H
hannajomar
Guest
How do you use/split up the money in your household? How does it work for you? I’ll save my comments for later…
- Status
L
Luna_Lovecraft
Guest
I picked other.
The credit card and the mortgage are in my name, and I’m responsible for paying the monthly bills and managing our investment/retirement accounts. I have a bank account in my name and have access to my husband’s account.
Why? Because, bluntly put, my husband - bless him - is not only hopeless with money, he’s a horrible spendthrift if left unchecked. When we first married I gave him access to my bank account, and within a month he’d made a couple of pretty big impulse purchases without discussing it with me first. So that, as they say, was that.
Fortunately, he knows he’d really bad with money, and he had no qualms and giving me the purse strings. If we let him handle the money we’d be living in a van down by the river… but we’d own every peice of bleeding edge technology Apple churns out…
Luna
J
_Jenn
Guest
Everything is joint. The only things my dh’s name aren’t on are our son’s bank accounts, and that’s because they only allow for one parent name (whoever is there setting it up) on the account along w/ the child’s. However, should something happen to me, because we are married and on joint accounts on everything at that bank, they will switch everything to dh’s name with no issue.
When we first married, my dh had one small account that was just his, but it was for emergencies related to the business he (co)owned at the time. Shortly after we married, the business was dissolved, and that account was closed and the money put into our accounts.
When we first married, my dh had one small account that was just his, but it was for emergencies related to the business he (co)owned at the time. Shortly after we married, the business was dissolved, and that account was closed and the money put into our accounts.
P
PatriceA
Guest
Same for us, exactly.
A
Aggies08
Guest
We have joint accounts.
We do a running yearly budget, and monthly budget, down to the penny. This includes spending money for each of us ($20/mo) for which we are not accountable to each other.
EVERYTHING else we put on the budget- food, clothes, restaurants, oil changes, kid’s new lunchbox, new mop, clothes, activities, gas, etc. I keep a running list of items to include in the next month’s budget, which we review when we are done budgeting the essentials.
We live one paycheck behind- essentially on last month’s pay. This allows us to ensure we are living below our means, and able to afford those things we want to have.
We do a running yearly budget, and monthly budget, down to the penny. This includes spending money for each of us ($20/mo) for which we are not accountable to each other.
EVERYTHING else we put on the budget- food, clothes, restaurants, oil changes, kid’s new lunchbox, new mop, clothes, activities, gas, etc. I keep a running list of items to include in the next month’s budget, which we review when we are done budgeting the essentials.
We live one paycheck behind- essentially on last month’s pay. This allows us to ensure we are living below our means, and able to afford those things we want to have.
C
cerad2
Guest
I make it. She spends it. Seems to work okay for us.
C
Cat
Guest
It’s pretty much the same for me and my husband, only we both make it and we both spend it.
Joint accounts–much more practical. We each have certain bills that we are responsible for. I usually don’t touch any of his income, and he usually doesn’t touch mine, but if we had to in the event of an emergency, we would be able to do so because the accounts are joint.
One thing we’ve always done–my income (wife) has never been used to pay for “necessities” like mortgage. I think this is really important in a two-income home. It is wise for a family to be able to survive on just ONE income, and use the second income only to pay for “optional” stuff.
I worked to pay for “optional” things like private school tuition and figure skating expenses and I also pay for all the recreation in the family. All of these things were and still are very nice, but we didn’t and still don’t “need” them to survive.
If we had to, we could stop all involvement with figure skating and pay off our credit card debts within a few months. If we had to, we could stop going out to eat and eat only at home, and this would also help us pay off our debts within a few months. I could stop taking organ lessons. Although we need to pay off the debt for having our family room re-modelled, we certainly would not need to have any other re-modelling projects done (don’t even suggest “do-it-yourself.” We aren’t capable.)
As for private schools–we tried public schools for 3 years and it was a nightmare for the whole family. So if we had not been able to afford private school out of my income, we would have homeschooled, or even moved to be able to send our kids to decent public schools.
K
kristacecilia
Guest
Joint accounts, jointly made budget, joint decisions on spending.
N
newf
Guest
I voted “other”.
I have been a stay at home mom for many years. My husband’s job is such that he has different accounts at work where I have no access unless he dies. He can determine how much he takes out every month to take home, and it can vary. His business is all very complicated to my way of thinking. Money he brings home goes into our joint account. Through this account, we pay all our expenses.
In order for me to feel a sense of power with our money, we set up an account for me. It is all mine not joint. This makes me really happy.
