Recently I’ve been loving the Money For Couples podcast (also on YouTube if that’s your jam). Have you listened to it?

I love talking and thinking about personal finances so it’s fascinating to be a fly on the wall while another couples bares it all financially. Plus, listening to the challenges of other couples motivates me to keep up all the good financial management habits Chris and I have, and to lean in even more.

I’d love to know what’s going well and what’s challenging about managing your finances lately. If you’re married and co-managing finances, how do you communicate about money?

Chris and I have been using many of the same money management tools for a long time but there are a couple of newer or aspirational practices on my mind as well:

+ A shared budget spreadsheet. This is always where we start financial conversations. This breakdown shows how much money we make and where we want our money to go, including savings. We tend to make a new budget for each academic year since that’s the rhythm of our life. This budget is now out of date but here’s an example of our budget last academic year:

In our current shared budget spreadsheet (we use Google Sheets), Chris makes lots of planning notes out to the side, such as big expenses coming up, planned travel, and especially our summer budget. Planning for our summer finances is unique for us because technically Chris does not have guaranteed pay in the summer (as a professor, he’s on a 9-month contract) however, he always works very hard and strategically to ensure that he does get paid in the summer by continuing his research and teaching a class or two.

So we’ll make notes and to-dos (like “cancel ### subscription”) and forecast expenses and savings right there next to our budget. It’s really helpful to have that all in one spot because our current budget and financial planning obviously need to be in conversation.

+ Budget tracking software. We are heading into our third year of using Monarch and still really like it! To make a budget software work for you, it take some work to set up the categories and budgets to reflect how you think about and manage your money.

I’ll admit that I go through seasons where I’m very into tracking all our purchases and categorizing them…and then not look at it for months. I’m getting back into the habit of checking more often and that always feels good.

+ Budget updates and meetings. Chris and I love having budget meetings and financial summits (for more in-depth financial conversations and planning). It feels so good to know what’s happening with our money and to feel on the same page. For our finances, Chris is the one who closely tracks our bank account and bills and he’ll give me updates on everything. I am so appreciative of this and he does a great job. While it’s a luxury not to have to think about our finances so much, I do want to always have an active role. Which brings me to a newer practice…

+ Money Minute. Towards staying more connected to our finances, last year I started a practice called “Money Minutes.” This looks like taking a few minutes to: check Monarch and update any transactions, check my credit card balance, and think about any upcoming bigger expenses for myself or the family. Then I’ll send Chris a text that says “MONEY MINUTE:” and give any updates. Now Chris also send me Money Minute texts!

Calling these check-ins money minute is not only delightful in the alliteration but the name reminds me that it really takes very little time to check in on our money and that always makes me feel good.

+ Conscious Spending Plan. The CSP is a spreadsheet tool that Ramit uses on Money For Couples as a foundational tool to talk to his guests. To get the spreadsheet you do have to sign up with your email address but it’s worth it for the tool (and you can always unsubscribe after that).

In the CSP you enter all your financial information like income, fixed costs, assets, debts, savings, etc. In a single spreadsheet you get a very clear and honest picture of your money. It can take some time to pull these numbers together, depending on how often you are in touch with your finances, but just the practice of gathering all this information is so worth it.

Chris and I filled out a CSP last spring and I’d love to make in an annual practice. Or perhaps we should incorporate it into our annual summit.

So, I’d love to know: what financial tools and strategies are working well or not for you? Do you have any goals around finances where you’d like to improve, whether financial or related to communication or monitoring? I think the more we talk about finances in our culture the better we can all be with our money!

P.S. All my posts about personal finances.