How I Manage Our Household Budget

Every household manages finances differently. We've found what works best for our family is to link all accounts and cards to our shared budget app to see where our money is being spent each month. When I was growing up, I was taught to save more than I spent, and while we try to save as much as we can, our current reality is our expenses are greater than our savings. Living off of one income is an incredible blessing and responsibility. Learning to steward our resources has been a difficult journey that we are still navigating.

Before getting married, I didn't see a need for a budgeting app or a need to track finances because I could pay my expenses, pay into retirement, and put money into my savings account. My husband managed his finances well and took on expenses like home ownership and renovation. We had a very frank conversation before we were married about our expectations and how we would manage our combined incomes. We still didn't truly start looking at finances until it was time for me to stop working and stay home with the little ones. At that point, we used a free budget app because it was simple and...free!

Unfortunately for us, our free little budgeting app went away in January 2024. It was frustrating in the moment because we had become familiar with the app and all of its comforts. Fortunately for us, we found Monarch! I spent a long time researching the different budgeting apps. I could not find another adequate one that was free, so I looked into the paid apps. Each app of note seemed to come with a subscription fee. What doesn't these days? Even our diapers are on a subscription, but more on those in another post.

My friend, the ultimate budgeter, had downloaded Monarch's free trial and was enjoying it! There were many more customization options than on our previous app, and the efficiency and overall experience make it worth the monthly or yearly subscription. On their website, Monarch has an entire section dedicated to comparing their app to the one we were previously using, Mint, and it is quite accurate. I downloaded Monarch, and at the end of the trial, I was ready to pay to use the app. (Which is wild because I am a stingy gal.)

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My husband and I had a budget meeting and recorded all of our known expenses - what is reoccurring each month. Once we put them into the app, the green area in the top right corner showed us how much we had left to budget. We then estimated expenses we knew we would have like groceries and gas. Anything left over could go to a new budget or savings! I grabbed example photos from Monarch's website so you can see what the app looks like on your phone and on your desktop. I use both versions, and each version provides an excellent experience.

Once an expense is properly categorized, you can easily see how much money remains in your budget for that month. We don't roll over our budgets, but that is a feature you can use if it suits you. Below it says "plan" in the blue section, but on my dashboard, it says "budget".

One of my favorite features is the group-level budgeting seen below. Instead of estimating a precise amount for each category like $650 for groceries, $250 for restaurants, $50 for coffee shops, and $50 for baked goods, you're able to say $1,000 for food in general and then see what you spend per category. We used this feature in our Miscellaneous Expenses category up until this month. It increases flexibility to spend a little more in one category or another per group each month. We realized our Miscellaneous Expenses were a little too flexible and we needed to reassess exactly where we were spending more.

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Here's an example of a more specific, category-level, budget from Monarch's website:

If you're still not quite sure where to start, here is a breakdown of our categories!

Income:

• Paychecks

• Interest

• Miscellaneous (selling a household item, receiving gifts, etc.)

Expenses:

• Home

  • 🏠Mortgage

• Vehicle:

  • 🚗Car Insurance

  • ⛽Gas

• Recurring Bills & Utilities:

  • 📱Phone Bill

  • 🍎Apple Subscriptions

  • ⚡Electric Bill

  • ☂️Life Insurance

  • 📺Netflix, Spotify, Hulu

  • 💧Home Utilities

• Food & Dining:

  • ☕Coffee & Treats

  • 🍽️Eating Out

  • 🍏Groceries

• Estimated Expenses (formerly "Miscellaneous Expenses")

  • 🎉Activities

  • 📦Amazon

  • 👕Clothing

  • 🧷Diapers

  • 🔨For the House

  • 🎁Gifts

  • ✂️Haircuts

  • 💪🏼Health (PT, Chiropractor, Dr. Visits, etc.)

  • 🐶Pets

• Investments

  • 💰Savings

  • 🎓College Fund

• Tithing (Our Offering to The Lord✝️)

  
  

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I enjoy using Monarch, and they have an option for adding emojis to each category which makes it feel even more fun. It's the little things in life, right? The emojis seem to make budgeting less intimidating and more approachable. Creating a budget is a lot of work, but if you put in the effort, it is simple to sustain. Not knowing what is happening with your finances is not sustainable. We are constantly praying for wisdom and discernment in our management of what we've been given. Hopefully, you're able to take what you need and leave what you don't to help your household! If you have any questions about the app or how we use it each month, please comment or reach out.

If you want to try Monarch, you can get a 30-day trial instead of a 7-day trial by using my referral link: https://www.monarchmoney.com/referral/zc5nwwa9ey

Blessings,

Birdie

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*If you click on a link and subscribe, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. For more information, please read my disclosure here. I will never recommend or review any items that we don't use and love!