I'm stealing this from Mer over at La Buena Vida, she does BQOTD every once in awhile.
My Burning Question of the Day is:
How do you and your partner in crime handle finances? Do you share your money and the bills equally, do you pay them all, do you both have a say in where your money goes? OR do you each have your own separate accounts and just pay a portion of things? If you do share your money, do you get to spend it equally? As in, if he gets something, you get something?
I think money is a huge responsibility in relationships. I think it can make or break a marriage and I think it is argued over all too often. I know people who share everything and I know people who have separate accounts. I'm not saying ONE way is better than the other, I'm just curious to know how other people do it.
I guess I figured that when it came to money, we are married, we have the same bills and we're working towards the same goals. Whether it be previous student loans, car payments, etc... You still want to eventually be debt free as a couple, if at all possible. We have one checking account and one savings account. I actually pay all of the bills, because I have a system and I'm kind of a control freak about some stuff. It has to be done just right! But all of our money goes into the same accounts and we don't keep track of how much he makes and how much I make. To tell you the truth, we have never ever really argued about money. We don't tally up what I spend and what he spends and try to keep it equal. We both pretty much get what we want, within reason, and if we're thinking about spending money on something that is over our agreed upon price range, then we talk about it. We are just very open about money and make sure to be smart with it.
So, how do you do it?
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12 comments:
I am interested to see what people say in the comments We are not married yet and have talked very briefly about how we will handle this.
We do the same thing sorta. We each help with bill paying because I have some students loans and credit card before we were married so I take care of those. We always discuss our purchases and when we buy each other presents we set a price limit so it is fair. My husband is more of the money person though, I am the spender :)
My husband has some student loans too, but since we share our money it really doesn't matter if he pays it or I pay it! haha
We're pretty similar to you!
One account...checkings and savings...most money goes in the checkings at all time (all checks get direct deposited there), and I have all our bills on bill-pay and direct debit....
I've never had to (thank you GOD) jugggle bills that much that I have to keep a close watch on things. We use the savings account for special thing we're saving for, etc...
we DEFINITELY talk about big purchases AlWAYSSSSSS.....
we try to keep our weekly spending to a certain amount....
but, we dont deny ourselves things when we want to do them (go out to eat with a friend, etc)...
Russ and I have a joint account that we both put money into each week/month. This account is what we pay our own bills out of, going out to eat, clothes for the kids etc. We also each have our own account that we use for our own things. Russ buys a lot of "big" tools and things so he uses his account to purchase those things. If I want to buy clothes for myself or whatever then we never really have to justify what we buy to each other. This was how we had things set up before we were married and it worked for us so we never changed it.
Great questions by the way.
we're pretty much the same. One check and one savings account. We have individual credit cards so we can "surprise" each other on those special occasions, but we discuss any big purchase! I'm the primary income provider right now because he's in school; we're going with the I provide for 2 years, he'll provide for 40 :)
My husband doesn't shop really, so we don't go "tit for tat" on the spending but I do show him everything I buy for myself to get the a-okay. Most of the times if he is going to say no I end up talking myself out of the purchase anyway because I know it's because I don't need it :)
We are the same as you too- Luckily neither of us had any debt when we got married- but from the get-go Chris has been the major money maker (I went back to school). He actually takes care of the bills too. I do the investing. And the shopping. (the fun stuff!)
We don't really fight about money- most fights are because I feel bad about him making all the money and I spend it all- so I make a problem out of nothing. Have you ever done that? It is stupid. So I have gotten over it. =)
We don't really micro manage money stuff- so I can't imagine having him buy something for every time I did! He has a lot of catching up to do!
we still have our own checking and savings, mostly b/c we are too lazy to go to the bank and open a joint! LOL. But we split our rent and then he pays utilities and I pay for cable/internet and groceries. We are both trying to get out of debt and since the wedding I've paid of all but one of my credit cards and J has paid off/down his too. We are working towards the same goals but from different accounts :-)
What a interesting post!! I always wondered what couples do! :-)
I haven't worked for over a year now so our financial life has changed. Before when I did work my husband and I each had our own accounts. We had our individual bills that we were responsible for and we shared the rest. If either one of us wanted to go buy something we just did it, no questions asked. Now that I'm in school &/or home with the kids, my husband is the only one working. He pays all of the bills, if he wants to buy something he does. If there is something that I want he will get it for me. However I don't ask for anything because I feel so guilty! I can't wait until I have a job again and my own income!
We are the same way. Everything is all together. Since I have been in school almost always full time since we got married, that's the only way it could work for us because his income has to cover most/all of our expenses. I handle the finances, in terms of paying bills etc., but we make most of the decisions about big purchases together.
I really wanted to answer this question on my blog but as you can tell...i didn't get it done. I think i'll write a post on this topic sometime...we've recently made some changes.... :)
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