Hello, Winebbers. My name is Jesse Meekam, and this is podcast number 87 for

you need a budget, where we teach you four rules to help you stop living paycheck to

paycheck, get out of debt and save more money.

Today's podcast is dedicated to the reluctant spouse.

I don't have one.

So I can't speak from experience here, but if I did have a reluctant spouse when it came to the budget,

I think I would start very, very slowly and I would start on a very positive note.

When people first decide they want to eat better or maybe exercise more, they depend on their excitement for the new thing as their drive.

And Mark mentioned in a blog post a bit ago about how he lost 25 pounds and he's been able to keep it off because he made some structural changes instead of just depending on willpower to get the job done.

Willpower doesn't get the job done for any long period of time.

And B.J. Fogg from Tiny Habits, which we've you know who we've had on the

podcast he would say the same thing. You just have to change the structure of things and

make it easy. So when you first start on a eating program, for instance, everyone wants to go all in.

You know, Monday is the day I'm going to start. Mondays the day I'm going to

banish all of my bad habits and never see them again. And they just don't stick. With a reluctant spouse, that is, that

problem of having something stick is multiplied. You're dealing with friction from the get-go. So not only do we have

you trying to perhaps change the finances of your family, but you have a spouse that's kind of

pushing against the entire process.

So, if I had a reluctant spouse, this would be my strategy and it would take a long time to get them fully on board with WINAB or any, you know, positive financial change.

This topic came about from hopping on the forums and reading lots of different threads about marriage and money.

Sometimes what we need to think about is maybe some marriage counseling to be honest. I am no

counselor and that's about as much as I can say about it. But that type of communication could go a long way. So that's something to consider, but a little

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