This Free, 30-Day Challenge Helps Married Couples Take Care of Their Money Woes
Congratulations! You’ve said your vows. You’ve thrown that bouquet (who knew Grandma could jump like that?). You’re even rocking a nice tan from your honeymoon.
Now married life really begins. Like it or not, your finances are a major factor in your marriage. According to Dave Ramsey, 86% of couples who got married in the last five years started out in debt.
It’s OK. Take a deep breath. We’ve put together a one-month challenge for married couples to get your finances in shape for your happily ever after.
Do you accept the challenge? If so, say, “I do” (again).
Day 1: Create a Fun Account
Saving is tough, and having a spouse doesn’t make it any easier. So what if you could do it in a way where you wouldn’t even notice?
We talked to one guy with a different story. In just nine months, Samuel Demeny was able to save up $1,250 — without even thinking about it.
His method? Banking with Chime. This free online bank gives you the option to put 10% of your direct-deposit paycheck away into your savings. The money adds up quickly, and it’s completely automatic.
Demeny said he and his boyfriend planned to use the money to help pay for an upcoming move instead of having to use credit cards.
“We can pay for a lot of things up front, because we both use Chime, and the money’s saved,” Demeny said.
Opening a Chime bank account takes five minutes, and you get access to its checking and savings accounts.
Day 2: Tackle Your Credit Card Debt
Sometimes “for better or for worse” includes taking on your spouse’s credit card or other high-interest debt. Don’t let it get you down. Instead, take those balances down in a smart way.
That’s where a company like Fiona can be helpful. It can help you find personalized lending options to refinance or consolidate your debt to potentially save thousands dollars in interest.
Fiona will show you all the lenders willing to help you pay off your credit card and eliminate the headache of paying bills by allowing you to make one payment each month.
If your credit score is at least 620, you can borrow up to $250,000 (no collateral needed) and compare interest rates, which start at 2.49%. The idea is to secure a loan at a lower interest rate, potentially helping you save thousands. Repayment plans range from 24 to 84 months.
Take, for example, Katherine, who faced $12,000 in credit-card debt. Holding her back? The 15.24% interest rate. By refinancing with a 5%-interest, seven-year personal loan, she saved $12,000 in interest.
If she’d kept on the same road, she would have paid something like $14,000 in interest alone over 25 years. Yikes.
So even if you’re simply curious about what’s out there, know that checking rates on Fiona won’t hurt your credit score — and can probably save you in interest.
Day 3: Start Adulting With a Life Insurance Policy
When you’re married, you have someone else who counts on you. If you have a family, the last thing you want is to leave them without any financial support once you’re gone.
But you’d rather spend your time hanging out with your fantastic fam than waiting for a doctor to give you yet another exam.
If you’re under the age of 54 and want to get a fast life insurance quote without the medical exam, pushy sales calls or even getting up from the couch, check out Bestow. The company is built around one concept — helping you get the term life insurance policy you want, simply and fast.
It just takes five minutes to answer some basic lifestyle questions, and you can get quotes for up to $1 million in coverage without a medical exam. If you’re approved, you can personalize your coverage to fit your budget. You can change or cancel your plan at any time.
Shopping for life insurance isn’t fun to think about, right? Get it done fast, and find something that fits your budget, even if it’s just a few dollars per month. You can get coverage terms as low as two years, and your rates will never go up.
Bestow is available in 48 states (excludes New York and Georgia) and expanding quickly around the U.S.
Over 54 and/or living in New York or Georgia? We’ve got you covered, too. A company like Policygenius offers you an easy way to compare and buy life insurance. Unlike traditional providers, this online-only platform provides an easy way to apply, and it offers instant quotes from top carriers online to help you make a quicker decision.
To get your quotes, you’ll just enter some info about yourself and your health online. Once you choose a life insurance company, you can apply right online, and a Policygenius rep will give you a quick call to ask a few follow-up questions.
