How I Became the Chief Financial Officer at Our House

I don't remember the exact moment it happened. I suspect that it was a slow progression over time; a combination of my need for control over our financial picture and my husband's need to not have to deal with any of it. We're both accountants and therefore both have the skills to make and keep a budget and track what comes in and what goes out. My love of finding deals and paying the absolute lowest price for everything probably was what ultimately landed me the job of running the financial show.

Every family has a CFO. While many financial decisions will be made by both of you, only one of you is likely to be the one to keep track of it all and to do the financial planning needed to run a family. If one spouse is working and the other is managing the household, financial management often falls into that category naturally. When both spouses are working, it is often the spouse who it would bother most if the finances were a mess that ends up taking the reigns.

In our case, I took control of our finances due to need. When I first started up my accounting practice, money was incredibly tight. Every dollar was spoken for before it came in the door and our finances needed constant micro-management to keep it on the right side of bleeding edge. Now, although our finances are in a completely different place, I still manage every dollar coming in and going out. Most millionaires do the same thing. You can't save money if you don't know where it's going.

If you want to act like a CFO, here are some tips for making your finances ship shape:

Stop increasing your debt

To really get a stranglehold on your family's finances, commit to not going another penny in debt- today! If you have credit cards with available room on them, it's easy for the balance to keep inching upwards. If you start budgeting every dollar that comes in the door, you won't have to increase your debt and can, instead, start paying it down.

Plan your savings

Instead of saying that whatever is left over at the end of the month will go into savings (there never is anything left at the end of the month), treat your monthly savings like any other expense. Budget for it and tuck it away in an account that is not easy to instantly access. If you treat it like any other expense, it will begin to accumulate without a lot of effort on your part.

Track everything

Invest in a software program to track your income and expenses against your budget. This will save you a substantial amount of time in the long run and will show you where your budget has holes easily. Tracking what you spend and where are the most important steps in wrangling your finances. You can't fix what you don't know about.

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Getting Out of Debt in 2011

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