My husband works in finance. I manage our household.
He watches the market and manages spreadsheets, and I watch our pantry and manage our calendars. Two different worlds that have somehow overlapped.
When we got married I immediately let him manage all the financials in our household, even though he wanted me to be a part of it. I initially said “no, that’s not my thing and I don’t know how to do that”. He insisted I learn. He would casually bring up our monthly budget – as if I knew what he was talking about – and I would always reply with “whatever you think is best, babe”. Before we had kids, I had my own real estate business. I loved having control of my days and what I brought in, but I did not love the accounting and finance part of it, at all. I relied solely on my husband and our accountant for that.
Then, we had children, and I decided to stay home.
I learned that those biweekly diaper trips, the million doctor visits, and playdates would all start to add up. Literally. As he was bringing up the baby’s clothing budget once again, I had decided to listen, and much to his surprise, I even offered to see his spreadsheet he had pulled up.
At first, I was intimidated by it all. He patiently walked me through his master spreadsheet; albeit, he may have been a little giddy.
He had a line item for every. Single. thing.
And then, I was hooked. By the grace of God, I had finally gotten it.
My entrepreneurial mindset had somehow forgotten that even though I was staying home, I’m still managing the chaos of our home. And I could either jump on this ship and steer it with my partner by my side, or allow our home to just sail with no direction (on my part).
I had chosen to treat our home as it was my business. Because, quite frankly, it is my business. It did not happen overnight, oh no not at all. But slowly, I wrapped my mind around his data base, offered my input on what needed improvements, and we even discussed our goals as a family and how to reach them.
And to do this, I needed to change my mindset from “just a housewife” to my home is my place of work, my business.
My business’s mission statement: is to have a thriving marriage and children who are raised knowing their loved and needs always met.
My ROI: is measured by the success of my purpose and striving for it: a proud husband and happy kids.
And my role: I’m the CFO of this chaos.
And I’m here to share with you just a little of what I’ve learned from my financially-savvy husband and how you can also apply it to your home.
I do not have a degree in economics. I am not a financial adviser. I’m a wife married to finance, and a mom who decided her house could run her, or she could run it.
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