That usually stands for Chief Financial Officer. And while that title definitely applies to my husband when it comes to the family budget, it should also stand for Creative Financing Officer.
Dude, this guy is a freaking genius!!! He’s so good a keeping our finances balanced and in check!! He’s also really good at looking at all possibilities and issues and coming up with a genius plan! Our family wouldn’t be where we are without him!
I can’t say I ever stuck to a budget, and he’s so good at his job I don’t even feel like I’m on a budget now. He keeps things moving financially while making sure we’re saving and planning for the future. It’s so nice to have a partner that can do it and is responsible.
He manages cash flow and lets me know when we need to start watching our outflow each month. He sets a regular time to review our finances each week. He gives me the highlights and then we make any decisions together. Taking care of your finances is no different than taking care of your health. You have to dedicate time to it. The more you do it the easier it gets, just like exercise.
He finds great deals and uses creative ways to pay for them. Example, he uses PayPal’s Credit Program so we can buy bigger items, make payments over time, and pay no interest. We just bought a Roomba that we can make small monthly payments on and pay no interest. If we had put it on a credit card, we’d be paying interest on the purchase if we didn’t pay it off next month. He’s great at searching out these kind of deals.
He was able to do the same thing for a recent trip to Destin. We can pay it off a little at a time without paying interest. You don’t realize how fast that I interest adds up.
He has cash flow management down to a science! He maintains a spreadsheet and treats our household finances like we’re a business. He always figures out how much we have to pay on the limited time 0% interest deals so we pay no interest. Most people don’t budget how much to pay each month so that your debt is paid off before the interest kicks in. We bought hardwood floors using this method. They gave us 36 months at 0% interest. Once we got the final bill, he divided that amount by 34 and we paid that amount each month. That way our debt was paid two months before any interest payments kicked in. Huge savings!!!
How do you manage your monthly finances? Spreadsheet, banking app, or something else? What tricks have you learned to make your money go further?
Thanks for reading & responding!! ❤️ TC
Tipsy Curls 