Managing Finances for your Home

For a middle income class couple, I can say we pretty much are doing okay financially. Are we where we want to be financially? Of course, we are contented with what we have but just like any couple, we want to be in a place where we can provide a secure future for our children and save up for our retirement. That’s why we continuously seek for effective methods on managing finances for our home.

What have I learned from the past three years of marriage? What are the tips that I’d like to share with you which helps us one way or the other to keep us on track in terms of achieving our financial goals.

1. Talk about Money with your Partner
For some couples, the thinking may be that this is a sensitive topic so might as well not talk about it. But sometimes, when you already need to talk about it, that’s where the fight and the arguments begin. EJ and I, even before we got married, have been talking about finances. I guess we were ‘that’ comfortable with talking about it and that it wasn’t a big deal (even in our Discovery Weekend, we HAD to talk about it, which I think helped us).

So how do we ‘talk’ about it? First of all, both of us know what bank accounts and investments we each or both have. Since Ej is the provider of the family (and I don’t have a steady source of income), all the bills and the loan payments have to come from his pay. If we have something to save up for, we both find means and ways to build up cash for that ‘something’. This can be done through the ‘work’ that I do (either from workshops or from blogs). For example, before taking in a yaya (which is mind you very costly), we discussed on how we will be able to pay her. We decided that her pay will really be from what I earn through my mompreneur business.

You can do something like this with your partner. You can discuss on how both of you want things to be done.

2. Have clear financial goals.
Only by having clear financial goals will you be able to create clear financial methods that will help you achieve these goals. When I was still in college, it was enough for me to have a goal of becoming a millionaire when I reached the age of 30. I did not create clear ‘mini’ goals that would help me achieve my major goal. My 30th birthday came and I was not a millionaire. Boo! to me, actually!

Then I realized, if I wanted something I should have created clear goals in my head (better if you write it down on paper though). I should have said every month, I will set aside Php 5000 and not touch it (or something like that). I should have been smart enough to keep it in any form of investment. But then again, we learn from mistakes from actual experiences of managing finances. Now, my husband and I (as you have probably read in past posts) keep an excel sheet of what we want to achieve financially for the year. There are specific amounts that we need to attain. For example, by hook or by crook, we need to have Php 250,000 for the birth of Zeeka. Php 60,000 is for the down payment of the Cord Blood Banking service that we got and the Php 190,000 is for the actual delivery of Zeeka (we saved up for the Cesarean rate, just in case).

So, it is important to know what you want in building that wealth that you want to have.

3. Separate money for your business and money for the home.
My dad early on taught me this. He became an entrepreneur in his early thirties. I believed and followed this advice since I knew he had more experiences on being a businessman and a family man at the same time. First of all, it is hard to reconcile when the inflows from your business go to your personal bank account. In any business, you will also have outflows. What happens if you need to make a big expense for your business? It will be hard for you now to track what is for the business and what is for the home.

I advise mompreneurs to always, always have a separate account. This will keep you on track with your budget for your business and on track for your budget for the home.

4. Continue to learn about finances.
Managing finances can be tricky. You think you know it all, but you actually don’t. I was a banker for 7 years, but even if I have been exposed to handling money, cash flows, bank terms, etc. I know that I still have a lot to learn in managing finances. Here is a workshop that you can join, and I think you and your family will benefit from it. It’s called Clean Bill of Wealth.

To register, please fill out the form below:

I highly recommend this workshop so that you and your husband will be able to learn more about investments and even the attitude that you need to have in order to make things happen!

I hope that these tips that I have shared will help you and your family manage your expenses. I do have more tips, but I’ll just share more in the future. 🙂 Hope you liked this article!