Tying the knot is one of the most romantic events of your life but part of the process is also trying to recover financially from wedding expenses. There is no question that weddings can be quite costly as you total one cost of supplier with another. The next thing you know, you might have to find ways to make the wedding happen without putting your future in debt.
There are a number of ways to help you lower the cost of your wedding day. You can choose a date where not a lot of people get married. It is also possible to have an intimate ceremony where you are surrounded by only your closest friends and relatives. This way, you get to cut down the number of guests and save a ton of money.
However, there is still a chance that you will find the need to recover financially from wedding expenses. This is because you will have to spend to get the wedding that you want. The costs even start way before the wedding from the rings to the bachelor and bachelorette party and even making arrangements for some people to attend your wedding.
Getting married is a big decision and the financial part of the event should be well managed. In fact, the Wedding Report shared that over 2 million couples tied the knot in 2018. You might have a wedding in mind but it all boils down to your budget. It is striking a fine line between what you want and what you can afford. After the wedding, there is a good chance that you still have payables or wedding-related debt. If that is the case, here are a few things to help you pay that down and manage your finances better.
Create a budget together as a couple
One of the best ways to recover financially from wedding expenses is to start creating a household budget together as a couple. This will be your basis in paying down debts incurred during the wedding as well as paying for your needs as a couple. It will be a little harder the first time around especially as you combine your finances for the first time.
If you are both working, you have to combine your earnings into a single budget. You simply have to be honest with each other and lay your cards on the table. The same thing applies to your debt situation. In fact, this discussion should have happened even before you tied the knot. You both need to agree on how you are going to manage your finances.
A big part of this budget is paying back or making sure you get to clear all wedding-related debt payments. If you used your credit card or if you still have balances with some suppliers, be sure to prioritize that. Once your wedding expenses are all squared away, you can start planning for other goals in your marriage.
Separate fixed from variable expenses every month
As you recover financially from wedding expenses, one tip you can integrate into your budget is categorizing your expenses. This will help you a lot when you have to decide how you can free up money in your expenses. It will help you get the guessing game to a minimum at the beginning which gives you a better chance in managing your finances.
You can categorize your expenses into fixed and variable so you get a better idea of how you are spending your money. The fixed expenses are the necessities which usually does not change in amount. This commonly includes payments for mortgage, car, and household necessities such as utilities and food expenses.
Your variable expenses can be your shopping budget or even the amount you set aside for hobbies. This is an area where you can usually cut down on. Rather than eating out, try and learn how to cook each other’s favorite meal. You can then take turns cooking meals at home which will lower down your food expenses.
Take on a frugal lifestyle
Trying to live below your budget is a great way to help you recover financially from wedding expenses. Think of this phase as a way to show off your creativity to your partner. As mentioned, you can start cooking your own food. You might even be able to find common meals that you both enjoy. This will lower the need to eat out or even call for delivery.
Frugal living means you look at your budget and find ways to spend less than that. This frees up money you can use to pay down wedding expenses. Your creativity is not only limited to food but other areas of your finances as well. If you both drive a car every day, try to work out a schedule where you get to use only one car. You can even bike to and from work helping you save money as well as giving you an exercise.
You might have heard people say that being frugal is synonymous to dumpster diving but this is just not the case. If you want to do that then go ahead but being frugal should not force you to look for things in the trash. Be creative with expenses so you can find ways to lower them down without sacrificing the things you need.
Increase your cash flow
There is no question that if you get to increase your income, you stand a better chance in trying to recover financially from wedding expenses. If you are just getting started with your respective careers, you can look into your hobbies and identify ways to make turn it into income-positive hobbies. Take photography for example where you can offer services to family and friends to help document occasions they have.
A common route taken by people is looking for a second job they can do on top of their day job. These side gigs can bring in quite a sum of money especially in the service industry. Tips can help improve your cash flow and meet expenses incurred from the wedding. There are also some online jobs you can take up at home.
These jobs can be anything from article writing or editing and even graphic design. The great thing about this is that you can do the jobs while you are at home. You can even decide the number of hours you will put for the job. This way, you can spend quality time with your partner and work on your own terms and hours.
Start saving for your emergency fund
While you are still trying to recover financially from wedding expenses, you need to make sure that you get to save for unexpected incidents in the future. One of the biggest reasons for this is that if are caught off-guard without any savings to help you out, your tendency is to borrow money. It can be against your credit or even taking out high-interest loans.
Worse, you might even dip into your retirement savings just to get by, Some of these problems can be losing your job, getting really sick, or even dealing with costly repairs either at home or for your car. When these things happen, you need to have an emergency fund so you do not have to get deeper in debt.
Getting married is an exciting time in your life and part of that is trying to recover financially from wedding expenses. There are strategies you can look into to help you do just that while enjoying this new chapter in your life.