending allocation, you will have to talk about not only your individual goals in life, but your financial goals as a couple. You will have to agree as to what those goals are. This may cause some initial conflict, but should lead to a better understanding between the partners. You will have to do some work to come to an agreement as to where your money is going to be spent. If you can do these things, I guarantee you that you will have done more than most couples do and should see the benefit of doing so. If you can then agree to commit to this budget, you will have greatly reduced, if not eliminated, one of the two main causes of conflict with in a marriage.
Why budget? Very simply, if you take the time to do a proper budget for your household, I think that you will have a better marriage.