Day 4: Check Your Credit Scores
Your credit score is important. The better your score, the better deal you’ll get on a mortgage, car loan or credit card. We’re talking big money here.
Even if you’re not buying a house anytime soon, a lousy credit score means you’ll get hit with a high security deposit whenever you rent a car or move into a new apartment.
But did you know your credit score could be inaccurate? One out of five credit reports have an error, according to a study by the Federal Trade Commission.
To keep a closer eye on your credit, get your credit score and a “credit report card” for free from Credit Sesame. It breaks down exactly what’s on your credit report in layman’s terms, how it affects your score and how to address it.
Because it simplifies everything, you should be able to spot any errors. For instance, if you find an “unpaid” credit card that you know you paid, or a bill in collections you know never existed, you can dispute the incorrect information and raise your credit score.
James Cooper, a motivational speaker, raised his credit score 277 points using Credit Sesame. Now he talks to high school students about the importance of having good credit and uses what he’s learned through Credit Sesame as a blueprint for his lessons.
“We want to touch the Z Generation,” Cooper says “We’re not in the business of fixing credit. We want to get to you before you have to fix your credit.”
Day 5: Budget Your Wedded Bliss
Saving money is hard. Throw another person into the mix — with very different views of how money should be saved, spent and managed — and it can feel impossible.
That’s why Twine was created.
The app specializes in helping couples save and invest toward their individual and joint financial goals. It provides financial advice and automated money management, and it makes collaborating on short- and long-term savings goals simple. Saving for a second car? Twine can help. Your dream home? It can help you map those savings out, too.
Bonus: Twine is offering Penny Hoarder readers $5 to open a savings account — one with a 1.05% variable interest rate. From there, you can set joint goals and guideposts, and keep an eye on your contributions and your partner’s.
If you prefer to handle your finances on your own terms, Twine allows you to set individual goals, too.
Twine can also assess your financial situation and help you start investing. Once you’ve socked away at least $100, you can start investing with a starter option (you’ll pay 25 cents per month for every $500 you invest).
Whether you’re saving as a team or investing in your own ideal life, Twine can help you start with what you have and work toward those big goals — and bigger dreams.
Days 6 through 8: It’s the Weekend! Find Free Stuff in Your City
What? You thought we’d make you work every day? Good marriages need room for quality time to have fun together, too, right? Just don’t spend a lot of money doing it.
From museums to community movie nights, there’s most likely a rich menu of 100% free things to do wherever you are!
Check your local newspaper or city website, and see what you can get into — without paying a dime.
Day 9: Wash Your Car, and Clean up Your Car Insurance Bill
You each have a vehicle. One took you on your first date. The other was topped with streamers and balloons on your wedding day. Now it’s time to give them both a good wash — and then clean up your insurance bills.
You know how there are eight different places in town that claim to make the best pizza? You know it can’t be true, right?
Well, maybe. It depends on what kind of pizza you like.
Car insurance is kind of like that. Every company claims to have the lowest rates, but what you really want to find is the best policy with the best prices for you. Insurify helps you do this — online.
If you want to find the best rate for you and your vehicle, you need to get specific. What kind of car do you drive? Where do you live? Insurify can use this information to show you what kind of discounts exist and offer tailor-made quotes.
At Insurify, you can get personalized quotes from national companies — including all the discounts you qualify for — in just two minutes. It’ll even keep tabs on the rates and send you an email to let you know when a better one is available.
OK, car insurance isn’t pizza, but you do want to find the one that works best for you.
Day 10: Get Paid to Get Fit
Your honeymoon was full of buffets, decadent desserts and pina coladas. Totally worth it. Now it’s time to make up for those fun times.
There’s a cool company, HealthyWage, that will literally pay you for losing weight.
Here’s how it works:
- Read our full HealthyWage review, and sign up.
- Define a goal weight and the amount of time you’ll give yourself to achieve it.
