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how did you decide how to divvy up your funds? Do you put a certain percentage of your salary into the joint acct for joint bills like mortgage, groceries or cable etc, and then a certain percentage of your salary into your own checking acct for "me" things like shopping? If so, what were your percentages?
That's exactly what we do. Half of each of our salaries goes into our joint accounts for rent, groceries, dinners out etc. and the other half goes into our personal account. I imagine when our expenses increase (i.e we buy a house & have children) the percentages will shift to being way more into the joint and less to the personal.
It's easy (and fair) for us right now because we have similar salaries. But even if one of us was to get paid more I think we would still stick with the perctages thing instead of a set amount.
Our set up: we will have dual access to all accounts and credit cards, his account will be our main one where both paychecks are deposited into once we get all name change paperwork started. I will keep mine since some of my student loans and our mortgage are through my bank, so we will transfer money into that one to pay those bills with. We don't have set percentages for spending, it is pretty much save up when we can and don't over spend what we have, we just aren't big shoppers to begin with. We split grocery costs and most bills in half, he pays for the eating out costs since I cook most nights, and I pay 1/3 of our mortgage since he makes more than I do.
We have set amounts rather than percentages. FH figured out what all our joint expenses were over the year and then divided that to figure out how much we each needed to contribute every pay day. I recently suggested we move to percentages bc I earn more than he does, but he wanted to keep it more even. I put a bit more into the joint account bc the reason he earns less in pocket is bc of his perks, most of which I benefit from too (like a company car). I'm getting a payrise soon and think I'll put the extra into our joint account to boost the wedding fund as well. I like having joint and separate money, even though it probably isn't what I would choose (my parents are a what'smineisyours couple) it works well for us and means we don't have to worry about what would happen if we split up (horrible to think about but we've seen people close to us get badly burnt financially - why make a break up even harder than it has to be?)
We both make about the same amount of money (within 5K of each other) so we're going to sit down and put a certain amount into our joint account each month. When our salaries drastically change (ie when he gets out of the army and has no salary until he finds a job or makes less than me) we'll change to a percentage.
I'm with mountain.bride on her last statement. I hate to say it that way, but i'd rather not get burnt in the long run! My parents keep separate money and it works out fine. No jealousy when she buys purses, etc, just like me!
We do amounts. We know the ballpark range of our monthly bills and each deposit enough to cover that, plus a little extra to cover together stuff like dinner or stuff for the apt/home, then some to our saving accounts. The rest stays in our own accounts to do what we wish with it
We don't have a joint account yet, but we are planning on doing amounts. I'm not employed right now and most of my unemployment goes to my bills. I'm planning on keeping my account and paying my bills out of it. He's planning on keeping his account and then we will open a joint account to pay household expense in which I'll deposit any extra to go toward those expense.
We have a joint account but pretty much keep our funds seperate. I like the idea of putting half the paycheck into the joint for communial expenses. I'm going to talk to my husband about that.
We contribute 35% into a joint account that pays for household bills: rent, utilities, cable. We also pay for travel expenses from this account.
We do pay for things for each other from our separate accounts, too. I'll usually buy groceries and he'll pay for dinners out. We also have separate bills we pay from our own money: cell phone, car payments, insurance, student loans, etc. Our "own" money isn't just for playing.
My FI and I each contribute $500 a month into a 'House Account.' This covers food (groceries and eating out), everything for our dog, and stuff associated with the house (when we re-painted the office, when we buy supplies for the garden). What we have left over at the end of the month, we put into a joint savings account.
We decided to let him pay for the house mortgage and utilities on his own and use my salary to pay off my student loans and then to be used for savings. He lived in the house alone before I moved in, so he was alredy accustomed to paying it himself. This way, if we decide to have children in a few years and I take off work to raise them, we will already be used to living off of one salary. It seems to work for us (so far!).
We do it by bill.
Like, he pays for food, gas and one car payment. I pay for the mortgage, another car payment, and utilities. Etc. Just kind of broke it up based on how much each of us could afford.
We've had a joint account since we moved in together four years ago. We pretty much only use the joint account for rent and various bills. We each put in a set amount each month and then pay it from there. For groceries, vet visits, household expenses, dining out, etc., we just try to split it up fairly. My fiance makes quite a bit more than I do, so he contributes more.
I'm planning on changing this after we get married, as in we put more in the joint account and use that for everything we do and buy together, and then keep our separate accounts for shopping and stuff we do on our own.
We are a little strange. I think we are going to have to sit and talk about this at some point, but what has been working out well for us so far is using our joint Credit Card to pay for EVERYTHING. From a $6 purchase at Taco Bell to $2500 payment for (insert large purchase here). This includes monthly bills (aside from rent, which we split and pay by check).
We then each pay half the balance on payday. We work at the same place and make almost the same amount of money (within $2k) so we conveniently get paid on the same day. This system has been pretty simple so far, it makes tracking spending VERY easy, and we get points on our card for cash back, miles, etc.
