Families today come in many shapes, forms, and sizes. In years gone by, the term family referred to a father, mother, and 2 1/3 children, but that is simply no longer the case. A family is any group that consists of two or more people who live under the same roof and share the same financial situation.
The income of a family is the total amount of money that is contributed by every member to the common good....a REAL mutual fund, if you will. The rent or mortgage, the utility bills, the groceries, etc., are all purchased out of this mutual fund.
Every member of a family that contributes financially should have a voice in how the family income is spent. Each member that contributes will also spend. When the day finally comes to make a family budget, and that day WILL come at some point, the viewpoint of every contributing member is important. The family budget should be a consensus.
Some things are, of course, nonnegotiable. The rent or mortgage must be paid, electricity and gas bills have to be paid, and food has to be purchased. Phone service used to be optional, but it isn't now. The cable TV bill is something that everybody uses and so is the Internet service. Everybody has to get to and from their jobs.
Once the essentials have been covered, however, the remainder is disposable income, and the decision about this disposable income is a family affair. Does the family need a new car, or would the family rather have a boat? Would a family vacation be the best choice for spending the disposable income? Or, is all of what would have been disposable income already allotted to pay credit card bills? Budgeting family income is a family affair.
Milos Pesic is a professional Debt Management consultant who runs a highly popular and comprehensive Debt Consolidation web site. For more articles and resources on debt management, debt consolidation programs, free debt counseling and much more visit his site at:
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