- Place a bet on yourself of at least $200 a month.
Depending on how much you have to lose, how long you give yourself to do it and how much money you put on the table, you could win up to $10,000!
Wondering if it can really work? We talked to one woman, Teresa Suarez, who lost 68 pounds — and made over $2,400.
The couple that gets fit together stays together, right?
Day 11: Make a Shopping List — and Get Paid
You probably shopped online before you were married. You won’t likely stop now, right? But now it’s even more important to save money where you can.
One of our favorite ways to save is with Ebates, a cash-back site that rewards you nearly every time you buy something online. For example, Ebates gives you 10% cash-back on online purchases at Walmart.
Plus, you’ll get a free $10 gift card to Walmart for giving the site a try.
Day 12: Stock the Fridge and Pantry With Savings
They say that 90% of marriage is asking “What should we have for dinner?” That number may actually be a bit low.
One of the best ways to avoid this trap is to get ahead of it. If you plan your meals for the week and shop accordingly, you’ll be all set. You know what makes your meals taste even better than butter or salt? Savings.
Believe it or not, Ibotta will pay you cash for taking pictures of your grocery store receipts.
Before heading to the store, search for items on your shopping list within the Ibotta app. When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes, and earn cash back.
Ibotta is free to download. Plus, you’ll get a $5 sign-up bonus after uploading your first receipt.
Pre-planned dinner plus a pay day? That’s romance, right there!
Day 13: Put the Gold in Your ‘Golden Years’
When you said “I do,” you made a promise to make a future together. That future will look a lot better if you plan for your retirement right now.
If you’re like most people, you have no idea whether your 401(k) is on pace for retirement or just sputtering along.
Chances are, your 401(k) could be doing a lot better. Take control with help from Blooom, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm that can optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you and keep it speeding toward retirement.
It just takes a few minutes to get a free 401(k) analysis that will show you whether your investments are allocated properly and whether you’re losing money paying hidden investment fees. It’ll even tell you just how much more money your account could earn by the time you want to retire.
After that, if you sign up, it’s just $10 per month to have Blooom monitor and maximize your 401(k). Bonus: Penny Hoarders get the first month free with the code PNNYHRD.
Think of Blooom like a mechanic constantly fine-tuning your car’s engine so it gives you the best possible performance and gas mileage. Except it’s your 401(k) — and your future.
Days 14 and 15: It’s The Weekend! Relax, and Grab a Glass of Wine
You’ve made great strides! Hey, marriage isn’t all work. Give yourself a break today. You’ve earned it.
Tonight, kick back, relax and enjoy each other’s company with a glass of wine. Of course, you don’t want to go overboard and spend a bundle on that bottle. Find a great bottle of wine for under $20, and toast to your financial progress.
Day 16: Clear Your Clutter
Wow. Now that there are two of you, all of your stuff really adds up, doesn’t it? It’s not just the things you have two of, like ironing boards and disco balls; it’s clothes, shoes and furniture.
Set up shop, and make some extra money from the stuff you don’t need (and probably don’t have room for anymore).
You can sell virtually anything on Letgo. This intuitive app lets you snap a photo and upload your item in less than 30 seconds. It removes a lot of the hassle of selling things online, and it’s 100% free to use.
Marriage tip: Only sell your stuff. Posting your spouse’s items is a one-way ticket to the dog house.
Day 17: Relax, and Watch Movie Previews
If we told you that you could get paid while watching videos on your computer, you’d probably laugh.
It’s too good to be true, right?
But we’re serious. By signing up for a free account with InboxDollars, you could add up to $225 a month to your pocket. They’ll send you short surveys every day, which you can fill out while you watch someone bake brownies or catch up on the latest Kardashian drama.
No, InboxDollars won’t replace your full-time job, but it’s something easy you can do while you’re already on the couch tonight, wasting time on your phone.
