Budget Tips for 'young' newlyweds?

[figaromeetsmarie]

Share you budget tips for young (at least I consider them young lol) newlyweds.

I know in these challenging times they will need as many tips as they can get!

Thanks

 

[justbishop]

Buy them Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book. We just started the program and will have everything but our mortgage paid off in about 2.5 years using his system. We've also already decided that we will never finance another car after we pay this one off. We really wish we'd read it years ago!

Also, if they want to start a family, do a trial run for 6 mo - 1 yr of living on one income only. We did this before we had our daughter, and thank gods every day that we did. I got very sick while pregnant, and if making house payments would have depended on 2 incomes, we'd have never been able to do it because I just could not have worked.

 

[clarabelle]

Buy a house well below your means.

Don't get caught in the "trap" of thinking you should always have a car payment.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Well, I don't know if this is a budget tip so much as a financial one, but DH and I married when I was 17. He was in the Army and where he was stationed he was only there for 4 months so he told me not to bother looking for a job, leave them for the wives who would be there longer. Then we went to the next post and I was busy setting up our home and was going to look for a job after Christmas (we had moved there early November.) Well, after Christmas I started not feeling so well and sure enough, I was pregnant (not planned.) We had always said we wanted me to be home when we had kids and though it came much earlier then we planned, we decided for me to not get a job. So, we never had a second income. I think I became frugal like I am now (and wasn't before) because I needed to be. We still live on one income. So, if I were asked by a newly for advise, I'd say try to live on one income. Bank the other and live on one so if someday that is something yo uwant or need to do, it isn't that hard to get used to and the saving of the second income would be a great downpayment on a house.

 

[Marionnette]

Pay yourself first. That way they will always have a nestegg to fall back on.

 

[2disneyboys]

Make sure BOTH of you are involved in the family finances. In so many family only one of the spouses handles the bills and usually, $$ is a major source of arguments for families, so if both start out being involved, there are no surprises.

buy the "worst" house in the "best" neighborhood that you can truly afford. Don't overbuy! and you are planning on your first home to be your "starter home" don't 'overgrow' your neighborhood by upgrades that would not be appreciated by the "cliental" that would be interested in your neighborhood.

try and live as debt free as you can... it only gets harder as "life happens" to live within budget so don't start any bad habits!

never underestimate the power of the all mighty coupon!

When you are planning your meals, think of several meals you can use something for... such as a Chicken Roaster... -- Roasted Chicken 1 night... then next night you can have some sort of chicken salad, and also, chicken soup or something. you can make the chicken last for at least 3 meals!

 

[C.Ann]

Pay yourself first. That way they will always have a nestegg to fall back on.

This! Number 1 priority - no matter how small their income is.. Do this forever..

 

[CajunMomof3]

I suggested to my stepdaughter (who has just moved out on her own) that she use the envelope method. She figured out what her budget was for the "extras." The idea is that she puts that amount of cash in an envelope. So when it is gone, there is a physical reminder that she is done until the next payday. I do this via a spreadsheet, but I think for someone just starting to learn to budget, the hands-on method is a good learning experience.

 

[Shagley]

Decide for yourself what things are important to have and what things you can live without. Just because your friends buy the latest and greatest new item (electronics, computers, cars, houses, etc) does not mean they are any happier than you are, It only means they have more stuff and more debt than you do.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Learn how to use coupons!

 

[MrsPete]

Most of this has already been covered, but here goes:

- Live frugally from the beginning. It's a whole lot easier to live within your means if you never have to make "cut backs". Someone else lives on 80-90% of what you earn. You can too. You just have to be disciplined enough to do it.

- Avoid debt. Avoiding it is easier than getting out of it. This will sometimes mean doing without things, but that's better than paying and paying and paying in the future.

- Save, save, save, save, save. I know I'm being awfully repetative, but if you get used to living on ___% of your salary from the very beginning, it's just easier. Look into direct deposit savings so that it's "automatic".

Start an account for emergency savings, which can never be touched except in an emergency.
Start a short-term savings account for vacations, replacing the roof, buying a bigger TV.
Start retirement savings.

- Buy less house and less car than you can afford. Never borrow what "they" say you can afford -- not unless you want to be strapped every single month to make the maximum payment you can manage. Give yourself some breathing room. Get ahead on your house payment as soon as you can; even $25/month will get it paid off sooner.

- Do not pay attention to people who have more than you. Ignore your friends who are buying big, expensive houses, going on expensive vacations, buying boats, etc. If they're doing these things at a young age, chances are very good that they're doing it on credit. This is counter-productive to long-term financial stability.

- Make it a goal to be debt-free, including your mortgage. It's very freeing to know that what you earn is actually YOURS to keep.

