Family budget any family consists of expenses and income. In one of the previous articles, I wrote about where to start. In this article, we will continue to explore the basics of home finance and take a closer look at each income and expense category.

In the table below, I indicated what the categories of expenses and income of our family look like, according to which my wife and I keep track of our personal finances.

I will comment on each point and start with income:

Husband's salary, wife's salary and other sources.

These are income categories. In an ordinary average family, there are few such income items, so I think everything is clear here. We indicate how much the husband received and how much the wife received. In the Other sources section, I indicate everything that came to me from other sources. These are all kinds of pranks, birthday gifts in the form of money, the sale of any items, such as a car or an old laptop. I even had such a case when in 2007 I was involved in two small car accidents where I was the injured party. Fortunately for me, these were minor accidents and in those cases I did not repair the car, but asked the insurance companies to transfer me funds for repairs to my bank account. After which, having withdrawn this money, it was quite logical to carry out this operation in his “ Family budget"as Income - Other Sources.

Mandatory expenses

This is a category of family budget expenses that we can’t escape from, no matter how much we want to. Here I included such expense transactions as rent, payment of telephone bills, Internet and loan payments. These are expenses that I practically cannot adjust, unlike others. Except for just paying for the phone. Of course, you can refuse to talk, but the savings will be dubious. And since I am an active person in life and associate many of my business qualities with mobility and efficiency, I need fast communication, which I include a mobile phone and the Internet, like air. Moreover, my direct income largely depends on these mandatory expenses. IN Family budget your family may include other mandatory expenses; they can easily be determined after one to three months of accounting.

Products

This is a rather difficult category to fill out. Sometimes even boring. But still necessary for any family budget. The larger the breakdown into Subcategories you make, the clearer the situation with your grocery expenses will be. And the easier it will be for you to adjust your food expenses in the future. For example, one summer I noticed that our expenses on such types of products as drinks and sweets had increased. Having analyzed the expenses of the family budget recently, I realized that they are connected with hot weather. It was July-August. At that time, spending on soft drinks, ice cream, milkshakes, etc. increased. Seeing that by mid-August I was overspending on my family budget for Food and Drinks, I realized that by the end of the month, if I didn’t take action, the overspending would increase. The first thing that came to my mind was to limit my consumption of drinks. But I immediately discarded this idea, since in hot weather the head thinks about something completely different and a dehydrated body simply will not give a chance to refuse soft drinks. I found the solution quite quickly. I bought dried fruits from a wholesale warehouse, from which my wife made tasty, healthy and thirst-quenching compotes. And they saved the family budget and quenched their thirst.

The same applies to the rest of the Subcategories of our family budget. Effective management of personal finances allows you to keep yourself within limits, spend money on food within reasonable limits, save profitably and be in good financial shape!

Automobile

Here, we see expense items that are quite familiar to every motorist, such as fuel costs, repairs and maintenance, washing, insurance and taxes. Maintaining a family budget allows you to wisely distribute the financial burden of car maintenance throughout the year. For example, I always take out insurance in January. And in August I pay transport taxes. In the summer, I try to spend less money on car washes and wash the car myself more often. I'm going through a technical inspection in February. In April and October I try to change the engine oil and other “consumables” as necessary. In winter, fuel consumption increases, which causes adjustments in my financial plan. Well, accordingly, I try to plan some serious work related to the maintenance and repair of the car for the remaining months “free” from financial stress, unless of course it is some very urgent repair.

In the above text, I have already indicated such months as expensive for the family budget as January, February, April, August, October. This also includes the winter months: November, December and March. May, June, July remain free. During these months, I try to plan the family budget expenses related to car repairs. I do something myself, especially since in the summer it can be done outside. Sometimes I involve my father or friends. Well, if the matter is complicated, then I take the car to a service station. In the summer I buy winter tires, since during this period they have the lowest prices. Accordingly, I try to buy summer tires in winter, usually November or December.

