I continue to see changes occur due to my relationship status change to “married”. My pay stub (actually, a “pay advice statement” indicating what I was paid in salary and what was taken for deductions before the pittance of a remainder is direct-deposited into my bank accounts) now says, “Status: Married.”

Woo-wee! My withholding for Federal and State taxes actually went down, too, making my take-home pay a bit larger. I now am considering how to reallocate what’s left over to various deposit accounts. But first, pay ME!

Yessir… I practice what I preach. I pay myself first. Each paycheck diverts a significant chunk of change to my 401K. Doing that prevents the money from even being available to me to spend on something else. Rule #1: Pay yourself first..

The next chunk of money from my paycheck is deposited into our joint checking account, to cover my share of what we require for regular monthly expenses for utilities and the mortgage.

What remains after that is deposited in a personal account. I call what’s left “pittance,” or what I once called (when I was a kid), my allowance. That is the money that I can spend as I please. And the new “married” status with less withholding means there’s more of it!

While it doesn’t please me that much to pay (cash) for gas/petrol for the truck and the Harley, my allowance goes for that. As well as cash that I share with my spouse when we buy groceries.

Because I operate on a cash basis for most expenses, I literally see my allowance depleting, so it works well psychologically to prevent me from spending money frivolously on lunch or dinner out, impulse purchases at stores, and so forth.

If I manage my money wisely between pay dates, I have some money left over that I put in a savings fund for future purchases, which may include boots or other things I want.

But since I do not spend money on a data plan for a smartphone, don’t eat out, and don’t go to movies or other entertainment, I am able to save quite a lot. I’m not saying that everyone should be a frugal spend-thrift (or cheapskate) like me. I’m just saying that it is easy to save money by not spending it on things I don’t want, will not use, or not do.

So what will I do with my new windfall in take-home pay due to reduced withholding because my status is now “married?” Well, don’t think it’s huge; it’s not.

Since I have no debt — no car loans or extended credit card bills, nothing other than a mortgage — I have some charitable organizations that I target for support, so I will send some contributions to them above what I ordinarily budget to contribute each year.

Life is short: allocate your money wisely and enjoy the benefits of marriage!