I don’t think there is a one size fits all plan when it comes to money. Couples have to figure out what works for them.
I have been a stay at home mom for many years. My husband’s job is such that he has different accounts at work where I have no access unless he dies. He can determine how much he takes out every month to take home, and it can vary. His business is all very complicated to my way of thinking. Money he brings home goes into our joint account. Through this account, we pay all our expenses.
In order for me to feel a sense of power with our money, we set up an account for me. It is all mine not joint. This makes me really happy.
I don’t think there is a one size fits all plan when it comes to money. Couples have to figure out what works for them.
C
CatholiCaliMom
Guest
When my husband and I were first married, we kept separate accounts and divided up the bills based on our income. Since I only worked part-time, my income primarily went towards student loan payments, gas for my car, etc.
By our 2nd year of marriage we had “joint” accounts but really in name only. Our names were on both accounts but we didn’t really ever access/look at the finances of the other. We also kept separate credit cards. But we were never in debt so we never felt the need to track each other’s expenses.
Now in our 8th year of marriage our finances have blended more in some ways. We still hold 2 separate “joint” checking accounts–one which he uses primarily and one which I use primarily. We would have combined by now but as it stands the interest rates and “points” earnings are better if we keep separate accounts. But instead of separate savings accounts we now have one main savings we both deposit into. Our bills are divided according to our income amounts–I pay certain bills each month (child care, electricity, cell phones, etc.) and he pays others (rent, home internet, etc.). All of our accounts are linked at a single bank, though, and we have full access to each other’s accounts if need be.
By our 2nd year of marriage we had “joint” accounts but really in name only. Our names were on both accounts but we didn’t really ever access/look at the finances of the other. We also kept separate credit cards. But we were never in debt so we never felt the need to track each other’s expenses.
Now in our 8th year of marriage our finances have blended more in some ways. We still hold 2 separate “joint” checking accounts–one which he uses primarily and one which I use primarily. We would have combined by now but as it stands the interest rates and “points” earnings are better if we keep separate accounts. But instead of separate savings accounts we now have one main savings we both deposit into. Our bills are divided according to our income amounts–I pay certain bills each month (child care, electricity, cell phones, etc.) and he pays others (rent, home internet, etc.). All of our accounts are linked at a single bank, though, and we have full access to each other’s accounts if need be.
P
Phemie
Guest
We’re the same way. I learned within a year of getting married that if I didn’t want to live on the street I had to be the one responsible for the money.I picked other.
The credit card and the mortgage are in my name, and I’m responsible for paying the monthly bills and managing our investment/retirement accounts. I have a bank account in my name and have access to my husband’s account.
Why? Because, bluntly put, my husband - bless him - is not only hopeless with money, he’s a horrible spendthrift if left unchecked. When we first married I gave him access to my bank account, and within a month he’d made a couple of pretty big impulse purchases without discussing it with me first. So that, as they say, was that.
Fortunately, he knows he’d really bad with money, and he had no qualms and giving me the purse strings. If we let him handle the money we’d be living in a van down by the river… but we’d own every peice of bleeding edge technology Apple churns out…
Luna
We have one joint chequing account into which his pay and his pensions are deposited.
I have savings account into which I immediately transfer the pensions, otherwise we’d have no savings. Into that account also go income tax refunds. That’s our family savings account.
He has a savings account into which he transfers any bonus he gets.
I have my own chequing account into which my pay is deposited and which goes untouched most of the time because I’m saving to go to Europe next year, and hopefully, to furnish a house when he retires in the next couple of years and we sell and move back to our hometown.
I do all the bill paying and investing.
I
Iheartcoffee
Guest
My husband and I have a joint account and then we budget an allowance for each of us to use on hobbies and things. I have a separate checking account for my “fun money” and my husband has his own “fun money”. This allows us to save or spend on our hobbies and separate interests as we wish while still being fair to each other financially. This way, neither one of us feels that the other spends too much on non-necessities. All necessities are purchased from our joint account.
A
anp1215
Guest
When we got married, I had a savings and checking account under my mom, and my husband had his own checking account. We kept it that way for a couple of years just because we didn’t want to bother with changing it. The bills came out of his account automatically and my account was kind of used as a back up. After being married for about 2 years I got added onto his account but still had my old one. A couple of months ago, I closed my old account because they started charging ridiculous fees (guess which bank that is) so now we just have the joint account.
Even though we had separate accounts for a while, it never really felt that way. We considered the money in both accounts to be ours.
Even though we had separate accounts for a while, it never really felt that way. We considered the money in both accounts to be ours.
- Status