How do you manage your finances as a couple?

LittleMissMoneySaver1986

My boyfriend and I have been living together for a few months ( having been together for over 7 years). I recetly finished my course at university and am about to start a full time job. Before now my boyfriend paid the majority of our bills with my contribution being very minimal due to my being a student. Obviously, now that I'm starting work things will be a bit more equal in terms of contribution to bills. We are currently thinking of how to manage our finances and I was wondering how other people manage theirs - a joint account, two seperate, a joint one and seperate and what your experiences are?

Thank you

Zazen999

Separate personal accounts.
one joint egg card for all purchases [money back]
one joint nationwide account account for mortgage and DDs.

We pay a percentage in depending on our earnings, so if one takes home twice as much then they pay twice as much into the pot. Total each month covers mortgage and all bills, overpayment on mortgage and enough to comfortably buy treats for us both.

Pot is split between both, but if we need to buy stuff, we transfer money from nationwide account [which does tend to build up over the months], into Egg to get the cashback, and also for credit card protection.

belfastgirl23

We each have our own accounts and transfer equal amounts into the joint account to cover all the basic household bills (mortgage, rates, household insurance etc) plus enough to cover basic food shopping. We transfer in extra for things like car tax, tv licence etc. We have had a bit of a debate re some other items - eg wine (which DH drinks way more of than me) and petrol (I drive our shared car more than him) so we decided these shouldn't come from joint spending and we both contribute what we think is fair.

This suits us since I don't have to have any concerns if he decides to buy a playstation out of his money and I don't have to justify my purchases to him either.

Do sit down and talk about it properly though...saves a lot of hassle in the long run

pinkshoes

Me and OH have our own personal accounts, which our salaries get paid into, then we have a joint account which we both pay £x a month (equal amounts). This account is used for mortgage, bills, food, meals out, holidays etc... and whatever is left in our own accounts we spend on whatever we want, or save.

starbump

Everything is "ours". I manage the accounts because I'm a SAHM and have the time to do so - besides, I enjoy it. Most accounts are joint, except where necessary e.g. ISA, credit cards.

At the very least, if you have reasons to keep your finances separate, I'd suggest some kind of household account for all your bills and direct debits. Makes it easier to check bills have been paid - just one statement to view.

Mark7799

Two joint accounts although in reality they are 'mine' and 'hers'. Made joint so we can each operate the other in time of emergency. Various joint savings vehicles and our own as well so we can spend'our' money on each other.

frivolous_fay

We're not married. We have a joint account.

I'm better at keeping tabs on the money, so I think this suits O/H. His income is about a 3rd higher than mine, and it's been higher since he finished studying, but he's generous in a 'what's mine is yours' way.

Everything comes out of this account, although he does have a personal savings account which I don't access, which he sometimes uses to save up for his latest indulgence (home-made high spec PC, etc). We both have ISAs (which I shop for and set up, lol)

I have various savings accounts dotted around which he knows about, and I don't make any secret of the balances, as as far as I'm concerned it's all joint money.

Perhaps his lack of interest in sorting out the money is best illustrated by him being pleasantly surprised when I pointed out we'd managed to save £20k for our house deposit, lol.

tootiefrooties

DH and I have 3 accounts each - a student current account (his is now a graduate account), a joint account and a savings account. We would have had a joint savings account but we opened them online and it wouldn't allow it - so we use my savings account for our (miniscule!) joint savings and his is basically dormant. We both put 100% of our incomes into the joint account (wages, student loans etc.) and every month we have a spending allowance which we transfer back to our own current accounts- this goes on mobile phone bills, birthday presents and personal spends. At the mo, his spending money is higher (but not massively - it's not a lot of money anyway) as he's putting a lot more in due to graduating in july and working full time.

I find it's a lot easier than working out %s and getting picky over figures. It also makes sure that there is as much in 'the pot' as possible, and if we are a bit short one month then nobody feels as if they didn't put enough in as it is all there, minus small amounts of spending money.

I suppose it would be even simpler to have a limit each to spend directly from the joint account, but it's easier to keep track of (not overspending) and also keeps presents secret as they are not visible on the statement.

Gangstabird

I have access to all of our money DH lets me deal with it, so if he has money in his account I take it. I deal with all of our money and that's it really. He isn't a big spender apart from tools but tells me if he is going to buy something.

Gangstabird

I forgot to add when we first got together we each started up a separate account and had a joint one.

frugallass

one joint account where both our wages are paid into and two credit cards (which we are trying to pay off).

Every other day I print off the bank statement and update our home-made spreadsheet, that way we know exactly what comes in and what goes out.

We have a 'finance meeting' every four weeks (around pay day) and discuss/project the finances for the month ahead.

It all sounds a bit boring but we are now managing to keep on top of the finances, whereas before it all got in a bit of a mess and were getting charged silly money by the bank for exceeding the overdraft and finding ourselves skint with 2 weeks to go before pay day.