Unlike other sites, InboxDollars pays you in cash — no points or gift cards. It’s already paid its users more than $56 million.
Signing up takes about one minute, and you’ll immediately receive a $5 bonus to get you started.
Day 18: Get Money for Past Purchases
What couple couldn’t use a little extra money? Here’s an easy way to see whether you could get money back on purchases you’ve already made.
One of our secret weapons is called Capital One Shopping Price Protection — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It’s free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.
Plus, if your guaranteed shipment shows up late, Capital One Shopping Price Protection will help you get compensated.
Capital One Shopping Price Protection compensates us when you sign up using the links we provide.
Day 19: Play the Slots — and Earn More Interest Than at Your Bank
It’s Day 30!! Go ahead; relax, and play some games. But you’re not done helping your finances just yet.
The folks who created Long Game have you covered with a game that’s fun and helps you achieve your financial goals.
As you save and accomplish missions, you’ll earn coins to play mini games for cash prizes. We’re talking the classics, like slot machines, scratch-offs and spin-to-win wheels.
Once you link your bank account, you’ll earn 300 coins, so you can start playing while you wait for payday.
Day 20: Knock Up To $715/Year Off Your Car Insurance in Minutes
When was the last time you compared car insurance rates? Chances are you’re seriously overpaying with your current policy.
If it’s been more than six months since your last car insurance quote, you should look again.
And if you look through a digital marketplace called SmartFinancial, you could be getting rates as low as $22 a month — and saving yourself more than $700 a year.
It takes one minute to get quotes from multiple insurers, so you can see all the best rates side-by-side. Yep — in just one minute you could save yourself $715 this year. That’s some major cash back in your pocket.
So if you haven’t checked car insurance rates in a while, see how much you can save with a new policy.
Day 21 and 22: It’s the Weekend! Enjoy Free Stuff at Your Gym or Apartment Complex
If you have a gym membership or a fitness lounge at your apartment complex, you might be missing out on lots of luxurious freebies.
Think tanning beds, massage chairs or complimentary personal training sessions.
Get down there, and treat yourself!
Day 23: Take the First Baby Steps to Investing
Marriage makes you think about the future. A lot. A big part of preparing for your financial future is investing. Now that you’ve invested in that ring, it’s time to go further.
Consider starting an investment account through Acorns.
You can start small and stack up change over time with its “round-up” feature. That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account.
Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.
The idea is you won’t miss the digital pocket change, and the automatic savings stack up faster than you’d think. For example, we reviewed how Penny Hoarder Dana Sitar was able to save at a rate of $420 a year!
At that rate, you could set aside $1,000 in about two and a half years — without trying.
The app is $1 a month for balances under $1 million, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.
Day 24: Optimize Your Credit Card Rewards
So you want a credit card, but there are too many to choose from. What to do?
Should you leaf through your junk mail and just accept one of those credit card offers that show up in your mailbox? That would be quick and easy, right?
No, no, a thousand times no! Don’t do that. That’s a good way to end up unhappily shackled to a credit card that’s all wrong for you.
At least one in five cardholders are carrying around a credit card whose fees and rewards don’t match their actual spending habits, according to a 2016 study from J.D. Power.
To help you avoid becoming a statistic, here’s our guide to everything you need to know about credit cards — including how to pick the one that’s right for you.
Day 25: Shop Around Before Deciding Where to Stick Your Money
It’s smart to funnel some money into savings so you have an emergency fund, or to save up for a vacation or a major purchase.
But these accounts vary widely when it comes to how much interest you can earn. How can you possibly know where to go for the sweetest deal?
Check out Fiona’s savings account finder. Just type in your ZIP code and whether you’re looking for a savings account or a money market account (a mix of checking and savings).
Fiona’s search engine will show you a selection of savings accounts you could open, the interest rates they pay, their minimum balances and any fees they charge.
It’s an easy way to find high-yield online savings accounts that will pay you interest rates up to 20 times the national average!
