Budget Timing

Glenda good question, I am 15 months away from my wedding date and wasnt planning on purchasing anything untill I am a year from my date. Thats also because we are trying to get the house thing finalized so that we can move on. But I am also wondering, has anyone taking out a loan or has everyone just been saving and paying for things one at a time to. I'm more asking about the bigger things...Venue, photographer, flight, dress,reception etc....

Should I take a 15,000. loan out or just try and do things one at a time? Or maybe a 10,000. loan out pay for the big expenditures and then buy the little things out of my savings? Very confused about this.

Along with what you said Jackie, I noticed that almost every girl here lives with their FI and/or owns a house or apartment. My FI and I do not live together, we still live with our families (I know I am 26 living at home with my mama, I am a loser) and money still seems tight for us. How do you guys pay for mortagages and rent and still save for a wedding? I am amazed. Neither of us has to pay rent, utilites, or food, we just pay our basic loans and bills and we still can't imagine saving up that much in a year and a half. For the girls that spent more than $10,000 or plan to spend more than $10,000 how did you do it? I just don't want to feel overwhelmed in the end, I want to make sure I am giving myself enough time to save and purchase things.

-Glenda

Glenda I live with my parents too hehehe we're not losers.. and my FI lives with his mom and his brother but he actually pays everything for the house so he'll be used to it when we live together.. he's 35...

I think the key is to save before the wedding to be prepared.. I've been buying small stuff.. like flip flops, things for OOTs, etc.. but I have already the money for everything I plan to buy for favors and that stuf.. I think you could start budgeting that to know how much you have to save.. and then wait till you have an idea of how many people are going..

Another thing.. don't miss the special sales at the websites.. those free shipping offers and 10% - 15% discounts are great when you order a lot.. I got 40 dlls. off on my oriental trading order

I know I'm probably repeating myself, but I'll go ahead anyway! I highly reccomend AGAINST taking out a loan or going into debt for you wedding ladies! Don't start your married life by going into debt.

Here's what I did: for the last several years I've done a lot of traveling. As such, I started an ING Savings account & saved a few hundred bucks here & there when I could - so I always had a vacation fund going. The account has averaged $2-3K balance over the last couple years. Once we decided to get married, I decided to make that account be for our wedding. I started putting all of my excess income in that account every 2 weeks. I'm able to save $1K per month. Basically I've gotten a few raises and my expenses didn't change, so I reasoned I should be able to save that additional money.

I have rent, a car payment, utilities, insurance, grocery bills just like everyone else; and I am a shopper too! I realized by automatically transfering $x into my savings every month, I was forced to make decisions about reasonable spending. We do not own a home, which sucks, but we do pay rent. FI also has child support that he pays.

In any case, I calculated what I would be able to save by our wedding date & have required myself to stay within that budget.

Yes, I put my dress on my Discover card when I initially purchased it, but I payed that off within 2 months. I think it's ok to use your credit for purchases, but just committ to pay it off as quickly as possible.

End of speech

I agree with CalGal, don't go into debt over your wedding. We used our savings, and our parents contributed some, but none of us went into debt over it. Credit card interest rates are just way too high!

As for how to save - the best way is to write down all of your monthly expenses, (if you don't already have a budget sheet) and compare that to your monthly income. Anything you can afford to spare should go into a savings account - automatically, if possible. Even if it means foregoing that daily Starbucks (or whatever your vice is!), it will be worth it.

Another thought, sort of off topic - I don't know how many of you are doing pre-marital counseling, but if you don't live together yet, it might be a good idea to sit down with a counselor and/or financial counselor to talk about how you will go about household finances, your expectations, saving money, etc. That is one of the major issues with couples, and talking about it now can save fighting about it later. For example, will you have separate bank account? Who will pay the mortgage? Will you split your earnings together? Etc....

It is really hard to save while paying for bills and loans. Tim is a super saver! I don't know how he does it. He is actually paying for most of the wedding. He is great. He is really good with money. I'm not. I suck! I buy too many shoes and clothes. Although since we got engaged I stopped buying. I have new clothes or shoes. It is very depressing.

Ladies,

If you are having trouble figuring out your income vs. expenses on a monthly basis, check out this worksheet...it's pretty simple & can help you figure out what you can realistically save.Attachment 373

budget worksheet.xls

Nice worksheet! That is very helpful!

I have to agree with most of you - I'd advise not going into debt to pay for your wedding. If you can't save enough, maybe try cutting some of the items to bring the cost down to what you can afford.

I also automatically save $$ every month - I have it going both into an ING account and a brokerage account (let me know if you want me to refer you to ING, then we both get a few extra $$ for the referral!). ING is basically a savings account that earns higher interest than normal (4% maybe). That's where Paul saved $$ for my ring! Anyway, if the $$ goes into savings automatically, you can't spend it, and you won't miss it and the savings will accumulate.

As for how we do it, I've lived on my own and owned a home since I was a year out of college - at 23. It's so doable! You just have to be smart about your money. I realize that people's expenses and income vary, but in most cases it's a lot easier to own than people think (avoid renting if you can!). Paul and I own his condo here in Chicago, and we just bought a house in MN. We plan on renting this condo out (anyone looking in Chicago)?! lol

Thank you ladies for all the advice. I actually have no intention of taking out a loan. If I don't have it I am not spending it. I actually have a few credit cards that have 0% interest for a year and a half so if I have to make a large purchase I will do it with that and then just pay it off when I save it. My father was very generous and gave us $20,000 but I refuse to use it towards the wedding. I have it in CD's so that I will not touch it. I plan to use that to put it towards a down payment for something. I am already saving and putting it in a savings account, but I get scared that I won't have enough when it comes down to the actual day. I guess I will save up for the big items and then cut down on the little stuff as I see necessary.

-Glenda