Getting Married But We Can’t Make Ends Meet or Afford a Wedding. – Katie

“Dear Steve,

I’m getting married in January to the love of my life. But I am concerned about our financial situation. I just went full-time at my job 2 months ago so we would have more money, but it seems like we still don’t have enough money for everything. Together, we have $1,500 in bills each month and we make about $3,000 a month after taxes. After food, medicine, and necessities (i.e. toilet paper, shampoo, etc.), we have no money for wedding stuff or fun. I set up a budget to help our spending, but it still seems like we have no money. We just recently joined our checking accounts because I was tired of always having to transfer money back and forth.

What is a good way to get rid of some of our debt so we actually have money for savings and for ourselves?

Katie”

Dear Katie,

First off, if you come to NC I can marry you for free but I’m sure you can find someone around you who can legally marry you as well for little to no cost.

Can you tell me what kind of bills you have?

It sounds like you are doing some stuff right. The joint account and budget are good starts but you probably need to track your cash each month to figure out where it is going.

I totally understand the emotional importance of celebrating your big day but right now you’ll need to figure out how to get married on a budget. I’ve even been to weddings where everyone brings a dish for the reception. It can still be a special day without going further into debt.

You can use the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.

Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.

Big Hug!
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