Day 26: Put Your Bills on a Diet
Good news: As a married couple, you’ll share bills. Bad news: They’re still bills.
The price of internet — and cable, if you’re still into that kind of thing — certainly isn’t decreasing. If anything, prices are steadily climbing.
And if you’ve had to chat with a representative from your internet/cable company recently, you know how long you can sit on hold.
That’s why it’s time to call in a robot. The negotiation bot Trim will negotiate your cable or internet bills down for you.
It works with Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and other major providers.
You can sign up simply with Facebook or your email address. Then, upload a PDF of your most recent bill, and Trim’s AI-powered system gets to work. If at first it doesn’t succeed, it’ll keep negotiating until it can save you some money.
Also, if you have any outages, Trim believes you deserve a credit, and it’ll handle that for you. Trim takes 33% of the savings tab, and you get the rest.
27: Go Window Shopping, and Earn Gift Cards
No extreme physical activity or pulled muscles required for this money-making trick that’s fun for couples. All you need to do is download the Shopkick app.
Once you sign up, the app pays you in “kicks” for walking into certain stores (including Walmart, Target, TJMaxx and more). You can redeem them for gift cards to a number of retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Sephora and Best Buy.
It pays you even more kicks for photos of receipts that include qualifying items you purchased in-store with a connected credit or debit card. You can also earn kicks for online purchases. You don’t have to do anything; your linked cards will automatically apply your kicks.
But don’t make the mistake of buying things you don’t need just for kicks, you know better than that.
Once you’ve earned your gift cards, you can enjoy them with a little quality time together.
Day 28 and 29: It’s the Weekend! Go to a Park
When’s the last time you went to the public park in your area?
You might be able to walk nature trails, goof around on a swing set, or just sit and watch the leaves fall. Take the time to simply be together and enjoy nature. It’s relaxing and relationship-building.
Day 30: Plan for a Bad Day. Seriously.
Few things stress marital bonds like sudden financial drama. A car breaks down. Someone breaks a toe, and medical bills pile up. The roof starts to leak.
The simplest way to avoid letting life’s little mishaps turn into financial disasters is to start an emergency fund. It’s simply a bank account with enough money to get you through a minor emergency or surprise bill.
But these accounts vary widely when it comes to how much interest you can earn. How can you possibly know where to go for the sweetest deal?
Check out Even Financial’s savings account finder. Just type in your ZIP code and whether you’re looking for a savings account or a money market account (a mix of checking and savings).
Even’s search engine will show you a selection of savings accounts you could open, the interest rates they pay, their minimum balances and any fees they charge.
It’s an easy way to find high-yield online savings accounts that will pay you interest rates up to 20 times the national average!
Bonus: Talk to a Tax Agent
Is it too much to ask to have one place to do your taxes professionally — regardless of how many deductions and forms you have — for free?
Nope. At least that’s what Credit Karma thinks. You probably know Credit Karma as the website to get your free credit score and find other financial products, and now it’s reinventing how you do your taxes. Its new Credit Karma Tax preparation lets you do your taxes with professional help for free.
From the time you sign up to the time you file, doing your taxes with Credit Karma is completely free. Have a lot of deductions? No problem. Need to talk to a professional to figure things out? Credit Karma can help you out. Want your max refund? It’s guaranteed.
You can even import your taxes from last year to get a head start with its Jumpstart feature.
Don’t let the guy sitting at that card table at the grocery store do your taxes. And don’t blow half of your return on a CPA. Try Credit Karma Tax preparation. It’s completely free, guaranteed accurate and lets you keep your whole refund.
Now you need to decide just how much fun to have with that refund!
You Did It!
See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? When you start thinking long-term, you need to think about your finances. When you bring someone else into the picture, it becomes even more important.
Tackling a few of these items can help set you up for a much better financial future. That’s worth a month’s work, right?
Now… let’s talk about having kids.
Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.
