3 Reasons My Husband and I Have Monthly Budget Meetings

Our finances are improved in important ways by our monthly budget meeting.

Once a month, my husband and I have a scheduled meeting to go over our household budget. While this may not be the most fun way to spend an evening, it's helped us avoid money fights and maximize the chances of accomplishing our shared financial objectives.

So why are these meetings so beneficial? Here are three key reasons why discussing our budget on a monthly basis is important to us.

1. Monthly meetings help us maintain accountability

One of the biggest benefits of getting together to discuss our budget each month is that it makes us both feel more accountable for our spending. When we have our monthly meeting, we take a look at how closely we've stuck to our budgeted numbers over the course of the month.

While we never get mad or blame each other if something comes up and we went over budget, knowing there will be an upcoming discussion about how we did with our spending objectives makes us both want to stick to our planned spending limits so we can report positive news during the budget meeting.

2. We can get on the same page about goals

Another big benefit of a monthly budget meeting is that we have a chance to discuss the goals we're working toward.

A big part of the reason why we budget is because we want to avoid credit card debt, and we have certain financial objectives that we're working toward. By making sure we're each excited about these goals and have a shared plan for achieving them, we can better prioritize our spending and saving in a way that makes sense for both of us.

Since we focus our budgeting efforts not on the short-term sacrifices we're making but on the long-term progress toward doing the things we want with our money, taking the time to discuss our goals also makes living on our budget seem worth it. Reviewing why we limit certain expenditures and seeing how much closer we're getting to achieving our goals makes us excited about sticking to our budget for the upcoming month.

3. We can make adjustments as needed for upcoming expenses

Finally, the last big benefit of our monthly budget meetings is that we have the opportunity to ensure our budget is evolving to meet our current life needs.

For most people, it's difficult or even impossible to stick to the exact same spending limits every single month. Big and small life changes, such as rising inflation, a change to commuting time, work changes, or adding a new child, can all necessitate budget modifications.

Since we both want to make sure we're on the same page about how we'll handle these changes -- and we don't want to be caught by surprise by unexpected expenses -- our budget meetings give us an ideal time to plan ahead.

If you and your spouse have trouble sticking to a budget, or if you want to get started working on managing money together more effectively, these three benefits of monthly budget meetings may just convince you to try them out for yourself. Once you start having them, you may be surprised at just how positive the impact is, both on your financial life and on your communication surrounding money issues.