Dinner for two…

Megs and I attended our second meeting last night with a couple (who we really respect) who are assisting us with marriage preparation. So far it’s been great fun and we’ve both been stretched in our thinking about marriage.

Last night we had a discussion about finances… this is the one area where I’ve struggled to keep my wallet closed. I love giving as well as looking after myself. If I see something and I like it, I buy it…

One of the things which we’ve both decided to do is keep all our slips for the month of March. This way we’ll be able to see where and when we spent the biggest portions of our income. Must admit, I am a bit nervous to see how much I spend on junk food!!! Don’t laugh; I’m sure you’d be too!!!

One of our questions that we asked was, “How do we budget for food when we’ve never had to budget for two people?”

Their suggestion was that we go to a shopping mall and do a dummy shopping trip. We go and price everything based on meals that we’d like to eat for one week.

Another suggestion which was given to us as well, which we’re going to try is asking our parents to keep all their shopping receipts. We will then take these receipts and work from them, of course remembering that they’re buying for more than 2.

This is definitely going to be an interesting task!

Have you ever tried to work out where your money goes? Have you got any advice for us as a young couple regarding our finances? Should or shouldn’t we draw up a budget?