Thanks to this approach, the load on the family budget under the item Car is usually evenly distributed throughout the year. And not the way it worked out for me before, when I didn’t plan such things in the family budget. Sometimes I could spend my entire salary on a car in one month because I didn’t calculate the workload. In such situations, it was often necessary to go into debt, since there was no money left for living, food, etc. Effective management of personal finances implies comfortable spending of your own funds, and not constant sharp changes from plus to minus, and vice versa.

Entertainment

For a person to be productive throughout his life, he needs not only to work mentally and physically, but also to relax and have fun. Life is given to us once, so we must live and enjoy life, get pleasure from it. It is imperative to do what gives you pleasure and brings joy. Otherwise, life will become gray and boring and lose all meaning. But you also need to spend money wisely on entertainment. Effective family budget management will help you spend your money profitably. However, often people, in pursuit of entertainment, lose their goal in themselves and turn life into complete entertainment, which is dangerous in itself. You can't make entertainment the meaning of life. The fullness of life lies in this, that everything should be within reasonable limits.

In our family budget there is an expense item “Entertainment”. Proper management of personal finances allows us to control and keep ourselves within limits, but at the same time do what we like. For example, every weekend we try to entertain ourselves in different ways. In the table, I tried to indicate the most interesting ways of spending leisure time for our family. helped us determine how much money is required for this or that entertainment. For example, based on two people, we usually spend 500 - 700 rubles on a movie. For sushi 700 - 1000 rubles, pizzeria 200 - 500 rubles, coffee shop 300 - 700 rubles, restaurant 800 - 2500 rubles, disco 1000 - 2000 rubles.

Here, as in other categories, we try to maintain an even distribution of costs throughout the year. Of course, there are situations when we go beyond our planned expenses. But maintaining a family budget helps us out here too. In such cases, we plan cheaper entertainment for the next weekend or sometimes refuse them and spend the weekend either outdoors or at home at the lowest cost. There was such a case when we went on vacation, which lasted from mid-September to mid-October.

During this vacation, we had a great rest, tanned, swam in the sea, gained strength and health, went to discos and restaurants every day, in general, had as much fun as we could, again within the framework of pre-planned money (we will talk about planning in more detail in the following articles). Of course, they paid well for it. Therefore, upon returning home, my wife and I decided that by the end of the year we would try to save our family budget under the Entertainment item, since we had a great vacation. And, from mid-October until the end of the year, there were practically no serious expenses for Entertainment in our family budget. This did not affect our psychological state at all, quite the contrary. We were able to save more money to invest in our future, which we were very happy about.

Self-care

Here, we indicate all expenses of the family budget that relate to any matters related to self-care. These include trips to the hairdresser and beauty salons, purchasing various skin care creams, cosmetics, shampoos, and purchasing necessary medications. We also include clothing costs here. The category of self-care is everything related to our appearance, health, and condition.

Vacation

Here, we plan and take into account all the expenses associated with the vacation. Keeping a family budget helped us determine how much money we spent on previous trips. For example, our last trip to the sea cost us 111,367 rubles. Moreover, this is not just a number, but specific data for each expense item, namely the cost of purchasing a voucher, visa, tanning cosmetics, clothing and everything else. My wife and I's vacation pay totaled 75,856 rubles. 111,367 – 75,856 = 35,511 is the money that we took from our reserves, namely those saved earlier and placed on. Now, in order to plan our next vacation, we will take these numbers. We will focus on the same costs and the same vacation pay. Therefore, we need to include calculations of 35,511 rubles in our financial plan. Dividing them by 11 (we worked for so many months before taking vacation) we get 3,230 rubles. This is exactly the amount we will save from our total salary in order to relax next time. I showed you a separate example of planning our family budget.

Household products

In this category of the family budget, we indicate the costs of purchasing household goods. Taking into account previous purchases allows you to systematically make all the necessary purchases for your home in the future. Be it a new TV, kitchen set or repair goods. The purchase becomes more meaningful. With the help of the family budget, there are fewer and fewer spontaneous expenses. Having received a salary and having a financial plan for the month in hand, we buy only what we planned in advance, and not what we suddenly wanted. Having planned a family budget, we understand that having spent more money in one of the categories than was necessary, we will automatically cut ourselves in expenses in other categories. All this is impossible if you don’t lead family budget.

