A couple of years ago, Faith and I decided that we needed do something about our debt situation. We got on board with Dave Ramsey and since then we have been holding budget meetings every month to plan for next month’s expenses. Our monthly budget meetings have really started to evolve into more than that now as we have been planning more than just budgets. I am going to start calling them Team Walker Planning meetings. Not only will we discuss budget items, but also our intentions to do things together as a family. We don’t take vacations anymore, we go on adventures. We have begun planning short adventures each month while also looking ahead to much longer adventures in the summer. We are also looking way long term to adventure back to Disney World with the kids. This helps us to get things on the calendar in advance and begin budgeting for the more expensive things well in advance.
Our planning meetings help us a lot to stay on the same page. It used to be frustrating when things would come up that one of us didn’t know about and it would incur expenses that we had not budgeted for. Now we are able to get almost everything out there in advance. This helps us to say yes to our family more by getting those things on our calendars before other things begin to interfere. These planning meetings have done wonders for us in the communication department. It helps us bring things up that we wouldn’t normally discuss in everyday conversation. At first it seemed kind of formal and businesslike, but it has really become a very natural thing for us. If we delay or miss a meeting, things can get a little out of whack with our routines and our budget.
Do you have planned meetings like this with your family to deal with budgets and life in general?
We do not have meetings – I'm in control of the business and personal checkbook and my husband gets a weekly allowance. When I first met him he had serious financial issues – he spent far more than he made!
There have been times in our 23 years together that I've felt like an ogre for having to say No to something he'd want to buy or do but I always weigh the situation and say "sure let's do it" when it's right. But at this point in our marriage we're both on the same page.
I know a lot of people who split it up like that. I figure as long as you can keep it all on the same page, then it will go well. Thanks for the comment.