The biggest blow during a separation may not be emotional, but financial. Many married couples have been married so long that they forget how to manage finances on their own. Here are a few tips to help you through.

1. Audit Your Spending Save receipts from everything that you purchase for two weeks. Separate items out into categories that make sense to you, such as “Lunch” for lunches, “Groceries” for grocery store purchases, and “Personal Items” for items such as clothes and toiletries. See where you are spending the most money and target those categories for cutbacks. Budget the money that you plan to save on these cutbacks for direct use for debt repayment or savings. Generally, you want to limit spending on items like lunches, entertainment, and clothing until your financial situation is more certain.
2. Pay Yourself First When you get your paycheque, pay your bills before doing anything else. If there is any left over, take a small percentage and deposit it into a Tax Free Savings Account before spending the rest on entertainment and personal items.
3. Limit Credit Card Purchases New divorcees, both male and female, have a tendency to go on a spending spree when they split up. This is typically done on a credit line. The last thing that you want to do right now is get into more debt. Even if you are selling off the family home and you expect a big windfall from it, that money is better spent in investments right now than a flight to a beach somewhere. We also tend to spend on credit in anticipation of funds that we are going to get. Nothing is certain during a separation or divorce, so spending money before you get it is not a good strategy at this time. Spend more time with friends instead of indulging in “retail therapy”.

There are a number of things that you can do to save money during a separation. It is important to keep in mind that your financial situation is uncertain until a divorce is finalized and that there is a need to conserve in order to prepare for potentially leaner times ahead.