by Tricia
My husband and I get along fairly well, except for one little thing. We often do not communicate clearly with each other. He knows that I am really trying to pay down debt (I take care of all of the finances), but I didn’t make it really clear to him how aggressive I was being. And when I say aggressive, I mean that I am often leaving only a few dollars in our checking account. That action is what led to using the credit card this past weekend.
We did get in a little bit of an argument because my husband does not understand how we can be making more money but still be broke. My reasoning is that I’d rather be broke for a little bit longer now and pay as much as possible to the credit cards. Once they are paid off – they will be money for other things. He would like to use some of the money now to have fun and purchase things we could not purchase before.
And that is where compromise comes in. We still haven’t finished discussing all of the details, but part of our resolution is that my husband is not going to quit his job at the moment. He is, however, switching his hours so he will have time to work on his business as well as have the same days off as me (which we haven’t had in ages). We are also going to use some of his earnings for “fun” things this summer.
Just like most things, a marriage can be a lot of work. But the compromise thing can help a lot 😉
Good luck on the career change for your husband! Entrepreneurship is the fastest way to high net worth in the US. I love a good Horatio Alger story.
It seems like you guys are being pretty smart and really understanding the point of view of the other. That’s great!
ps-I am still very in love with your blog facelift.
I think that is a wonderful compromise. In the long run, I think it will help out a lot because you won’t feel deprived and you still get to live while maintaining your goals. Best wishes!
Another suggestion – spend some time sitting down with your husband when it’s bill time. If you have a budget, share it with him. I recently did this with my husband, and we sit down and do the monthly budget together every month, and now he sees why I frequently say “no” to purchases (I am the family finance person as well). It was very enlightening to him.
Perhaps part of our problem is that I don’t really have a budget. I actually have a really weird method that I use and I’d like to share it with everyone but it is hard to explain. But it’s a method I developed that makes sure the bills are paid on time and whatever is left over is for everything else.
Of course, I have certain monthly goals in my head that I try to maintain, but I should probably put something down on paper so he can look at it too.
Thanks everyone for your comments! 🙂