Are you an engaged couple preparing to buy a house? Our goal is to buy within our first year of marriage. Here are a few tips to prepare for your first huge marital decision. This unbiased post is sponsored by TransUnion brought to you through ShopShare Network.

I feel like life moves so fast once you get married. It already moves fast enough as an adult. I'm not complaining, though. This is the most exciting time of my life. I'm engaged to the love of my life. We're planning our wedding, preparing to buy a house, and children are definitely in the near future. If you're engaged, I'm sure you've got the feels just like I do. Every single day I feel excited, thankful, overwhelmed, and stressed. It's completely natural to feel this way when your entire life is changing. However, you can never be prepared enough for these changes, especially financially. 

How we are financially preparing to buy a house within the first year of marriage.

It probably sounds quite daunting to pay for a wedding and then to buy a house, your most expensive purchase as a married couple. That's why you need to be prepared. You should have a real plan. My fiancé bought a place before so he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve. I thought I'd share them with you since I have so many awesome brides-to-be reading. 

Work on your Credit Score

If you're preparing to buy a house, you should immediately begin monitoring your credit score with TransUnion. As one of the three major credit reporting agencies, TransUnion is a trusted, sophisticated, global risk information provider. Both, you and your fiancé should be monitoring your credit regularly. “What's yours is mine,” refers to your credit, along with everything else. If you're monitoring, you can work on getting your score right where you want it to be. You should begin by: 

• Bringing down your credit card balances.
• Paying off other debt.
• Saving, instead of spending. 

It ‘s important to have a good credit score, so you can get a good loan for your new home. I know, it might sound very intimidating, but TransUnion does all the work for you. Join TransUnion now for only $9.95 per month and you'll receive the following: 

• Get Credit Monitoring for ONLY $9.95/month PLUS Get a Free 3-Bureau Report and Scores!
• See your complete credit picture with your 3-Bureau Report With Scores (a $29.95 value!)
• Check TransUnion score & report changes 24/7 with UNLIMITED refreshes
• Lock thieves out of your TransUnion Credit Report with 1-touch Credit Lock
• Understand your credit with powerful tools like Score Trending & Score Simulator
• Stay in the know with email alerts to critical credit report changes for ALL 3 Bureaus (starts immediately)

Talk about your financial goals

Once you start monitoring your credit, you can talk about your financial goals. You should decide what you'd each like you credit scores to be before marriage, so you can begin working on your marriage goals, as an engaged couple. It's never too early to talk about finances and being transparent with one another is key to a happy marriage. Begin the discussion now to save yourself awkward moments later. 

Set a date 

You should have a goal set to buy your first home. Obviously, things happen and everything might not work out exactly how you want it too, but setting goals are important. It gives you something to work towards, as a couple. Learning to work together is important and if you reach that goal, it's even more special! 

Check real estate 

You should definitely be checking the real estate in the location you're interested in. You need to get an idea of how much you'll be spending on your first home. Once you get a good price range, make note of it and keep your eye on the market. You never know what could change. You can even speak to agents or homeowners in the area to give you insight on what you'll be spending and if it's truly an area you'd like to live in. 

Plan a budget wedding

Yes, it's the biggest day of your life, but if you're spending money out of your own pocket for everything then you should realize that your home is more important than your wedding. You don't have to spend a fortune to have the wedding of your dreams. In fact, everyone I know tells me that The Big Day will be incredible, even if everything is what you planned for it to be. Save money where you can. Whether you're renting tuxes or hand making everything, save where you can. Budget doesn't mean cheap. It just means that you aren't carelessly spending. This is a one day event. Don't spend money that will put you in debt. Be responsible. The less you spend on your wedding, the more you can save for your new home!

Stop spending, start saving

Lavish purchases should immediately stop. If you tend to make spontaneous purchases or you have expensive taste, you should probably think twice before committing to anything expensive. For example, my fiancé and I love to travel. Every year we go on at least 1 out-of-state vacation. However, we know it's time to start saving, so we have nothing planned. Even our honeymoon will be on a strict budget. We know how important finding our perfect home is, so extra money is going right into the savings account. Our plan is to have a huge chunk saved for a downpayment on our home. We want our mortgage to be affordable! With TransUnion, you can evaluate your financial picture with calculators: credit cards, student loans, personal loans and retirement

Stay in-the-know

If you want to see how much progress you've made (or need to make), sign up for TransUnion. You'd be surprised at how much easier it is to do the right thing, when you see everything laid out right in front of you. TransUnion will be your #1 companion for preparing to buy a house! Take advantage of this $9.95/month deal while it lasts!

Sign Up Now