When I married Linda I had some debt. I had student loans to cover tuition and housing for my freshman and sophomore years
I spent the money. I also flunked out of college at the end of my sophomore year.
I eventually got back in college. But I had to pay off the wasted student loan.
When I married Linda, we both understood that we were now "one flesh." We were a team. We did not believe that she had her money, and I had my money. Instead, all that we had, collectively, was God's, with us as the stewards of what we have.
And of what we owed. My loan indebtedness was now Linda's as well.
For us, it goes like this. If I make a dollar a week, and Linda makes $1000 a week, together we make $1001. And it all belongs to God. We are then called to be good stewards of what God has given us.
A huge part of this stewardship was, and still is, keeping a budget. That we both look at together, and both agree on.
This means we agree on how the money is to be spent. In addition to a mortgage, car payment, utilities, food, clothing, insurance, and other essentials (the loan!), we sometimes had extra money. We did not spend this extra money without talking together about it. Early in our marriage, we both agreed that neither of us would make a purchase over $50 without asking the other if this seemed right to them.
We continue this to this day. This has served us well in our fifty-one years of marriage!
The key principles are:
1) Everything we have belongs to God.
2) We are the stewards of what God has given us.
3) We have a monthly budget.
4) We communicate about finances.
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