He has some private checking and savings accounts from before we met, as do I. We also each have a checking acct set up that I have access to both (he has no access to mine, I do all the household finances). We have many online savings accounts that we both have access to, but are controlled by one or the other. If that made ANY sense, congrats! I think between us we have probably about 15 different bank accounts (some multiple accts with the same bank). I guess this is why the credit card thing made the most sense for us.
Wow, writing that all down made me realize how all-over-the-place we are.
We both work and earn similar amounts, so we put $100 into each of our personal accounts every 2 weeks when we get paid. The rest goes into the joint account. Things we buy on our own (like lunch, coffee, clothes, movies, etc.) come out of the personal account. If we go shopping together (like spend a day at the mall buying clothes and getting lunch) then it comes out of the joint account.
My FI and have one joint savings account, one joint checking account, and one credit card together. Whatever is left over after paying bills and savings - we split evenly and can spend on whatever we choose. Granted - one makes about $15K more than the other, so it seemed easiest to do it this way.
Can I ask, to all your married gals, do you have one savings account although you and your DH have 3 checking accounts? I always thought people kept separate accounts back in the 60s so that if divorce happened, the woman wouldn't be left with nothing. Honestly, I'm surprised to see so many separate accounts here in the hive. All of my friends that are married have one joint account for each major checking/savings/etc so I think that is why I find it so surprising here.
As to why we have seperate accounts and why so many, I can't speak for him, but I am the kind of person that works best with "targeted" savings accounts. I set a goal (like that new DSLR camera that I want) and open an account for it and then save for it.
I have an account for major emergencies (ie: medical bills, or job layoff), an account named "car" which is savings for our next car purchase (we never finance cars, depreciating product!!) and is also used in case of major car repairs. I have an account for student loan which is used as a kind of secondary emergency fund (if I lose my job, I have enough in this account to make my student loan payments for about 10 months).
We also do seperate accounts because we have different spending habits and I personally don't like have to defend any purchase I want to make to him. If I have the money to buy some clothes, I am going to do it. No need to run it by him and make sure its alright. He is NOT a spender, and I would basically just be using his money to fund half of my purchases. This works best for both of us, in my opinion.
Thanks, mskalinin - that does make sense. We're both pretty laid back with our spending - and we have about the same habits...which sometimes isn't good! 
But I would get quite annoyed if I had to defend my spending habits!!
That's exactly what we're doing, bwaychick. After the wedding, we'll be getting a joint checking account for bills, but we're keeping our separate checking and savings accounts for "me" money. We're both pretty responsible and honest about our money situations, and we also both felt the need for some individuality with our money. So I don't have to know how much he's spending on his video games, just like he doesn't need to know how much my shoes really cost :)
All of our money goes into 1 account. We pay everything from there. I'm really bad with money so I don't have a debit card at the moment. I have gotten much better over the last couple years though. When one of us wants to buy something we tell the other person and go from there. We haven't had any problems. Good luck!
We put everything into the joint account, and a pre-determined amount monthly into the separate accounts. It works right now because we don't make any more money than we need to survive on a month-to-month basis. ;) But when we do, I don't think it will actually work any differently.
My big question isn't how, but when?! My FI and I recently started living togehter and we're talking about doing a joint account that each of us puts money into. This way, we can pay for rent and utilities out of this but we'll each have our own seprate accounts until the wedding. Is this too early to open a joint account? If so, when is the right time?
Thanks!
@Gator: we started a joint account with our first paychecks after we moved in together. Our expenses are as combined now as they will be after the wedding, so we figured we'd might as well just start making things easier for ourselves. ;)
When we got engaged we opened up a joint "wedding account". This way we can both use it to pay for things for the wedding and honeymoon. Once the wedding is over, it will just be our joint account to pay for phone, rent, etc. It works nicely! Oh, and we split all bills in half - that works out well too.
Currently my FI & I live together and have 100% seperate accounts, we split rent & bills based on a percentage (FI makes quite a bit more then me) and everything else like our cars, insurance, cells, all come out of our each individaul accounts. We do trade off on buying "community" items like toilet paper, dog food, toothpaste, laundery detergent, etc. It gets annoying b/c sometimes we will argue about who bought what last & whenever we go out to eat, if one of us doesn't want to "treat" we always split the check which feels a little weird.
After we get married we plan on having ALL bills & food come out of our joint and have separate accounts in which we are almost given an "allowence" per month that we can use as we wish (for me it will be shoes & clothes) for him it would be like golf trips, & sporting events.