Education

In our family there is a clear belief that a person in his development must constantly overcome new milestones. You cannot stop in your development: mental, spiritual, physical. You need to constantly work on yourself. Practice, read, try, ask, find out, etc. We try to use every second of our lives wisely. We are not supporters of spending our leisure time with a bottle of beer in front of the TV 365 days a year. We will be very happy to spend time on our own development. This usually involves reading, watching video training and listening to audio books. The Internet provides endless possibilities. it's like a huge encyclopedia where you can find anything. Like, for example, this site, which will teach you how to effectively lead!

That is why we have such an expense item as “Education”. We regularly purchase magazines and books. We attend various educational programs and receive higher education. Although Education is an expense, I still prefer to talk about it as an investment in yourself that will pay off over time. After all, with every book I read, audio file listened to, or video seminar watched, I become more informed on various issues, which is subsequently reflected in practice. I learn about new ways to improve the quality of my work, improve relationships with people, learn about new ways of selling, ways of investing, etc. I receive an amount of new information that helps me in various matters and makes me and my family members more successful in life. Thanks to the fact that at one time I was not idle, now I know and can manage money wisely and effectively manage my Family budget.

Miscellaneous

This is a necessary category, which is present in the form of subcategories in other sections of our family budget. It reflects expenses that I could not attribute to any current ones. There is a subcategory “Unplanned” here, since life is an unpredictable thing and only visionaries can foresee what will happen in the next minute. I don’t consider myself one of them, which is why I have such a subcategory in my family budget. No one is immune from various incidents in life that entail financial expenses.

In addition, no matter how disciplined my wife and I are, from time to time we spend money that we don’t have time for or simply forget to record. As a result, the subcategory “Miscellaneous – Unknown” appeared. As a rule, these are small amounts, from 50 to 500 rubles per month. Be prepared for the fact that some part of the money, your family budget, will still go past the cash register.

Translation

If we consider the management of personal finances from an economic point of view, then the family budget is a kind of system within which funds move. They come and go. The “Transfer” category is used to take into account the movement of money to other systems. In various programs for maintaining a Family budget, such systems are usually called accounts. Since our task is to learn how to competently manage the money we earn, and also to find opportunities to save some part of the money that will work for us in the future, then accordingly there must be another system in which the saved money will exist, accumulate and multiply. This system is usually

Someone breaks up with them as hard as with their first love, worries about them all their lives and will never agree to keep a common budget - no matter how much someone earns. And someone spends money easily and just as easily gives it to a man - so that he can count it, balance debits with credits and control expenses. Why do some girls prefer to ask their husbands for money, while others insist that their husbands ask them?

Is there even a formula for an ideal family budget? It turns out - no. Because our attitude to money is as individual a thing as, for example, biorhythms or metabolism. And it is formed, if not from birth, then very soon after it. If you believe the theory of Sigmund Freud, then such personality traits as wastefulness, frugality and stinginess arise and are reinforced during the so-called “anal” phase of development - that is, when we are about one to two years old. Yes, yes, how a child is potty trained directly affects his subsequent attitude towards dollars, rubles and euros.

Strange? Only at first glance.

Psychotherapist, Professor Vadim Petrovsky explains it this way: “The contents of a wallet can be unconsciously associated with the contents of one’s own intestines.” Once upon a time, a child could keep a precious gift to himself or spew it out to the delight of his parents. If mom and dad highly praised the baby for “giving everything away” at their first request, he may, as he grows up, become wasteful and waste money. If they scolded him for not having time to reach the potty, “for not holding it,” he has every chance of becoming greedy and sitting on his capital, like Uncle Scrooge. Well, if they treated potty training calmly, without fanaticism, then, most likely, he will consider that money is simply the equivalent of a commodity, and will not associate any special emotions with it.

