027: Finances: Monthly Budget Meetings

2 minute read

Topics

How Mitchells started
Different Budgeting Personalities
Dave Ramsey Monthly Budget Meeting Rules
Extra Tips

budget

How Mitchells Started

Mitchells took a Dave Ramsey class several years ago called “Financial Peace University” sponsored by Zion’s Bank in their community. As part of that course, participants had a homework assignment to set a realistic budget where every dollar had a job. The very first meeting took a long time for Mitchells to get all their realistic expenses to match up with their future goals. As a follow up to that first assignment, Dave Ramsey suggested having a monthly budget meeting as a couple or by yourself if you live alone. That meeting should be done regularly and consistently to revaluate your budget numbers and see what needs to be adjusted, and then make the necessary adjustments.

Different Budgeting Personalities

Nerd: The one who is more inclined to like working with numbers. They like spreadsheets and programs that track every dollar.

Free Spirit: The one who avoids anything to do with budgeting. They prefer to not talk or worry about where every dollar is going.

Dave Ramsey’s Rules for the Monthly Budget Committee Meeting

Nerd Rules:

Come prepared and organized with the proposed budget draft.
Keep it to a set time, like 20 minutes.
Listen and let your spouse have input.

Free Spirit Rules:

Show up to the meeting.
Give input that is realistic and valuable.

Extra Tips

The benefit of this monthly committee budget meeting is that both spouses know exactly where they stand on their budget. It also gives them a chance to reevaluate their numbers before the next month, so their spending habits don’t get ignored and slide out of control.

Hold your meeting when you know you won’t be interrupted.

Have a set time each month to hold that meeting, like the last week of one month, so you are ready to go when the new month begins.

Keep your budget meetings to a set length of time that is agreed upon by both members of the committee. Twenty minutes should be good enough.

Fine tune each month’s budget to compensate for last month’s excess spending, if any, and make it fit the upcoming expectations for the next month.

Some budget categories are variable, but some are fixed and can’t be changed much from month to month. The variable categories will most likely be the only ones that can be altered, but all categories need to be looked at in the monthly meeting.

How would a committee meeting go if both spouses were nerds? Or if both were free spirits?