Hey Reader,

Thanks for sharing your time with us. We hope this offers a fresh perspective as you think about your budget.

⚓︎ Craft Your Money Story - From Hanna

​This week on YouTube, Nick and I are talking about how we
budget together.

Whenever this topic comes up, we usually get a comment like:
“Sounds great... but we could never talk about money like that.”

That’s what I call the Pit of Despair.

It’s where you end up when you compare your current reality to someone else’s outcome — without seeing the journey it took to
get there.

Nick and I are incredibly grateful that we can now have constructive budget conversations and work toward big goals together.

But we didn't start out that way.

If you could watch a recording of one of our “budget meetings” from
12 years ago (on our honeymoon, no less), it would look something
like this:

• I want to buy a $20 necklace
• Nick reminds me it’s not in the budget he meticulously planned
• I’m like, “It’s $20… why does this even matter?”
• Nick's frustrated
• I’m annoyed
• We don’t talk for two days
• And both of us lose

At the time, it felt like the budget was the problem.

But looking back we realized:
​
​We didn’t need a better budget.
We needed a stronger friendship.

So if money conversations feel tense right now, don't start with the budget — start with the relationship.

Here are a few things that help us:

• Reading the Bible together
• Reading fiction out loud to each other
• Keeping a running list of videos and articles to discuss
• Working out together
• Going on walks and talking
  ​(we like convo decks from BestSelf Co. if we run out of things to say)

Talking, dreaming, and working together are like muscles.

If they haven’t been used in a while, they’ll feel weak at first.

But with a little consistency, they get stronger — faster than you'd think.

And over time, those budget meetings?

They start to feel less like conflict…
and more like crafting a money story with your best friend.

Until next week,
Nick + Hanna