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My husband and I recently had signed a contract to buy a new home. We anticipated closing in March 2019. We were so excited! This house was literally everything I wanted. We got to pick out all the flooring, the cabinets, the layout, all aspects of its design. Recently, we discovered this home was out of our budget…

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Yes, I know. How could we have not realized this before signing the contract? Well, a family friend of ours whom we love very much took the time to review our finances with us. We discovered we were spending more money than we had anticipated and even knew. I tried everything. I had budgeted. I tried to keep up with the spending. But we were getting behind and I did not know why.

These have been my personal mistakes with finances and currently our misspending:

1. Going out to eat too much or going out drinking

• Before we had our son and when we were first dating, Christian and I would go out to eat frequently. We had developed this lifestyle that has been difficult to change. We have now shifted to only eating out for special occasions. Just think spaghetti diner costs maybe $10 dollars to cook whereas going out to eat for two people is around $40. AND draaanks ($10-15 for a single shot of a decent liquor).. don’t even get me started.

2. Subscriptions

• Do you currently know how many different companies you are subscribed to? Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Amazon Prime? Christian and I were spending over $100 in subscriptions just like these. When you are budgeting, these small items are easy to forget and slip our minds. But they certainly add up!

3. Impulsive buying

• We all do it. We happen to be at Target (which is the place I do this at the most) and we see a $3 candle in the $1, $3, $5 item section. We put it in the buggy. Then we see Christmas wine glasses for $5. Then we realized we ran out of moisturizer and then we see new shades. Or WORST CASE SCENARIO, you go to the grocery store hungry! It happens. Try to go to the store with a list to minimize excessive spending.

4. Debt

• It’s amazing how easy it is to get into debt. Student loans, car loans, furniture notes, mortgages. There are so many different ways to get into debt. The most important thing is to try to minimize your debt by paying off your credit cards each month before they can accrue interest. Same goes for everything else!

As a married couple, Christian’s expenses and my expenses are ours. So it’s important to try to get on the same page with your spouse about money before saying “I do.” Money talks should be a consistent conversation in your marriage.

Thanks for reading!

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