And only later, at about five years old, does the child begin to understand what real money is. Mom and dad may say that money is important (or not very important), that there is little or much of it, quarrel over financial issues or hush up problems. At this moment, the child forms his own point of view on whether it is good or bad to strive for wealth. If it is customary in the family to despise material values, then there is a high probability that later, at twenty, thirty or forty years old, one part of his personality will strive to earn good money (because this desire stimulates society), but the other - the one that continues to follow parental instructions, this will greatly cool his enthusiasm.

The child also notices what people use money for. And we’re not talking about a “shop” game in which toy goods are exchanged for coins. Watching his parents, he begins to understand that people use these valuable colored pieces of paper for different purposes. For example, as a substitute for attention and love.

Detached parents who bribe themselves with expensive gifts teach them to equate feelings with amounts. When their children grow up, their confidence in themselves and their future will be directly dependent on the amount of money in their bank account. According to a good family tradition, they will atone for inattention to children or a loved one with gifts.

But adults, in front of an astonished children's audience, play even less tricks with money.

Usually spouses in such cases change roles. First, one plays the “persecutor,” the other plays the “victim,” then one of them becomes the “savior.” And so on in a circle, more precisely, in a triangle. Formally, they talk about money, but in reality they discuss issues of their own sex life, power, freedom, loneliness and intimacy. Observing this, the child concludes that finance is not only and not so much a way to acquire something, but a way to solve interpersonal problems. They become a symbol for him of something greater, a substitution of concepts occurs that will not simplify his further existence.

So, the next time you panic when you find out how much money you have left in your account, or start scolding your husband for spending half his salary on a car audio system, remember your—and his—family history. Having realized the real reasons for our games with finances, we will begin to control the situation much more easily and better, or at least our attitude towards it.

Female look

“There are expenses in a family that affect both of them”

Elena, 35 years old, brand manager, in a civil marriage for 15 years, has a daughter:

I don’t know how much Igor earns, he doesn’t know how much I earn. I suspect that I get more, but I don’t think it’s much. Accordingly, we do not have any general budget. But it is clear that in the family there are expenses that concern both of them every month: groceries, rent, child expenses... We pay for all this more or less in turn, and to be completely honest, I carefully manage the sequence - but it’s fair, so that there are no scandals.

We shared some serious expenses: for example, I pay the nanny, Igor pays for car repairs. We have two of them in our family - one is a jeep, the other is a car, but very beautiful. We change them depending on how someone’s day is going, who is transporting chairs to the dacha, who has a business meeting today that needs to be arrived in style. We have all more or less valuable things in common, but we buy them, as a rule, separately - whoever really wants a half-wall TV pays for it. We'll watch it together. We chip in for travel - in these cases we still have a common budget.

It seems to me that we have come up with a very convenient system that does not allow psychological trauma - it allows you to almost not talk about money at home.

Igor would fall into a coma if he found out how much the Chanel chain (not made of gold!) costs - well, I won’t tell him about it. I rarely find myself in a store (I don’t have time), but I’m quite capable of leaving a lot of money there without consulting anyone. It would be very unpleasant for me to report such things to my husband - after all, I work a lot, and the main value of the money I earn is that it can buy a little freedom.

Natalya, 34 years old, marketer, married for five years, son one month old:

Before we got married, Pasha and I lived in two houses for seven years. A couple of times a week he spent the night with me, a couple of times with me, and the rest of the time we belonged to ourselves. We didn’t have any common budget then, nor did we have any joint expenses. In cafes and restaurants, Pasha paid for me, mostly he also bought food, but these were all ridiculous amounts, no one counted them.

When we finally decided to get married, Pasha moved in with me and at the end of the month he put his entire salary on the table, just like in the good old days. He and I laughed about this topic, but in the end we decided that we would live like this, in the Soviet way. I have a fixed salary, for Pasha it depends on the number of clients - he is a dentist. Some months he earns more than me, and sometimes he earns less. Be that as it may, I manage the family budget myself. We discuss major purchases and trips together, and I save for them.

