When getting married and combining your lives, some things are easy…

“Umm honey, let’s not go with your artwork.”

And some thing, well, not so easy…

“You want me to give you MY on-line banking password?!?!”

Figuring out how you will handle your finances once you say I do may end up being just as hard if not harder than picking  your wedding colors, or what kind of flowers you’ll have, but it’s probably one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Money merging and future maintance is the one thing you cannot avoid discussing before getting married. Take a guess, what’s the number one reason why married couples divorce? Yep, it’s all about the Benjamins baby!

Here are a few tips to get the dialogue going.

• Come to the table with a copy of your credit report from the three credit agencies, (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) make a list of your combined debt and note where there are trouble spots so there are no surprises going forward. Remember, once you say I do, you are responsible for his debts as he is for yours.

• Make a budget of your future expenses (if you don’t live together) and figure out who will pay what? Every couple is different. Some split it down the middle 50/50, some have one pay all of the bills and the other save their check. Find what works for you and commit to a budget and paying system.

• Talk about where your income will go. Will you keep your own accounts, merge everything into one, or just add each other’s name to all accounts. Many couples on this forum have separate checking and savings accounts. We tried that for a few months and found that it really was easier for us to merge our finances (that whole two become one theory works-lol). We use one primary shared checking account for our expenses, and have shared savings/retirement/insurance accounts.

• Set goals for your financial future. Agree on a set of short term and long term goals that you both want to meet. Short term goals may include money to celebrate an anniversary or upgrade a vehicle. Long term goals may include money for a down payment on a home, and money for retirement.

• Figure out spending allowances per month for personal purchaces. Maybe, it’s $250 a month, or maybe it’s an undefined amount with a discussion with your partner on what will be purchased.

Today I’m feeling a bit anxious. I’ve finished all of my DIY projects and one more thing to get for myself (brooch)…I went to Target today on my lunch break with one of the gift cards I got from the bridal shower my job threw me…I was looking for a bracelet to complete my bridal look…I was trying to be like the “cool kids” and get one from EBay or one of the trendy places brides get their stuff online, but I’m at the “eh” point with my planning…I actually found a really pretty one for $18.99…I’m so dang cheap…Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have bought it, but a $25.00 gift card was all I needed to get over myself….my cheap self…So here’s what I got:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZB1c16q0L._SS384_.jpg)

I’ll make sure to shave my arm hair for the photo op…lol! That’s one of my pet peeves…Arm hair…I don’t have much, but something about bracelets…They’re like a flashing light saying, “HEY look…Arm hair!!!” I know…I’m nuts…But I have to make sure my pictures look fabulous…It’s all about the pictures…Seriously…
So now that I’m at this point, I’m literally twiddling my thumbs looking for stuff to do…I’m going to have to really keep myself in check…The inner DIY diva is getting restless. I’ve done so many projects…It’s almost a sin…Martha Stewart would definitely give me the disapproval look, but I aint got Martha’s money, so she’s going to have to give me a free pass…

Planning has been a blast for me, and developing my theme and watching it come together has been so gratifying…I’m doing a Garden Tea Party and we’re getting married at sunset on a Friday night, so I chose sunset colors for my wedding (Burnt Orange, deep red, gold, and chocolate). I’ve done some fun projects like:
Fan Programs

The personalized aisle runner

The Cake Table Runner

The table numbers

The Card Box (disregard the random junk around it…)

Yeah…DIY was very necessary as our budget was insanely low ($7500). We decided to invite a few people (60) rather than a lot…I said NO…make that HELL NO to the plastic tablecloths…So DIY queen I became…
So now it’s over…No more planning or projects…(tear) So now I’m getting anxious… I’m sitting up day dreaming about the day…How it’s going to go, who I’ll probably need to choke (I think that’s going to be my fiancé’s mother or sister), who I’m definitely going to shank (my fiancé’s dad for continuing to try to invite people…I’mma roundhouse kick him before I shank him…I see that now…)…
So I have NOTHING to do…Hmmm….I love this feeling…We’ll see what happens tomorrow…I’m sure somebody is going to make me want to “windmill” them…

Ree…