Getting divorced- best financial tools for getting life together

[Anonymous]

I’m separating accounts and such right now and I want to do this right. Soon to be ex-DH always handled the day to day finances and it’s a bit intimidating to take everything over now. I’m the higher earning spouse, so I’ll be paying child support as stipulated by our separation agreement. Other than a mortgage and one student loan and a few lawyer bills I have no debt. I’ll need to find some funds to refurnish half of the house since he took (by right) half of the things in the house.

What tips and tricks do you have for this phase?

Any good budgeting/bill paying apps? I hear good things about Mint.

[Anonymous]

I didn't use an app or anything, but I made a running spreadsheet of household items/furniture I needed to replace, and tried to prioritize them. Otherwise I would have gone to Home Goods and ended up with a cart full of nothing useful.

I've always paid the bills, etc so I just made myself a budget and let a few months play out to see how close I was, and then made any adjustments. I have all bills paid out automatically at the beginning of the month so that I know exactly what is leftover. That's just what works for me, but this may require trial and error for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't use an app or anything, but I made a running spreadsheet of household items/furniture I needed to replace, and tried to prioritize them. Otherwise I would have gone to Home Goods and ended up with a cart full of nothing useful.

I've always paid the bills, etc so I just made myself a budget and let a few months play out to see how close I was, and then made any adjustments. I have all bills paid out automatically at the beginning of the month so that I know exactly what is leftover. That's just what works for me, but this may require trial and error for you.

The comment about HomeGoods is ringing true. I would have some super cute accent pieces and no dishes and cooking spoons.

[Anonymous]

Are you going to be comfortable financially or struggling? If you’re not sure prioritize your bills for the first few months before you spend money refurnishing your house. It’s always good to take a minute to let things settle before you jump in.

There’s always Facebook marketplace and Craigslist for used stuff.

Mint is a good budgeting app. You can start there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m separating accounts and such right now and I want to do this right. Soon to be ex-DH always handled the day to day finances and it’s a bit intimidating to take everything over now. I’m the higher earning spouse, so I’ll be paying child support as stipulated by our separation agreement. Other than a mortgage and one student loan and a few lawyer bills I have no debt. I’ll need to find some funds to refurnish half of the house since he took (by right) half of the things in the house.

What tips and tricks do you have for this phase?

Any good budgeting/bill paying apps? I hear good things about Mint.

I do all of my bill paying through my bank - or through my credit card. For me it is the easiest way to see everything in front of me.

I would not purchase anything until I have a very good sense of my monthly expenses. Mortgage, utilities, child support, taxes, kids camps etc. Not having debt on 1 income is different that having the cash flow for a household.

[Anonymous]

Post in parenting special concerns on this site.
I use excel to track money in and money out.
See this thread: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/index/posts/list/190333.page

Get a roommate. See if you can find another single mom in your child's school.

[Anonymous]

Oh PS, you may want to consider an annual exchange of tax returns, in case you aren't always the higher earner. Child support should change as your relative incomes do.

[Anonymous]

Be 1000% certain you can afford the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be 1000% certain you can afford the house.

I can afford the house and bills. I’ve done enough of a rough budget to ensure that I can afford to keep it along with paying child support and feeding everyone. I will always make more than exDH. I will most likely have some debt for a little while until I pay off the legal bills and refurnish the house. Good idea about used furniture. No reason to go fancy right now.