Take Control Of Your Finances – Family Budgeting Ideas

When you take control of your finances, good things can happen. You can take great vacations. You can save for retirement. A “dream” house can become a reality.

Donna Vandermark and her husband, Brian, of East York, Pennsylvania know this firsthand. They live in their dream home because they began budgeting when they got married.

Both were working, she says, so they decided to live on his salary and save hers for their down payment. That restricted their spending, but they stuck to it. Today, they and their two daughters, two-year-old Olivia and five-year-old Alicia, live in a custom-built home.

If the thought of budgeting scares you, you’re not alone. “A lot of people are afraid of the word ‘budget.’ They shouldn’t be. It can be a flexible monetary tool,” says Diana Mohn, a certified financial planner with Capital Financial Planning in York, Pennsylvania. A lot of families consider budgeting their number one problem, she says.

“I don’t even use the word ‘budget,’” says M. Wayne Neff, a certified financial planner with Central Pennsylvania Financial Services. “With some people, the word ‘budget’ has such a negative connotation. I compare money to a tool that’s a means to an end.” That takes a lot of the dread out of the process, he says.

Managing a family budget is an acquired skill, and it’s never too late to learn how to do it, according to the experts. They also agree that it’s a skill you can pass on to your children.

Mohn believes that the earlier a couple starts, the better; preferably at the beginning of the marriage. Budgeting becomes critical, she says, when the first child arrives, because there’s a big change in spending patterns.