Today we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of HOW to create a family budget.
We’ve done budgets and had to revisit them. We haven’t always been consistent with keeping a budget with moves and job transitions. But when we are budgeting, the stress in our marriage is much lower!
Negotiating a family budget can be a real fire-starter for some couples. We may know we need a budget and want to live within our means, but the fights that the discussions cause can be so painful, that it’s easier to avoid them. We want to change that today.
Budgeting can feel like such a ball and chain. Why is it such a pain point for so many of us?
This is the first article in a mini-series on Family Budgeting. Today we make a case for WHY you need to budget.
Life is busy. So busy. But so often we let other people and other things run our schedules and in the process of allowing this to happen: what really matters to us gets bumped. Like time with our spouse…Date nights…Fun nights…Just time to hang out. What can we do to change that?
So, we’ve had some listeners reach out with some questions about sex, and more specifically, questions about female orgasm. For most young couples getting married you know that while sex is awesome, it takes a while to develop sexual competence.
We’ve noticed that a lot of marriages take a very traditional approach where all the work HE does is money-earning, and all the work SHE does in unpaid – and usually unacknowledged.
So we ask, is this a good thing, or is it a problem?
What happens for those wives who take on more and more, and might even do all the housework AND are employed full time?
How does that work?
If you are a wife that is struggling because you are overloaded with employment and housework – or a husband in the same situation – what is reasonable? What should your expectations be? How can you work together to create a fair housework division in marriage?
OK. So you had ANOTHER fight – another disagreement. It’s like, man, are we ever going to stop fighting? Remember, the goal is not achieving zero disagreements, it’s learning to disagree productively!
Today we want to give you 10 simple but powerful ways to court your spouse in everyday moments. This isn’t going to be about going out for dinner or going to a movie – not that kind of courting. We’re talking about ways of being together. It’s deeper but still very concrete.
My own daughter asked me today, “So, why do people do pre-marital counseling?”
She’s 13.
I’m glad she’s asking. You are likely wondering the same thing if you’re reading this and so I’d like to make a case for it. Not just for my own benefit – I do offer pre-marital counseling/coaching – but for your sake especially.
You see, it does help. A lot.
I know what you’re thinking.
Why on earth would I want to support my spouse when we’re fighting?
Well, because you want to stay married, that’s why. That’s the “brutally-loving” truth!
But, there’s more.
It makes fighting productive. Yes. That’s right. I mean it. It actually makes the conflict helpful for your marriage.
I read a comic strip once about pregnancy and childbirth that had the title “Help, my entertainment center is now a juice bar!”
While it struck my funny bone, there is so much truth in that statement.
We may think that adding our firstborn to the family will be all hunky-dory, fun and games, but the reality is it usually results in a DECREASE in marital quality. Navigating the relationship issues that transpire following the birth of a child can be tough!
Do you find yourself always taking the blame for everything? I mean, not so much in the sense that your spouse won’t accept any, but that you just find that YOU blame yourself for everything? Even your spouse thinks you take too much responsibility for things?