Hellobee Boards Topic: Do you budget with your SO?

Hellobee Boards Topic: Do you budget with your SO? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 25 Apr 2026 03:43:20 +0000 My Only Sunshine on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1868104 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:29:21 +0000 My Only Sunshine 1868104@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We just started budgeting. We use YNAB (You Need a Budget) and we're loving it a couple months in! It's basically an electronic version of envelope budgeting. Before this we always took the "oh we have plenty of money so I'll just buy x" approach. The final straw was when we had to pull money out of savings two months in a row to pay medical bills. 808love on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1868091 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:27:22 +0000 808love 1868091@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Because I squirrel almost all of it away in designated budget categories, DH and I recently started arguing for a few months because he suddenly couldn't handle/accept the tiny-in his eyes- amount of blow money a month. It is over now but it was a surprise that he started to argue about it because we had been in alignment for years. I think he wanted to feel rewarded with his money, like a pay raise instead of me adjusting and lowering our personal blow money as I saw fit for our overall financial picture (increasing college savings, reserves, etc). blackbird on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1868082 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:25:58 +0000 blackbird 1868082@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @looch: hahaha that's most executives I know! The exec lot is FULL of BMW and Mercedes and Escalades!!! I think the ones who drive Hondas are shunned from the lot :) looch on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1868057 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:16:00 +0000 looch 1868057@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @cmomma17: I tend to disagree, just because I know some very high net worth individuals and frankly, the more you earn, the more you spend. They have issues just like us normal folks when it come to making sure they have enough to retire on. When you get to a certain point in your career, sometimes, what you had 15 years ago when you were starting out isn't enough somehow. Yes, there are some execs that are driving around beater cars, but more often than not, they've got a luxury vehicle, their kids are in private school and they've got what I would consider a mansion to call home. Mrs. Lion on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1867899 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 10:30:25 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1867899@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrswin: I agree...maybe I should have said that more disposable income means it is easier to live without a budget instead :) depending on circumstances you can definitely have a high income but less disposable income. mrswin on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1867757 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:55:09 +0000 mrswin 1867757@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Like @DillonLion: we started to get serious about budgeting a year ago and it has completely changed our lives. We have some debt along with family obligations and a couple of other things going on that we need to be more aware of where our money is going. A big part of being able to afford our IVF cycle earlier this year was as a result of some of the changes we made. We had some pretty big fights about money before we went this route because we grew up very differently and had a very different approach to money. ETA: @Mrs. Lion: @cmomma17: @MrsTiz: I don't think that that is necessarily true, we have two incomes and make more significantly more than the median income but other factors (i.e. debt, family situations, etc) mean that we need to pay extra attention and budgeting gets us there. snowjewelz on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1867459 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 08:15:53 +0000 snowjewelz 1867459@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I budget to a certain degree but our month to month expenses always varies based on what's going on so it's hard! I pretty much handle the finances so I'm usually the one telling DH we need to tighten up this month, etc and he never asks me anything! He said he's happy as long as he goes to the ATM and there's cash coming out :grin: kml636 on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1867439 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 08:00:08 +0000 kml636 1867439@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We do not budget at all... to be honest this is a reason I still work part time as I dont want to have to worry about getting coffee or whatever and not having money for it. looch on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so/page/2#post-1867416 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 07:44:33 +0000 looch 1867416@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We budget and we fight about money, go figure. It's not knock down, blow out arguments, but we definetly have different ideas about how to allocate. I am stingy to an extreme, where my husband will spend money to make his life easier. I am a big fan of side of the road furniture finds, my husband turns up his nose. MrsTiz on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867410 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 07:38:04 +0000 MrsTiz 1867410@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We budget and argue every now and then about someone overspending *cough* DH *cough* @cmomma17: @Mrs. Lion: yeah I agree with that completely. Saying "we don't budget!" is the equivalent of "we make a crap ton of money!" haha Mrs. Lemon-Lime on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867387 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 07:01:16 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1867387@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Lion: It didn't hurt us financially just highlighted who's generous and who's stingy. I'm stingy. mrsjyw on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867383 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:56:40 +0000 mrsjyw 1867383@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No we don't budget. We each pay our set of bills and have our own discretionary spending accounts. We both contribute to savings and 401Ks, the bills get paid, and we don't fight about money. We also don't live beyond our means and try to be balanced about saving for the future while enjoying live in the here and now. I have a manual excel file I keep for myself with static bills that never change and a different allotment for extra savings, etc. that shifts depending on the month. cmomma17 on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867379 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:51:48 +0000 cmomma17 1867379@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Lion: I agree 100% with everything you just said! Lack of a budget has to be tied to income level. We had two incomes, but a budget is absolutely necessary! Mrs. Lion on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867375 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:46:51 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1867375@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: i think everyone does at some point...just comes with the territory i think I do think that the ability to live happily and stress free without a budget comes with a larger income. When we had two saleries we were able to be much more flexible. We still did a budget, but if we wanted to go out to eat when our dining out budget was spent or buy something that we didnt plan for, there was extra money to make that happen. We live on much less now and dont really have much extra at all, so our budget is absolutely a necessity for us. Mrs. Lemon-Lime on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867369 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:40:35 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1867369@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Too late to revise my comment, but we did have one fight about money. This isn't gold so I won't detail. Adira on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867368 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:39:53 +0000 Adira 1867368@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, we don't budget. We have a joint account to pay all of our bills and then we each have our own separate accounts to pay for our own things (student loans, gas, food, clothes, etc). When we bought our house, we figured a rough estimate of how much our monthly bills would cost and then figured out what percentage we each needed to contribute to our joint account to cover it. We rounded up, so that we'd have extra savings, which we