Wedding Times

Although you want your wedding day to be perfect, you don’t want to start off your new life with your new spouse deeply in debt from one day. Take these steps to avoid wedding debt.

Open a Wedding Savings Account

If you have money sitting in your checking account you will be more likely to spend it than if you have it in an account earmarked for your wedding. When you spend money from your everyday account, you rarely look at the bigger picture. You’ll be less likely to dip into the wedding account for everyday things when you know the money should be spent on your wedding.

Pay Yourself First

There’s no point having a wedding account if there’s no money being deposited into it. Take ten percent of every pay check and put it in the wedding account. No matter what else you think you may want to buy, pay yourself first. Not only is this a great help when paying for your wedding, it also serves as good practice for marriage and future retirement plans.

Have Dates at Home

Is it the really fancy restaurant that you love when you’re out on a date with your fiancé or is it the company? It’s extremely important that you make a date night once a week with your fiancé while you are going through the craziness of wedding planning. Ironically, you will have very little time to spend together so you need to set aside some alone time. However, this does not mean that you need to go and blow all the cash that you have in your wallet. Make a nice dinner at your house and spend the time really enjoying each other, instead of being annoyed that the waiter forgot your salad dressing. Calculate the money you saved in a month of dating at home and put that money directly into your wedding account.

Save Big on Entertainment

You will need to blow off steam during the months and months of stressful wedding planning. You may be tempted to go out with the girls and blow that steam off with the help of some cocktails. Although hanging out with the girls will definitely help you feel better and relieve some of your stress, there’s no reason you need to do this at the local bar. You and your girls will probably have more fun hanging out at someone’s house and enjoying the same cocktails. It will save you a lot of money in the long run and you won’t have to fight to be heard over loud music or have drink spilled on you as a stranger runs past you. Meet once a month or once a week, however often you need to. Relax even more by doing spa nights and chatting and laughing while you soak your feet or give each other facials. At the end of the month, calculate how much money you saved and put that money right into your wedding account.

Forego the Joe

A lot of people can’t get through the first hour of their day, never mind the entire day, without a cup of coffee. You don’t need to give coffee up completely but you can buy a travel mug that costs approximately seven dollars and brew a pot when you first get up in the morning. Using your new travel cup, take one to work with you instead of making your regular stop at your local coffee shop. Because making your own cup of coffee at home costs approximately five to ten cents a cup, compared to the two dollars plus you’ll spend retail, you’ll save about two dollars every day. And that’s if you only have one cup! Keep track of how much your making versus buying and at the end of the month, put that money into your wedding account. At the end of two or three months of doing this, you may have enough money in your account to pay for your reception DJ.

Eat Better, Save More

Wedding planning will have you rushing from here to there and trying to cram a thousand errands into twenty-four hours. All of that running around can make you hungry and you may be tempted to stop at the nearest drive-thru along the way. Consider how much take-out food costs and start making your own food at home instead. This has so many benefits besides saving money. There really is no reason you shouldn’t do it.

We all know that fast food is full of empty calories and severely deficient in anything nutritious. When you are stressed out and exhausted from wedding planning, your body needs the proper food to refuel. It simply can’t get this from a fast food burger and would be much better served having a sandwich on whole wheat at home. Not only that but all brides want to look phenomenal in their wedding dress and so eating healthier at home will also help you achieve this. Buying food and bringing it home to cook is so much cheaper than having someone prepare it for you. Even if you’re buying hamburgers to take back home to the grill, the way you prepare it will be healthier and you’ll spend approximately eight dollars on a twelve pack of burgers rather than five dollars on one burger. Again, keep track of how many times you opt to dine at home instead of eating out and at the end of the month, put all of that money into your wedding account.

Make Money on What You Own

Go through your entire house and make piles of clothes, appliances, and anything else that you do not want or no longer need. Look around on online auction sites, such as eBay or visit your local consignment shops to see if you can sell it. You will be amazed at how much money you have laying around your house and anything you make off your old clutter of course goes into your wedding account.

Save Like You’re About to Get Married

Saving only makes sense when you’re well, trying to save money. But in this case, saving refers to really thinking about something before you buy it. Do you need it or do you want it? Would you rather have the item you’re about to purchase or would you rather add one more person to your guest list? Whenever you’re about to purchase something, think about what it means for your wedding. Spending one hundred dollars at the spa or on an outfit might not mean that much to you but consider that saving that money could mean the difference between settling for something average or getting what you really want!