At first it seemed to me that we had found the ideal scheme, but then problems began to arise. Pasha gave everything to me, and then took a little from the nightstand every day, without counting. Here a thousand for lunch, there a hundred thousand for car repairs and a couple more to buy some fans for the computer. As a result, he spent not only his own money, but also my money. At some point I caused a scandal - I had nothing to buy food with. In addition, at this time we were actively working on having a child, and I was horrified at the prospect of being on maternity leave without a penny.

With the birth of the child, everything changed dramatically. Pasha suddenly turned into a conscious and zealous person. If earlier he could easily spend half his salary on Gorbushka, and then stop by the ABC of Taste, now he began to take an active part in budget planning and, first of all, think about the needs of the child. He still gives me my salary, but now we work out the main expenses together, and Pasha no longer thinks that I have a magical bottomless barrel in my nightstand.

“I gave him my card, on which my salary comes”

Elena, 33 years old, manager, married for five years, daughter three years old:

If there is one family, then there is one budget. We don’t hide anything from each other; this financial arrangement suits both of us. As such, neither I nor he have “our own” money - they only have common money. I gave him my card, on which my salary comes. We earn approximately the same amount, but my husband has a part-time job, so we can say that he brings more money into the house (and in principle, I would not marry a man who earns less than me).

But I always know how much money he brought and spent, and he knows how much I brought.

We started combining budgets by trying to create some kind of general account for the household. We were putting the apartment in order then, buying furniture and appliances, and we didn’t really want to count who bought what for the house. We spent one salary and started another. But all this was too complicated, it did not exclude the situation that I would have to ask my own husband for a loan - what kind of relationship is this? In the end, all the money was pooled.

We plan big expenses in advance. This month we will buy a new wardrobe, and next month we will pay for the child’s health insurance. We earn normally, so we don’t save, but with the birth of our child we decided to save a little. I don’t know yet what will come of it; we still don’t have any nest eggs. We try to spend money wisely, but we don’t limit each other’s spending. We are both adults, everyone understands how much you can spend on yourself. As a rule, disputes and quarrels do not arise. My husband himself often persuades me to buy myself some clothes - until I wear out one pair of jeans, I won’t go for another. And he loves to dress me, he doesn’t need to explain why he needs the 20th dress. He understands perfectly well that I am a woman and I need to take care of myself. Manicure, pedicure, hairdresser, massage - I just tell him how much money I need.

But I repeat: everything is within reasonable limits. So does my husband. He travels to Europe for major football matches and loves expensive alcohol. I have nothing against it, because we have the funds for this. If there is no money, then there is no Scottish single malt either, and I will skip the manicure. This is the agreement we have with him.

“He should earn money, and her task is to inspire him”

Yana, 31 years old, housewife and leader of trainings for women, married for ten years, three daughters:

In our family, the husband managed the money from the very moment we started living together. I started working recently, but my main occupation is to love, support and care so that nothing interferes with my husband’s work (he is the president of a large publishing house). By the way, my husband also says that if you have the right woman nearby, your income increases. Dima immediately allocated me several budgets. One is for my personal small expenses. The other is for food plus all household expenses and personnel: nannies, housekeepers, drivers, etc. We each also had the same clothing budget.

We plan most expenses together, but, of course, my husband has the deciding vote. When we didn't have children, we rarely limited ourselves in spending and could easily go beyond what we planned. Now we have three of them, and we count our money much more accurately. A separate line item appeared in the budget for children’s clothing and travel. Dima still brings in all this money. I either save my salary or spend it on clothes or a beautician, or on gifts for my husband and children.

I began to take less from Dima for personal expenses, this was 100% my decision, I didn’t even tell him about it. I don’t limit my husband’s spending - it’s his personal business. I rarely have the desire to spend more than budgeted. I have enough - even taking into account my weaknesses. For example, I really love shoes - I have shoes and boots in almost every color of the rainbow. My husband takes this quite calmly - he knows that I won’t give him any unpleasant financial surprises or spend “grocery” money on a fur coat. My parents had similar financial relationships. Dad, an entrepreneur, earned a lot and provided for his family. Mom took care of the house, children, and shopping. My parents, however, did not have separate budget items - except that my dad usually planned how much to spend on vacation.