- The most important thing of all: Do what's right NOW. It's awfully easy to say, "We'll pay this back easily in another year or two when we're making more money / when the degree is finished /have recovered from making the downpayment on the house /have paid off our wedding expenses /whatever." In a year or two, when this goal is reached, The truth is that there's never a better time than NOW -- the beginning of their lives together -- to get off to a good start. It's very easy to let 5, 10, 15 years slide by waiting for the perfect time to get out of debt /to start saving for retirement /whatever.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I don't know how young you are talking. Have they lived out on their own before marrying? In a previous job, I used to teach young spouses household/life skills. Here are things from my class:

Set up a budget to include setting up an emergency account with at least $20 a week. I started small because alot of young military families don't make alot of extra money laying around.

Making a grocery shopping list and a meal plan. Alot of people of all ages really don't know how to make meal plans even just simple meals and then stick to a grocery list and budget.

Making simple budget friendly EASY meals. Alot of couples starting out don't have alot of cooking gadgets or many cooking skills. I had 20 basic meals that I would teach that did not cost much but weren't junk.

Balancing a checkbook and reading a credit report.

Keeping a written list of household wants and needs and prioritize both lists. It keeps the couple focused and goals to work towards. Heck we do this even know instead of just going out and spending because we can. I guess some habits are hard to break.

Surround yourself with other couples that think the same way. Hanging around with couples that want to go go and spend money here there and everywhere is going to influence someone just like spending time with couples that are happy to do game night and homemade pizza.

 

[CoP Luv]

Start saving for retirement NOW!!! You will never be able to go back and 'wish' you were able to put more money away earlier.

Dave Ramsey's methods are good, but they are common sense. However, common sense doesn't always eqaute to financial sense in most people.

 

[marie1203]

Figure out what is going to work for you. Someone here said let both people handle the finances and I disagree with that. We have been married 3 years now and I always handle the finances and we have a great relationship we never argue about it. I think every couple is different so sit down and both of you make a plan, share your financial goals that way you both can be in the same page. My husband will admit that he is not good at it so he doesn't want to do it. So the best advice is be in the same page with you husband since I think the major problem is usually that they don't have the same financial goals not who is handling the finances.

 

[bored]

Buy a house well below your means.

Don't get caught in the "trap" of thinking you should always have a car payment.

This! Also don't try to keep up with the Joneses. They are probably broke and in debt over their heads!

 

[eliza61]

Also, don't believe the hype that you have to start off in a 3500 square foot mcmansion. A small townhouse or ***gasp*** even an apartment while you save up the 20% down isn't not a crime against nature.

Also just because the guy at the mortgage company swears he can get you into a house with only 5% down does not mean it's a good idea

 

[3goofyboys]

Know where every dollar of your money is going. In this age of online banking, it's easy to "just check the balance online". Don't get me wrong, I use and love online banking, but you need to keep track of your own finances. On that same note, I'm amazed at the number of errors that I have to call and get corrected, if I didn't keep close track, I'd be losing that money.

 

[MrsPete]

Figure out what is going to work for you. Someone here said let both people handle the finances and I disagree with that. We have been married 3 years now and I always handle the finances and we have a great relationship we never argue about it. I think every couple is different so sit down and both of you make a plan, share your financial goals that way you both can be in the same page. My husband will admit that he is not good at it so he doesn't want to do it. So the best advice is be in the same page with you husband since I think the major problem is usually that they don't have the same financial goals not who is handling the finances.

I agree somewhat. I handle the day-to-day finances around the house; that is, I pay the bills, buy the kids' clothes and the groceries, and do most of the normal decision making. My husband, however, handles our investments.

What's important, though, is IF you divide up the work, have things written down somewhere safe: Account numbers, passwords, etc. IF the other spouse needed this information (thinking death, disability, whatever), it'd be available.

Also, don't believe the hype that you have to start off in a 3500 square foot mcmansion. A small townhouse or ***gasp*** even an apartment while you save up the 20% down isn't not a crime against nature.

Also just because the guy at the mortgage company swears he can get you into a house with only 5% down does not mean it's a good idea

Keep in mind, too, that if you buy a 3500 square foot house, you have to furnish it, carpet it, pay taxes on it, maintain it . . . so it doesn't stop at the mortgage payment!

 

[mhsjax]

I agree don't buy into more house than you can comfortably afford, but also don't buy too far down and then have to try and sell in this economy. Make sure it is in a neighborhood that you would be happy with if you had kids and also enough room for you to have kids. and SAVE SAVE SAVE.

 

[hopemax]

One thing we did, that now turned out to be a really good thing. Everytime, we had a salary increase, we took half and put it to our savings account via direct deposit. The first year it was only $100 per month. Now, it's over $1000, plus a different retirement account, and an FSA account.