For example, last fall a big car repair nearly wiped out our car maintenance sinking fund, but after a few months of redirecting our monthly interest payments, we\u2019re back up to a $500 buffer. I also use this as a tool to fund my holiday shopping. <\/p>\n
Every July, I redirect interest payments to our holiday sinking fund and, by Christmas, I have a healthy budget for presents. Roughly 3 in 10 (32%) holiday shoppers in 2024 still had debt from the previous holiday season, according to NerdWallet\u2019s most recent holiday spending report<\/a>. I\u2019m determined to not fall in that trap. <\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 How it could help your relationship:<\/p>\n You can both see your savings goals and add money to them anytime.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Having separate buckets takes the stress out of spending because you\u2019ve planned for it. Nothing kills a vacation vibe more than wondering how you\u2019re going to pay for it when you get home.<\/p>\n Setting goals for each bucket can help you feel like you\u2019re making progress saving money together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83d\uded2 A grocery list app: Spreads the mental load and keeps spending in check<\/p>\n Before downloading a grocery list app<\/a>, I was responsible for planning the meals and making the list. If one of us forgot the list, or wanted to stop on the way home from work, we were out of luck. <\/p>\n We tried a few grocery list apps before settling on the free version of Bring, and it changed a lot for our marriage. It created a shared sense of responsibility over our pantry. If one of us sees we\u2019re out of paper towels or we need milk, we can pull up the app and add it to the list. It also helped us cut down on buying things we already had at home. <\/p>\n This kind of coordination matters more when you\u2019re trying to stay on a grocery budget. The USDA predicts grocery prices will rise 3.1% in 2026 \u2014 a faster pace than in recent years \u2014 making it even more important to avoid waste and unnecessary purchases.<\/p>\n I love how the app updates in real time, so if I\u2019m at the store, my husband can add items that will appear on the list. We have multiple lists for all kinds of shopping \u2014 a list for our regular groceries at Aldi, a list for our monthly Costco haul, and lists for upcoming travel, like a summer beach trip.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 How it can it help your relationship:<\/p>\n Makes it easier to stay in sync, even when you\u2019re shopping at different times or on the go.<\/p>\n Spreads the mental load of meal planning and can lessen resentment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cuts down on duplicate and impulse purchases, helping you stick to your budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83e\udde0 A budgeting app: Reveals your money psychology <\/p>\n There have been times where we sat down at the end of the month, wondering where all our money went. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n We open up our credit card statements, scroll through bank transactions, and check our Amazon order history, trying to piece it all together.<\/p>\n Some of this has to do with inflation<\/a>, which might keep rising in 2026, says Elizabeth Renter, NerdWallet\u2019s senior economist.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it costs more to buy the things in your regular budget, it makes sense to pay a bit closer attention to where your money is all going,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n So we tried out Monarch.<\/p>\n I liked that we could link all of our accounts to get a full picture of our household finances in one place. But we quickly ran into a challenge: categorizing our spending<\/a>. <\/p>\n Outside of our mortgage and utility bills, we realized we don\u2019t naturally think in categories like \u201cgroceries\u201d or \u201chome goods.\u201d Instead, we tend to budget in two main ways: by retailer (Target, Costco, Amazon); and by setting a cap on our joint credit card for shared household expenses. <\/p>\n A single Costco trip might include groceries, home goods and things for the kids \u2014 all in one transaction. And as long as we weren\u2019t over our agreed limit, we didn\u2019t pay much attention to the details. <\/p>\n Using a budgeting app showed us that this approach can hide spending patterns. Turns out, when everything is lumped together, it\u2019s harder to spot impulse purchases. <\/p>\n We didn\u2019t continue using Monarch, but trying a budgeting app did help us see where our money was actually going.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 How it can help your relationship: <\/p>\n Gives you an honest look at your spending in one place.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can take you from \u201cwe should spend less\u201d to making more specific decisions about where to cut back.<\/p>\n Can help you feel more in control of your finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other tools that help us manage money together <\/p>\n Over time we developed a system for coordinating our finances that helps us feel like a team \u2014 even though we split responsibilities. These other tools help support that system day to day: <\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf1Shared notes on our phone: This is our space for ongoing money decisions. We use a shared note to track progress toward savings goals and keep an eye on spending while traveling. It\u2019s also where we list priorities for tax refund money<\/a> and co-write financial goals for the new year, checking them off as we go. <\/p>\n \ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Family calendar: This is how we stay on track day to day. Sure, we use our digital calendars to add birthday parties and vacations, but we also schedule reminders to pay bills, transfer funds or check on subscriptions. <\/p>\n NerdWallet\u2019s app<\/a> also has a cash flow feature where you can see your expenses and income in one place. Amanda Barroso, Ph.D., is a writer and content strategist helping consumers navigate budgeting, credit building and credit scoring. Before joining NerdWallet, Amanda wrote about demographic trends at the Pew Research Center and earned a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. <\/p>\n Her work has been featured by the Associated Press, Washington Post and Yahoo Finance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOME CARD INFO MAY BE OUTDATED This page includes information about these cards, currently unavailable on NerdWallet. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-404431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAbout the author ![\"Amanda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Barroso_Amanda_882-MuckRack-Ona30327-160x160.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n