Household Budgeting. Sounds like something your mom did, just before she baked a cake from scratch, right? Well, you and your bride may opt for the store-bought confections, but no one can draw up a budget for yourselves better than the two of you can. And since you may be overwhelmed with all the wedding moola you've received as gifts, now's a good time to get down to the business of deciding where that money would be best spent — before it disappears.

One word of advice before you start: Give yourselves a block of time some night or weekend when you're not pressed by ten other engagements. This is a duty that requires careful consideration on both of your parts.

The Groundwork

Money, money, money. It causes happiness, it provokes craziness, and it often leads to the biggest arguments in any given marriage. Since the last thing you want is for this budgeting session to devolve into The Silent Treatment (that would be decidedly counterproductive), it's important that each of you approach this meeting seriously and open-mindedly — and that you agree from the beginning not to go to war over any one budgeting issue.

From the get-go, you'll need to identify yourselves. Since, at this point, you know each other intimately, you'll be identifying your spending habits. Are you a saver or a spender? Is your wife frugal or free with cash? Be honest with your assessment of yourself and give each other the opportunity to disagree with the self-evaluations.

If, for example, your wife identifies herself as extremely thrifty, but she's sitting across the table from you wearing a blouse that cost roughly the same amount as your monthly rent, you might want to bring up the discrepancy — gently. But be prepared to hear from her that your tennis shoes were approximately the same price as your car payment.

The important thing here is to get the conversation started. Ignoring the fact that one of you is spending every last penny on frivolous purchases will only lead to bigger problems down the road. Many couples choose to ignore their hemorrhagic cash flow problems rather than fight over them. These are often the same couples that are up to their ears in debt and have scary credit ratings.

You Want to Eat This Month?

If both of you are new to the budgeting scene, you'll want to address the basics first. Take both of your pay-checks and total your take-home pay for the month. There's your base number.

Next, make a list of your monthly expenditures: car payments; your rent or mortgage; student (or other) loan payments; food; credit cards; utilities (heat, electricity, phone, water). Your rent is set in stone, as are your other loans — for now. See if there's any way to cut back on your other expenses. Do you eat out every single night? Dining at home is much cheaper.

Are both of you in the habit of charging everything, resulting in sky-high credit card bills? Try carrying cash for a week and using the cards only for emergencies — you may find it's much harder for you to fork over actual money, and you might also find yourself realizing just how much (read: too much) you've been paying for things when you're forced to actually think about its price.

You might feel like your father when you go about trying to reduce your electric bill by turning lights off when you leave a room — but you're on to your father's secret. He decided a long time ago to keep his money instead of giving it to the electric company out of the goodness of his heart. When you're ready to follow in these footsteps, look into the further possibilities of not giving money away to the other utility companies. Turn the water off when you're brushing your teeth. Turn the heat down at night and when you leave the house and when you're away for the weekend. Maybe you don't need to be paying for call waiting when neither of you is ever home to use the phone anyway.

Big Expenses

You may be wondering what the big deal is. You've both been living on your own, and moving in together is going to save you a lot of money right off the bat. That's great.

What are you going to do with that money? Will you invest it, buy a house, pay off outstanding loans, decorate your new home?

What are you saving for, you ask? What good is money that's off limits?

Two schools of thought: Save for a purchase (you want to pay cash for your next car, for example, or you want to establish a savings fund for your child's education, or you may want to start a business in a year or two), or save for emergencies.

Yeah, yeah. You have credit and credit will always see you through. Stop right there. Think about a worst-case scenario down the road: You lose your job. Your wife is injured and is forced to stop working. You have kids, a mortgage, two car payments, credit card bills, and various other expenditures (you know, like food and heat). Depressing? Yes, it is. (Apologies.) However, you could possible find yourself in a very difficult financial situation someday — and wouldn't it be nice to know that you have six months of living expenditures socked away?

The hard reality of life is that your situation, as great as it is right now, can turn on a dime — and it's always best to be prepared.