invest. All big purchases that are "ours" (for the house, for the kids, etc), we talk about and agree on. Little things, less so (I buy Xander's clothes and I don't run it by Hubs first - he appreciates not having to be in the loop). Things that are just ours (I buy coffee every morning and splurge on clothes for myself) comes out of our individual accounts. Hubs tends to be more of a saver, so he has more money in his individual accounts than I do. I tend to be a spender, so I don't have as much money lying around. But because we keep part of our income separate, it works, because we don't argue about money ever. I don't have to justify, or feel guilty, when I spend too much money on clothes. Hubs doesn't have to worry about me depleting our accounts. It's the perfect arrangement for us. DillonLion on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867361 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:29:01 +0000 DillonLion 1867361@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We started seriously budgeting at the beginning of this year and it totally transformed our finances. We give more than we ever have before. We save more than we ever have before. And we have paid off a truck load of debt. Making a budget means we make our money do what we want. Before this, our bills were paid and we blew the rest. I feel much more proud of how we handle money now. And there is so much less stress about it all. T.H.O.U. on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867300 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 02:53:52 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1867300@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We probably need to be on a stricter budget but I don't have the time to keep it updated and plan the way I should. Part of my frustrations is balancing broad enough categories so that there is flexibility (for example personal to include clothes hygiene products haircuts etc versus breaking all that apart). If it's too gradual I found I was just constantly moving money around in the budget (ok DH only had one haircut this month instead of two but had an extra co pay for a doctor visit). sapphire on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867276 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:25:29 +0000 sapphire 1867276@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Sounds like we are in.tbe minority here in that we keep a very strict budget. After budgeting for bills, we have an amount for groceries, for "play" money to spend together, and we each get the same amount each month for spending as we please. Our individual money can be saved up for something big (I bought a new laptop last year, for example) or could be spent in lunches out, clothes, etc. we never buy stuff for ourselves unless it can come out of our individual budgets. Vacations, big purchases, emergencies, are taken out of money we would otherwise save that month, but we rarely take OUT of money that has already been saved. We love doing it this way - we save a ton, we each can buy what we want, and we know exactly where we stand each month. Sapphiresun on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867275 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:19:25 +0000 Sapphiresun 1867275@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, DH would have no clue what our budget looks like. He has a credit card and a general idea of that we make in a year but has no idea what our bills are or what we typically spend on groceries in a month, but I handle our finances and if/when we buy things pretty much on my own. Neither of us are big spenders, so it works. We're in a fortunate position though where we don't require my income in our day to day budget (his pay goes to our chequing to spend, mine goes straight to a savings account and we ignore it until it comes time to make a major purchase or invest it somewhere better than a savings account), so even if he was suddenly inspired to make a large unauthorized purchase, it's no big deal. BabyMats on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867269 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 23:50:48 +0000 BabyMats 1867269@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We never really had a strict budget but dh handles all of our finances because I am working on a spending problem (spend more than what I have) we are going to work on a strict budget so we can really buckle down and save a chunk of money for a house. We don't fight over money either. sunny on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867262 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 23:13:42 +0000 sunny 1867262@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We are pretty in sync about our budget and general finances. We go over things on a monthly basis to check in with where we are against our goals. Mamasig on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867232 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:12:42 +0000 Mamasig 1867232@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Nope. We aren't budget people. If we made one, we'd never stick to it. Our bills our paid and we never fight about money. Works for us. anandam on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867185 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 21:33:09 +0000 anandam 1867185@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No budget here. Our income and schedules vary significantly from month to month and we just take life as it comes. Our accounts are joint and I manage all our bills. We generally consult one another before luxury purchases - clothes, entertainment, etc - if more than $50 or so. We disagree sometimes, but never argue. Honestly I think for us a strict budget would add an unnecessary layer of stress to our finances and cause more tension in our relationship. Espion on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867099 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:45:58 +0000 Espion 1867099@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We don't argue because we are very like-minded about our spending habits. (Thankfully we're compulsive savers.) But we budget because of massive student loan debt and because we nickel and dime ourselves to death on the little stuff. I started using YNAB in August and I really love it. MrsH on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867090 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:39:29 +0000 MrsH 1867090@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We've never had a budget and we have never had an argument about money. We save, we are pretty frugal spenders, and we live well below our means. Mrs. Sketchbook on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867075 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:31:01 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1867075@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We used to have a strict budget, and we kept each other accountable to the penny. These days, the budget is....don't spend pocket money, or at least tell the other person that you did it. I usually tell my husband when I have small splurges, like taking myself out to lunch. He does the same for me. Since I've been back to work I have been spending more pin money, but I need to cut that back, and I know it myself without even having to be told! @Baby Boy Mom: yes, same here! IRunForFun on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867074 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:30:59 +0000 IRunForFun 1867074@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Nope, I do it and keep him posted. It works for us. He just can't really be bothered to sit down and work out the details because he thinks he can keep it mostly straight in his head. I just remind him from time to time what we have allocated for which purpose. Mae on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867067 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:26:55 +0000 Mae 1867067@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We make budgets. We rarely stick to them lol. About once per year we go through and make out a budget and decide what we'll spend on stuff but then inevitably we just spend wtf we want and for like 3 months we'll look at the end of the month and be like "okay we'll do better" but then we don't and we give up for like 6-8 months before trying again. We do both keep in mind our personal budgets though. Like we plan on x/month for each of us for eating lunch out/snacks/coffee and we plan on x/month for each of us for "fun money" and we very rarely go much over those amounts. If either of us wants to buy something bigger we talk about it. We never fight about money. lawbee11 on "Do you budget with your SO?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget-with-your-so#post-1867060 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:21:16 +0000 lawbee11 1867060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We just started using YNAB a few weeks ago and I seriously love it. Before that we didn't have a formal budget, but this has made things so much simpler.