Welcome to "Couples + Money" (opens in new tab). Forget about questions about your sex life. Let's talk about something more personal. Let's talk about what you and your partner do and don't do with your paychecks.

Every other Thursday, a couple sits down with MarieClaire.com to talk candidly about how they divide their finances. We'll show you all the details, including what each person pays personally, what they split 50-50, who pays the tab at restaurants, who fights over bank statements, and more.

This week, Brittany Klein, 29, and her husband Kellan, 29, write a personal finance blog together. They have been officially married for 15 years and live in Rochester, NY.

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Brittany: We are high school sweethearts.

Kellan: We met in my junior year ASL class. We ended up in the same class and started walking together. We sat next to each other in class, and we started passing notes.

Brittany: It was basically history from there.

Kellan: I graduated with a degree in business administration, but I also had a passion for being a police officer. I ended up getting a job as a deputy jailer at the county jail, which I did for two and a half years and was deeply depressed because it wasn't the kind of job I wanted. Luckily Brittany was hired as a teacher to support us and I was able to quit my job. I went back to school to become a home inspector but was still looking for ways to make money online. That's when I came across a personal finance blog that was making a lot of money. That's when the idea hit me. in July 2016, we started The Savvy Couple (opens in new tab) as a passion project to help others. for 9 months, we worked early and worked weekends. we started a new business, The Savvy Couple, in July 2016, we started a new business, The Savvy Couple, in July 2016, we started a new business, The Savvy Couple. In that ninth month we made $50 through sponsorship; within a week I went to Brittany and said, "I want to quit my job." by the second year we had hit $10,000 and were confident we could make it together full time. I went to Brittany again: "If we can afford it and it makes sense, would you like to join this business full time? She said, "That would be great." We set about paying off our debt: we paid off $25,000 in five months and had our biggest month of blogging ever. The following summer, Brittany quit her job.

Brittany: Living and working together is definitely an adjustment. It's not for everyone, but we find ways to juggle different schedules. Consistency is key and that has really helped me as a manager and in life.

Kellan: We have a daughter, Callie, who is 18 months old, and a little dog, Charlie, who is 12 years old.

Brittany: Callie's budget has definitely evolved. We had a lot of help from showers and family members when she was a newborn. Luckily, my brother had a daughter before I had Callie, so I got a lot of hand-me-downs. Now it is still about $50 a month. Just diapers and necessities. Charlie is about $40 every couple of months. A few years ago, Charlie had a medical emergency that cost us quite a bit of money. We used our emergency medical expenses for that.

Kellan: Now that we both work from home, Brittany watches Callie during the day and I take care of her later.

Kellan: When we moved in together, we discussed student loans. It was the first time we had a real discussion about money budgeting, debt, and understanding student loans. We had a budget for how much money we were making from side jobs, school work, and help from our parents.

Brittany: Fifteen years ago, we just started talking about who would treat me to breakfast on the way to school in the morning. I love coffee.

Kellan: We just moved from LLC to S Corp. So we started taking out $66,000 in payroll from the business. We take out as little as we can to live on and keep that money in the business to continue to grow.

Kellan: We are Christians and believe that marriage is a one-time thing. We are best friends, soul mates, and have a very deep bond. Soon after we got married, we opened a joint account.

Kellan: As personal finance bloggers we talk about it every day.

Brittany: We have a weekly marriage meeting, which we arranged based on a PDF we saw on Pinterest. We have a section where we talk about our budget and open up Mint.com (opens in new tab) to see what's going on and how we're reaching our goals.

Kellan: It takes 15-30 minutes. We talk about our marriage as well. We try to compliment each other on what has gone really well, what we are grateful for, and what we can improve on. At the end of the month, we sometimes talk about the big picture, like net worth and investments.

Brittany: We also have to be very open as business owners. Communication about money is basically all part of our business model. So I think it's just something we do naturally.

Kellan: My parents always involved their children in money discussions, so I was always fascinated with money and numbers from a very young age. When my father lost his job at Kodak when I was 13 years old, my parents came to us and said, "You know, we've got to get a new job. We have to cut back in one area for a little while until we can find another job." They even made a budget spreadsheet to show us where we were spending our money. My father was always keen to make sure we had an allowance and a chore chart, forcing us to save 10% of it. He also brought us to meetings of financial planners for our retirement.When I was 13 or 14, I started looking for a job. My father taught me about eBay and how to sell things I no longer used. I became passionate about making money online and saw how much freedom it could bring. I was always selling stuff on eBay and Amazon.

Brittany I was a single mother, working with three children. She withdrew the money she needed when she needed it. There was no such thing as a system. And seeing what she went through and the sacrifices she had to make, it had a huge impact on me. I'm more of a saver, I find the best deals and always try to stay within my budget.

Kellan: I think I'm a spendthrift. Brittany definitely has a hard time spending money, but I'm still very frugal. I wear shoes until they have holes in them.

Brittany: We've been together forever and Kellan basically taught me how to drive. We learned a lot from each other. He also helped me learn finance.

Kellan: I think the learning curve is very difficult when you first start blogging. So many bloggers fail. They can't get past it and they can't commit to the work. Now there is a lot more competition than when we started. So it's important to pick a niche that you are very passionate about and can work on as a hobby. If you can make money at it, that is just the icing on the cake. Food blogs and lifestyle blogs make a lot of money from ads and display ads. Personal finance blogs make money through affiliate marketing and creating their own digital products. Each niche has its own unique monetization methods.

Brittany: When Kellan approached me about paying off my student loans, I stopped him. I am a saver, so I wasn't going to rush to pay it off. Everyone has debt and everyone takes time to pay it off. It took a long time to convince me, and it didn't convince me for a long time. But it did help me quit my job.

Kelan: You are looking for only one answer. I bought a motorcycle with money I saved from a side job in college. I talked to Brittany about it, but she was obviously against it. Once Callie was born, I sold the bike. As an ongoing discussion, I am notorious for going over my personal budget. Not in the hundreds of dollars kind of outrageous amounts. Brittany is very good at going under it. So we joke around and talk about how we can improve.

Brittany: We get $100 each a month. Within that range, I don't have to ask their permission to buy anything. Most of my money goes to coffee. We use our joint entertainment budget for fun things that we do with our spouses and Callie. For other fun things like trips, we have our own monthly budget.

Kellan: I plan to be financially independent by age 35. That's five and a half years away, and we can accomplish that by growing our business and brand. But we don't like the idea of not working; we love what we do. We love going on vacation. We make sure we're having fun while we're working hard. We have a goal of buying a 5th wheel RV and truck to travel all over the US in the summer and winter. We also plan to save up a down payment and either move into a new home or build our own barndominium.

Brittany: We also hope to start another family in a year or two. So that is something that is at least on my radar. I don't really think beyond that. Kellan is a long-term planner.

The interview has been abridged and edited for clarity. Interviewing and editing by Katherine J. Igoe. Design and illustrations by Morgan McMullen.

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