When I started to create a budget I included some spending money for her because she likes to buy things. I didn’t mind it as long as she limited her spending.
We decided that $80 was a good amount for her to have to spend on what ever she wanted every month. As the days went on she would spend money for breakfast on the way to work and also for lunch, whenever she forgot to bring it with her. This wasn’t an everyday thing but it was 2-3 days a week. It added up to around $100 a month. Our eating out budget was set to $60 per month and I wasn’t even counting those expenses to that category. This caused us to go over budget a lot.
What I decided to do was give her a reason to spend less money. I created a category in our budget called Fast food. This was for all of her expenses of breakfast and lunch. I put the amount to $40 a month and any money that wasn’t spent she would get towards her next month’s spending money. That definitely got her attention and has caused her to spend significantly less than she has in the previous months on breakfast and lunch.
Having that incentive of keeping the extra money helped.How have you been able to get your significant other to help save money?
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Having a supportive partner to “buy-in” to a budgeting plan of any kind is so crucial. I like the idea of incentivizing a reluctant partner.
You’re absolutely right and some partners just need more convincing than others :)
Now she is eligible to be your wife :)
Right, she will be one of these days.
We made a budget and a projection of net worth as it evolved month by month if we stuck to the budget. That got her attention.
We used a spreadsheet which made it possible to see the consequences of adjusting numbers up or down.
Yea, seeing what can happen in different situations really helps to motivate people.
We get cash allowance so once the cash runs out that’s it. :)
Of course, sometime we broke down and cheated with credit card, but we’re not suppose to do that.
yea, every now and then it’s ok to cheat
I created a category in our budget called Fast food. This was for all of her expenses of breakfast and lunch.