Have you ever wanted to meet the Instagram husband behind A Braided Blonde? You’re in luck! My husband, Chris, joins us in today’s episode to discuss how you can feel more confident in marriage based on our own experience.

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Who is Chris?

My husband, Chris, is a branch manager for a small finance company. Together, we share two beautiful children and live in Tennessee. While going full-time in content creation was a huge decision, I couldn’t have done it without Chris’ support. Ultimately, because his job has had us move before, it was the right fit.

How did we start dating?

When we were in college, my best friend and I went to hang out with the boys on the golf team. I personally was single, confident, and not looking to date. Despite not wanting to go, I ended up at a pool party, where my friend told me that Chris thought I was cute. Spoiler alert: he didn’t say that, but thought it. I started flirting with him and that was the start of our love story.

Young, Married, and Pregnant

While we were in college, I found out that I was pregnant. It was an unexpected shock, but it changed our lives for the better. We grew up really fast.

Since we were so young, we didn’t have any money. We joke that we’ve been broke since we found out we were pregnant. This has forced us to support each other in every aspect of our lives.

Overcoming Challenges

One of the biggest ways that we’ve grown as a couple is through improving our communication. While I’m open and honest about my feelings, Chris is a little more reserved. Being able to talk through our problems and communicate when needed has improved our marriage over the years.

Our Financial Journey

One of the larger arguments has come from finances and how each of us prioritizes our money. This has been something we’ve really improved on and are in a good space.

When we first started taking our finances seriously, we started following Dave Ramsey and doing the cash envelopes. After 5 or 6 years, we started using the Every Dollar App, which we didn’t love. Now we have all of our bills in one account with a set amount of money to spend on it. Then we have another account for fun money—when that runs out, we can’t spend any more money. This helped us to see how we were spending our money and being intentional with it. Beyond those two accounts, we have a money market account that we treat as our savings account.

We’re finally at a point where we feel like we’re in a healthy place with our finances.

Managing the Family Calendar

You’ve heard me talk about the family Google calendar I have. While it helps me manage our lives, Chris isn’t a huge fan of it and tends to still ask me what is going on in our lives each day. This allows us to know where we need to be and what’s going on with a quick glance on our phones. This calendar has saved us from many many fights that could have happened.

The Start of A Braided Blonde

After a few years together, we were living in Kentucky together and I was driving an hour to work everyday. One night after work, I went to Chris and told him I wanted to start a blog. He had no idea what that really meant and what it would become.

He said go for it though. You just need one person to support you who will also be there when you don’t succeed. Chris was that person for me.

He became the Instagram husband for A Braided Blonde on our dates and around the house. He supported me with encouragement, but was also helping me build this brand.

When I went full-time, he supported me as well. Realistically, I made half of my salary that first year. Thankfully it doubled then tripled over time, but it took a lot of work to build.

This business ebbs and flows through seasons—that’s when you need someone there to support you.

What the Future Holds

Long-term, it would be really fun to have Chris join me full-time in our business. That would honestly take a lot of planning and consideration to bring us both into this business full-time.

When we look to the future and our kids growing up, we’re excited for what’s to come.

Making Time for Each Other as Busy Parents

It’s important to make time for each other in marriage. For us, that means we plan time alone. One weekend per month, our kids have grandparents’ weekend with his parents. Spending that quality time together is so important.