How to Be Successful with Money during and after Divorce — The Monthly Budget

I have written in other blog posts (for example, here, and here) about how to be successful with money during your Utah divorce.

I wanted to take a moment and talk about where being successful with money begins. It’s not with some grand roadmap to $1 million.

No, it starts with a written monthly family budget.

That’s right, a budget. It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy. It’s not complicated. It is, however, extremely effective.

Just as you wouldn’t think of building a home, or a shack for that matter, without a written plan, you shouldn’t think of building wealth without a written budget.

Advantages of a Monthly Budget

There are a number of advantages to creating a monthly budget:

It makes you actually figure out what you take in and what you spend.

Most people don’t know (1) what they bring in on a monthly basis, and (2) what and where they spend their income. A monthly budget forces you to do your homework and figure this stuff out once and for all.

It makes you plan your month in advance.

Most people just let their month happen to them. A monthly budget forces you to examine the month ahead and plan your spending depending on what will happen. This allows you to adjust future behavior if that behavior would cause you to run short of funds (i.e., go in to debt).

It gets you on the same page as a family.

One of the major causes of spending too much is that families are not on the same page when it comes to money. A monthly family budget makes you sit down and discuss money and spending. (Of course, at this point you’re budgeting is with your kids, and not really with your spouse, but the principle is the same.) This will probably be contentious the first few times if you haven’t been on the same page with money. But, I promise, it gets better. We as a family went through tough times at first laying out our spending. Now, though, we work together pretty seamlessly.

Do Monthly Written Budgets Work?

They do if our experience is any indication. When we started doing ours, we cut our spending by 25%-33%. Just knowing how much we were wasting on random stuff each month helped reign things in. Honestly, it felt like we got a big raise because we started putting our money toward the things that mattered.

What Budgeting System Should I Use?

We as a family use www.everydollar.com to prepare our monthly budget. It’s incredibly user-friendly. And, it’s free.

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Bill C

Carren and Jason were very helpful and quick to respond to my questions and concerns as we worked through my divorce, I would recommend them to anyone.

Response from the owner: Thank you, Bill.

James Herrera

I cannot say enough good things about Brown Family Law. Amy was my attorney and she was great! She always listened and responded quickly. Thanks to her, my case was resolved quickly. Thank you, Amy.

Response from the owner: Glad Amy communicated so well with you, James.

Jace Morris

Fast and kept me involved. Very professional team.

Response from the owner: Jace, thank you.

Shaun Jorgensen

Best attorney ever. They were so helpful and responsive

Response from the owner: Thank you, Shaun.

Christie Berube

When I started my case with Brown Family Law, they had 650 positive reviews. Now, about a year later, they have 820. Not sure how much else you need to convince you, but do yourself a favor and stop looking. You're in the right place.We worked with Nathaniel for nearly a year on our case, and trusting someone with something so vulnerable and close to you as a custody case is difficult, but he made it easy. His knowledge of law and experience with the court system allowed us to make educated decisions quicker. He helped me feel confident in very unfamiliar territory, and having someone like Nate on my team allowed me to make the best decisions possible for our family. He thought of many things I didn't, and gave us the roadmap to success for navigating a complicated and stressful situation. I found myself constantly bragging about our lawyer to family and expressing how impressed I was in his skill and his fearless nature of getting sh** done. Nate got that dawg in him, yanno what I mean?I like the way Brown Family Law works with their clients; it's different than other law firms, and I can see the benefits of those differences. It's always easy to contact someone at the office, and I get a response very quickly. They are extremely communicative, fast, and thorough. They run a tight ship, and it's obvious the quality differences from other law firms.This is a big and heavy decision, but Brown Family Law will take a lot of that weight off your shoulders. Ask for Nate--you won't be led astray.

Response from the owner: Christie, thank you. So glad Nathaniel was able to help you and that we were able to communicate with you so quickly.

Fer Esquivel Guillén

This firm is awesome but special shoutout to Dani, she is an outstanding paralegal. She is very knowledgeable

Response from the owner: Thank you very much for your kind words about Dani.

Karl Bench

I can't say enough about Russell Yauney at Brown Family Law! He has helped me on multiple cases over the years and has always exceeded my expectations. Russell is one of the good guys who isn't afraid to tell you how it is and isn't afraid to stand up and fight for what is right. I'm glad that I have Russell and his team in my corner!

Response from the owner: Karl, glad Russell served you well.

Ryan Farrell

very helpful to fathers who have been broke by the system and targeted for vaporization(1984). Thank you brown family law.

Response from the owner: You're welcome, Ryan. And thank you for the kind words.

Samantha Lachowsky

Nathaniel was my attorney and I couldn't ask for someone more attentive and level-headed than he is. They made my divorce process so much easier and were very patient with me as I navigated the entire process. Thank you Brown Family Law for all of your help!

Response from the owner: Samantha, thank you and so glad Nathaniel did such a good job for you.

Danny Fenstermaker

Used Nathaniel Garrabrandt for a child custody case. He is very good, very professional and available. Having been through this a few times that communication is very important. The only warning, and this isnt just Nate per se, but very very costly.

Response from the owner: Danny, thank you for recommendation. Glad Nathaniel has been able to help you.

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