I believe that nature has given different functions to men and women. He should earn money, and her task is to inspire him. This is what happens in our family. My man earns money, and I, in turn, do everything to make it easy and pleasant for him to live with me, so that nothing distracts him from business. When a husband and wife work in a family, it is better for the man to distribute money - this is a more harmonious option from the point of view of male and female energies. If a woman earns more, there are two options: she can transfer responsibility for distributing the family budget to her husband in order to increase his importance and self-esteem. Or she can contribute to the general family budget an amount equal to the man’s income, and, for example, save the rest.

“Each spouse should have a nest egg”

Andrey, 28 years old, financier, single, has a girlfriend:

I have been told more than once that I am a very homely person, so when I get married, I will apparently have to manage the money in the family. Of course, it will be very difficult to restrain myself from buying such “necessary things” as a home theater projector or a motorcycle, but I will try, honestly.

I believe that each spouse should have a nest egg - for her, for example, for a restaurant with her girlfriends, perfume, clothes and cosmetics, for him - for a sports bar and all kinds of men's toys. Now my girlfriend doesn’t know what my income is, but to be honest, until recently I didn’t even know how much I earn. The crisis quickly taught financial discipline. The girl works, but spends all her salary on herself. We live separately, but when we spend time together, I paid for her and continue to pay, but recently I had to quarrel with her. She wants to go to a concert in an expensive club, I can’t afford it, and she refuses to understand that if we go to the club today, we won’t have anything to eat tomorrow.

It took two whole “substantive conversations” to convey to her that I, like the entire developed world, had a liquidity crisis, non-payments and accounts receivable (read also: “You, him and money: how to discuss finances without harming relationships "")! Girls, it’s better to immediately decide how you perceive your boyfriend – as a wallet with ears or as a person, as a person. With the first, everything is clear - there you don’t have to limit yourself to anything. And in the second case, show more tact. A low (or unstable) income and the inability to pamper you with everything without refusal already takes a toll on our self-esteem. Show partnership qualities and support her.

“Whoever earns money should manage the money”

Vadim, 35 years old, businessman, married for four years, no children:

I take on most of the expenses (up to 90%) - purchases, renting an apartment, maintaining a car, although my wife also works. When we go on vacation, technically I pay for everything, but my wife also participates. The wife’s salary goes into the piggy bank and for her needs (hairdresser, clothes), and sometimes also to buy groceries. I put most of the money in a public place, the rest I use at my own discretion.

Now that everything is not going well with her salary, she doesn’t put anything into the piggy bank. This formula for financial relationships works for us, it has already been time-tested, and we never quarrel over money. My wife knows how much I earn. Sometimes she takes a keen interest in my stash, but then turns it into a joke. She doesn’t know how much I actually spend, just as I am not aware of all her expenses. In general, my advice to women: don’t nag your men too much for their thoughtless spending, men are children! When I lived with my parents, we gave all the money, except for the nest egg, to my mother, a housewife. The method, in my opinion, is stupid - whoever earns money should manage the money. If my wife started earning more, I wouldn't mind. On the contrary, it would serve as a good incentive to work more on your own, and not do all sorts of nonsense.

We need to figure out what needs the money will be needed for.

The list given in this article is unlikely to be a revelation for you, but it will help you not to forget about key expense items.

Basic costs - what do they amount to?

As a rule, the money of families with an average level of wealth is distributed among:

1. nutrition;
2. purchasing necessary things;
3. payment of utilities;
4. education and development,
5. health;
6. rest and leisure.

The sequence, we note, in most cases turns out to be exactly this (however, we will not claim that it is unambiguously correct).

Food expenses

By according to FBK, a family in Russia spends approximately 26.5% of their total income on food. Money often goes not only for food, but also for regular visits to a canteen or cafe.

Many people find it difficult to get home during the lunch break; for them, it is more convenient to go for business lunches to the food service point closest to the office.

