Your Honey Is Spending All Your Money

by WiredBerries Editors — May 1, 2008

You love the one you're with, but not their spending habits. If you want to rein in your SO's spending, consider these tips from MSN Money and a lot of tact:

• Be Positive--Nearly every relationship has to overcome a difference in financial perspectives, realize you are no different and work together to find a solution.
• Lose the 'Tude--So you're a saver and you're with a spender? If you're condescending, you'll polarize your partner.
• Choose Your Words Carefully--"Budget," "spending plan," and "save" might sound like "sacrifice," "deprivation," and "death" to your sweetie. Try to explain that you simply want to make sure you're spending money as a couple on things you really want.
• Set Goals--Think concrete and mix short-term goals with loftier aims. Retirement might be too far in the future to motivate your partner to thriftier habits now. Make a list of goals that offer easily achievable goals as well as future aspirations.
• Add It Up--Many spenders don't realize how much cash they're dribbling away on mochas or makeup. Diplomatically showing your SO how they're $5 daily coffee stop on the way to the office costs $1200 a year might help them realize how quickly their cash is flowing away.
• Enjoy Mad Money--A great way to maintain a sense of financial freedom without breaking the bank, is to have both joint and separate accounts. Deposit paychecks to the joint account (from which you'll pay shared expenses) and have an "allowance" set aside to individual accounts for each of you.
• Set a Limit--Agree on a "Talk to Me" amount; if a purchase is above a certain dollar limit, you have to discuss and agree first.

Patience and open communication will help you find your way to a happy honey and healthy balance (financially and romantically)!