Four money rules to live by

Giving yourself money rules to live by can help guide your financial decisions and help ground you in your values.

My husband and I have been able to accomplish a lot in our short two years of marriage. A lot of it can be attributed to discipline but there have been some key drivers that have helped to catapult our success.

We have decided on key principles and rules to live by when it comes to money and finances that are not only the vehicles to our success but are key factors to keeping us balanced and in check when we want to stray.

Establishing money rules can help you build a firm foundation, set boundaries, and hold yourself accountable. An added bonus is that it’s also easier to establish and less work to maintain than a budget while still being effective.

Here are the four money rules to live by:

No more than one car on payment if any at all

When we got married, my car was already paid off. After combing through our finances together and reviewing our debt, we decided to pay my husband’s car off first.

Doing so saved us over $300 a month. If we both had car notes we would have been contributing over $500 a month towards our car debt. That’s $500 that could go towards savings, investments, or debt payments.

Our goal is to keep our expenses down by not having more than one car on payment if any at all.

Live on one paycheck

I know this may seem like a stretch but it’s not when you get married and don’t have children. Instead of increasing our expenses while having a dual income, my husband and I maintained our expenses the way we did prior to getting married. And If anything, expenses actually got cheaper.

Having a mortgage has been cheaper than paying for two apartments, and we’ve received some discounts from consolidating accounts.

As a result of our intentional living, we have been able to save and pay down debt with one of our paychecks while the other is used for bills and everyday expenses. This also acts as a budget. If we can’t fit it in within these parameters, then we don’t purchase it or acquire it. This applies to living accommodations and other expenses.

Review our expenses once a month

Just the other day we realized we had gone over our grocery budget by $200. Although we had to have a coming to Jesus’ moment, we wouldn’t have known we were over budget if:

1) We didn’t set a budget
2) We didn’t evaluate our expenses regularly

Reviewing our spending once to twice a month has allowed us to evaluate our actions. In doing so we are able to catch ourselves prior to going overboard or reset and work on doing better.

This level of awareness helps us to make better decisions and make commitments to ourselves and our money.

It’s important to talk about money, review your expenses, set expectations, and set boundaries. Doing this regularly will allow it to become a regular cadence in your life.

Make room for the things we enjoy

We have a cash envelope for entertainment and date night, and we set money aside for vacations. If anything, these past couple of months has made us realize even more how important it is to do things that make us happy.

While we manage our money, tackle debt, and make disciplined decisions it is equally important for us to make room for things that bring joy to our lives, things that will make some of the sacrifice worthwhile, and things that bring energy and life back to us.

Making space for the things that you like can also make you less inclined to quit your journey. It can be compared to being on a restrictive diet. Many people don’t stick to their diets because they are extremely restrictive and don’t allow for flexibility. We allow for the things we want to do, but we plan for it. We save for it; we budget it and we enjoy our lives while tackling our financial goals.

Think about your money rules. How do you want to live your life? What are your priorities? What rules can you establish to help you stay on track? I hope this encourages you to establish money rules that work for you and your family. Stick to those rules and watch your finances flourish.

I’d love to hear about your suggestions for money rules to live by.

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