However, some office workers prefer a cheaper way to have a snack in the middle of the day - they take lunch from home. And this is not the only opportunity to save on food. About other tricks.

Various important purchases

Approximately 13.5% of spending is on clothing and shoes.

In addition to updating your wardrobe, finances are spent on:

• equipment, electronics;
• materials for repair and finishing;
• furniture, interior elements;
• household chemicals;
• childen's goods.

Calculation for comfort

Each family receives utility bills. Payments for them usually amount to about 4.7% of the family budget.

The level of costs for light, heat, Internet and other benefits of civilization depends on:

• communication features (for example, gas heating is much more affordable than coal);
• apartment area;
• frugality of residents - see?

Payment for studies and development clubs

Nowadays, parents are willing to spend large sums of money to develop their child’s talents. Sometimes the baby goes to three classes at once. Various services in the field of additional education, of course, are not free.

Even more significant expenses may begin when the child grows up and it comes to admission. It is difficult to guarantee that a precious child will get into a university on a non-profit basis.

From time to time, adults also have to pay for education - for example, when it becomes necessary to take language courses before traveling abroad.

Medicine - doctors, medicines

While all family members are more or less healthy, money is required for:

• preventive and control visits to doctors;
• vitamins;
• fitness club or gym.

These are moderate amounts.

When someone starts to get seriously ill, medicine can instantly grab a third of the budget, if not half of it.

The most pleasant

Well, last but not least, but not least.

It is unrealistic to spend money only on useful things; you need to leave something for pleasure - a good vacation, a cinema, jewelry, etc.

Almost every family has its own special cost point - some have a pet that eats only ready-made food, others take care of their garden, buying fertilizers and seedlings.

After the wedding spouses There are usually a lot of questions about running a home. Who will clean, who will wash the dishes and prepare food, who will take out the trash and buy groceries, and who will manage the money.

As a rule, many families the budget consists of the income of both spouses. Very rarely these incomes are identical; most often the husband earns more than his wife. If a wife gains the right to manage money, her purchases often become the cause of quarrels - women sometimes tend to buy completely unnecessary things. However, a similar situation cannot be ruled out if the husband manages the income. So how do you find a compromise?

Sources

You need to proceed from what you and your husband are like: common, common with a certain amount of expenses for each, or separate. In the latter case, in principle, everything is clear - each of the spouses manages their own income, only occasionally chipping in for common needs. In the second option, a certain amount already appears that someone needs to manage. And here you need to proceed from what area of ​​​​costs the money will fall into: if spare parts for a car are purchased, then it is natural that part of the amount will be spent by the one who understands what is what in the automobile market; if products are purchased, then the one who walks around more often supermarkets and prepares food. In general, it is better if the budget is managed by someone who knows how to save - he will be able to spend the money much more rationally.

Plans and meetings

To avoid any unpleasant reproaches, you need to make a rule to discuss upcoming acquisitions and expenses. This means that in the case of a joint budget, the spouses, when they receive their paycheck, bring cash, add it together and begin to discuss how much they will have to spend next month. Everything is taken into account: utilities, payments for Internet, telephones, amount for the purchase of groceries, household chemicals, cosmetics, clothing, entertainment, etc.

Negotiated who would like to buy something for themselves and for their home. You should also take into account that unforeseen expenses may arise - someone’s birthday, new boots instead of defective ones, TV repair, etc. Therefore, it is useful to set aside some amount for this as well. Even if you don’t need these, you can always use them for additional expenses during your summer vacation - then they will be especially useful.

If you are you planning to buy some furniture or equipment, it is better to start collecting money for this purchase in advance. After all, it is much easier to allocate 500 rubles every month for some time than to spend 10,000 from the family budget at a time.

Now that you and your husband are all understood, both he and you can manage the money. It is better to make large purchases together, so that later there will be no indignation about why you chose or chose this particular floor lamp? If you don’t trust your husband to spend money, even when he goes to the grocery store, write the names of manufacturers of cheaper products or approximate prices of goods so that he can be guided.