When we got engaged, I put FI on all my accounts and started paying things from there. We immediately bought a place and so he pays the entire mortgage/taxes and a student loan. All other expenses come from my account but it's still OUR money to make decisions and budget with. We EACH use about 5% of our total monthly income to spend however we choose. Everything else is budgeted and spent or saved.
wow there are so many varying answers! I'm glad to see that all of the different options seem to work so well. We want to do a joint checking and savings account for All household bills- mortgage, electric, cell phones, cable, groceries, date nights, contributing to savings and mutual funds, etc. But I would like to have our own checking accounts for things like going out with friends, and shopping and gifts for each other. Because as a few of you ladies said, I don't want to have to justify all my purchases to him- I'm more of a shopper than he is! Both of our salaries vary a lot, because we are both actors. Since we've been dating he's had stable jobs, and I've been floating around and finding acting and singing jobs where I can. So it's difficult to have a set amount that we each contribute because for both of us, our salaries will be constantly changing... Anyway, thanks for all of your input ladies!
bwaychick
We are on a strict budget and have all of the money allocated - and we each get a specific amount (plus bonuses) put into our personal accounts monthly!
When we moved in together, we got a joint account. We each put about 2/3 of our paycheck in it, but will probably bump up that percentage soon in anticipation of saving for a home, moving, etc.
We set up a joint account pretty much right after we got engaged, but we began to live together also. I'd say to start it whenever you live together.. no need to do it before unless it's for wedding expenses.
We do amounts -- enough to cover all of our bills. He's more paycheck to paycheck, and I get to save a little more. It definitely helps that he doesn't see "my" money (which technically will be "ours" once we get married) so he can't spend it.
Both of our wages go into our joint a/c and all the bills are paid from there. We have a strict budget right down to monthly allocations for clothes each and haircuts. There is a set $$ a week for us to go out for dinners etc together and we each get the same "allowance" a week into personal a/cs for lunch with friends, gifts for each other etc.
It works really well.
wow. i was really impressed to read that so many bees have such an equitable set up with their guys!
we are the same way - we don't use a joint account, but we divide bills evenly and take turns picking up the check at dinner, nights out, etc. i like it that way. i wish he bought fewer golf clubs and pretty presents for me with his extra cash and saved it for, um, say a HOUSE, but it's his money...
We have 1 joint account that we contribute to equally to pay for our condo, HOA fees, property taxes. Everything else we just buy randomly... we don't really count pennies. I typically pay for meals out and he pays for the groceries. We don't have a system, really. In the end it's all our money, even though we dont share accounts.
i read somewhere that it's better to put percentages -- that way everyone feels like they're paying equally for things. before marriage, my hubs and i agreed to put 80% into a joint account, and 20% into our separate savings accounts.
shortly after the wedding, though, i set up an account for us on mint.com -- mostly because our new joint credit card wouldn't sync with MS Money -- and now with mint it just really does not make a difference. it helps that he really lets me totally control the finances -- i'm in charge of writing the checks, i'm in charge of our savings, etc. (i brought in a lot more savings than he did, most of which are going to the downpayment for our apartment, and i make a (leeetle) bit more than he does now.
We have a joint account that both our paychecks are direct deposited into, and from that all our bills and expenses are paid. We each have a separate account that we keep about $500 in, from which we might buy ourselves lunch, clothes, or other entertainment goodies. At the end of the month we can update the personal accounts back to $500 (though neither of us ever spends the full amount). I like having that money allocated specifically to me in my own account, because I am much more likely to be spending it than he is. It helps me not to quibble over pennies when my husband buys something random too because I have that benchmark of "his money" in my head. FWIW, my husband makes way more money than I do, but we treat all our income as "our money."
We also go by amounts into our joint account -- I put in around 10% more because my salary is higher. We put in enough to cover the mortgage, all the bills, and a cushion -- with the aim of paying an extra £2000 off the mortgage every year. We're still on track despite wedding spending -- fingers crossed we'll continue!
I love seeing so many people aware of where their money goes! We have only joint accounts. I pretty much handle all the money (which is funny because my fiance is an accountant! He just likes to spend too much). We have 3 accounts; 2 chequing and one savings. One account is for fixed expenses, one is for variable, and (obviously) the third is for savings. I find this set-up works really well for us, though I totally get some people's hesitation to put everything in joint accounts. Whatever works best for you!
Joint account is for large purchases- we just pay for what we want when we want (groceries, whoever is out near the store, etc.) We aren't weird about passing money between each other!
$300 for each of us per month in our individual accounts - these are for shopping outings with my gf's, video game purchases (that's him!), basically the fun stuff that we don't do with each other.
The rest of the money is in our joint account and pays everything else!
Gosh there are sooo many options and I have no idea what we'll do. We both like the idea of keeping some money separate because we both have hobbies that we never want to feel guilty about spending money on. Plus, it is nice with gifts and such to not have the other person see how much you spent!
But wow it seems like a lot of work haha. I feel like it will be especially hard because while his salary is relatively constant, mine is widely variant. I have a base salary, but my bonuses can range really anywhere from 0-100% of my base salary and upwards, and they come at irregular intervals.
I am thinking that we'll probably try to figure out what we need for all common expenses including entertainment and put that in by percentage of our base salary, and my bonuses will primarily be dumped into savings accounts for projects. We'd probably prefer to have most of our money together and just keep enough to ourselves to have "play money."
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