Married Life: Money Management
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Game
(we beat the Atlanta Falcons)
It’s been a minute but I did share before that Blake & I started 6 months BEFORE we got married trying to figure out how we would manage our finances in a way that would allow us to save up for a house on the water without selling what was then my home and is now our home. In this post from July I shared about our decision to sell Blake’s house while the market was booming and him living with family until our wedding. With the turn the market has taken since (and the rise of interest) we’re more grateful than ever that we were able to do it that way. So October 1 was our goal date to officially be living on one income, saving the other. I’m happy to report: we’re doing it. A big part of the decision to do this comes from the desire to hang on to our townhouse as an eventual rental property (what I like to call: playing the long game). It took time to figure out, set up, combine banks, etc so we gave ourselves 5 weeks (married) to do that and then we pulled the plug.
I’ll start by admitting that it’s still early and I have more work to do at spending less. I’m more of a spender than Blake, for sure. The one thing I will give myself credit for though is, I’m diligent with a plan. Paying bills on time, seeing retirement and investments as non-optional bills, and making sure we follow through are things I am good at despite my spender tendencies. Also I’m an elite deal finder, especially on travel and a maximizer of points programs. I feel like one of the most important aspects of managing finances is this: play to your strengths. I like to write a plan and then focus on executing it. No excuses. We started making our plan even before premarital counseling so that part was done. The last few weeks have been putting our plan into action.
So here are the current goals:
Live on Blake’s checks, invest mine to save for a house
Save the equivalent of two car payments (one for each of us) each month towards replacement cars
Maintain a 6 month emergency fund in accessible savings
That’s the plan. It’s not complicated. We just have to work it. There’s a lot that could change in the next few years but as of now we think our house is 3-5 years away and we both hope to keep our cars that long as well. The great thing about that is we have time. The important part for planning purposes, though, is to note that it’s likely our two biggest expenses (housing & transportation) will happen close together so we decided we needed to save separately and aggressively for both.
Admittedly I geek out for plans in general but nothing brings a smile to face faster than picturing sunset cruises any night of the week with the love of my life. I’m so fortunate to have found the most amazing teammate for life and to be chasing our dreams together. I can’t wait to see what all the Lord has in store for us. It’s going to be a journey and probably feel like a marathon at a sprint pace at some points but we’d love for you to follow along on the journey and would love to hear about your own big plans.