If he doesn't trust you to spend money, each time show him the receipts and explain why you bought this particular item. Sometimes men think that women spend a lot, simply because they have no idea how much a liter of good milk and a kilogram of tomatoes cost. In these cases, it is useful to either go to the store together, or even send your husband alone. Most often, he will not reproach you anymore. And, of course, to be fair to each other, try to buy clothes of approximately the same price, so that no one is offended.

If you really want buy that expensive dress, and you know that you can afford it, still consult your husband. After buying it, either give your husband some pleasant surprise, even if it’s socks, but let them be branded or it’ll be a new T-shirt. Show him that you don’t ignore him either. And next time, let him buy expensive jeans, and treat yourself to an inexpensive scarf.
It's generally good when you're with husband have a common goal and the same priorities. To achieve this, you need to share thoughts and ideas more often - over time, you will speak the same language.

Today we have to figure out how to spend money correctly. This topic interests citizens of all countries. And all the time. After all, money is a means of subsistence. And they must provide citizens as much as possible. Not everyone knows how to manage them correctly. And even more so how to postpone it. When you have your own family and children, issues related to finances become seriously aggravated. To prevent this from happening, you just need to know how to spend money. How to learn this? What will help you save and manage your family budget? The best tips and tricks will be presented below. All of the above is not a panacea, but it will help you avoid wasting money. In some cases, this will allow you to spend less and save more, without compromising yourself on your purchases.

Family budget - an eternal dispute

Managing a family budget is a real art that not everyone can master. But it is recommended for every person to master it, or at least try to do it. If done correctly, problems are not terrible. They simply won't exist. Except in cases where wages are delayed. And then the scale of the problems will be minimal.

A very good way to save and create savings. Many, as already mentioned, are recommended to open a bank account and transfer money there. This will help you not to touch the funds and preserve them. In any case, it must be difficult to access. Only in emergency situations is it allowed to spend these savings.

Plan and facts

How to spend money in a family? For those who have already mastered the previously listed methods, you can slightly expand the table of income and expenses. And add to it such components as “plan” and “in fact”.

In the first column, you must indicate in advance what expenses are planned and for what amount. The second contains information about real expenses. Quite an interesting way of planning “free money”. It is recommended to reduce the “actual” column monthly. Exactly the same as the “plan” section. Of course, taking into account the fact that a decrease in these indicators does not harm the life and well-being of the family.

"No" to loans

How to spend less money? Some people believe that loans are a good way to save money. In fact, most citizens who have learned to live within their means and also save well say the opposite.

Taking out loans when planning a budget is not recommended. But there is no need to exclude them from the pivot table if they exist. Lack of loans is a positive prospect. If a person has no debts, then the previously paid amount can be put aside for a rainy day.

Personal needs

How to spend money correctly? Some people don't understand this. If we are talking about one person, then there are no special problems with budget planning. But as soon as a family appears, as already mentioned, certain difficulties arise.

The point is that everyone has personal needs. What every person wants for himself personally. While learning to plan and maintain home accounting, you need to put your desires into the background.

By the way, it is recommended to distribute all “free” money at the end of the month among family members for personal needs. Or enter separate columns in the expense and income accounting table for this purpose. Allocate a fixed amount of money to everyone for their wishes.

Example

This is how to properly manage a family budget. The table example below is not the most advanced method. Rather, it is suitable for beginners. Through it, you can easily learn how to distribute finances so as not to fall into a financial hole.

An approximate table of expenses and income looks like this.

Article	Plan	Fact	Difference
Income	50 000	50 000	0
Products	10 000	11 500	-1 500
Communal payments	5 000	4 500	500
Household chemicals	1 000	0	1 000
Personal needs	5 000	8 000	-3 000
Directions	10 000	7 000	3 000
Bottom line	31 000	31 000	0
Postponed	5 000	5 000	0

This, as already mentioned, is far from the most common option for cost accounting. But it helps at first. In general, planning a home budget is a crucial moment. And it is recommended to entrust this activity to those who are best at it. With a little patience and strength, you can easily learn how to distribute money and save well.