How do you manage your finances as a couple?

Steel_2

Hubby and I have personal accounts only and no joint accounts.

I pay the mortgage and the council tax, he pays for everything else (utilities, food, petrol, car stuff, sky etc)

When added up it's almost equal - he pays about £30/40 more than me.

He insists on paying for all night's out or treats though.

And he always pays for my Mr Whippy when the van comes round

daleigha

we have two separate accounts, that our salaries are paid into, and then we transfer money into the joint account to cover rent, bills, car payment etc. when we moved in together we both earned about the same, so paid the same amount in, and then as i earned more i paid more in. when we decided to get a new car it was really me who wanted to and could afford it, so i pay extra into the joint account for that. now he is earning a bit more he has begun paying more in - although it seems like it all gets spent even tho we are now paying a lot more in each month than we did 3.5 years ago when we moved in together!! bloomin credit crunch!! :mad: i like it this way as we each have our own money to spend on what we want - if he want to buy a playstation 3, i dont care, as long as its his own money!! i also like having a little bit of financial privacy - obviously if we ever needed the money for something, its there, but i like having my own money too!!
if we need things like, for example, a new pot set, we go halfers from our own money, as the joint account money is only for bills, plus we were getting a little out of control with the joint account money as we didnt see it as 'our' money anymore IYKWIM!!!

shirlgirl2004

We've got a joint account and I've got a seperate account left from when I was a student. I don't really use the seperate account. I'm a SAHM now but when I worked all our money went in together and we spent whatever. He earnt a lot more than me but I never felt as if he were watching what I spent. I wasn't popping out and buying designer handbags though. Mind you I didn't think twice about spending £700 on a new dog on more than one occassion but we all have our vices

lilmissmup

2 Separate accounts, he is useless with money but we go 50/50 on everything (he earns slightly more than me) and it all goes out from my account and he just gives me the cash.

I can't let him have control, it leads to bounced DD's! :rolleyes:

Lottebear

We have separate accounts, joint account was a disaster. My husband pays for the rent,car, electricty,gas, telephone.

I pay sofa, house insurance, both mobiles, and foods and treats holiday nights out etc.. it work out roughly the same.

princess

Both salaries paid into joint account which pays for all bills etc.
Personal spends of £125 per month then direct debited from this joint account back to our own personal accounts to spend on lunches, and personal treats etc.
I would hate to be in a situation where one of us had more spending money than the other.

Surfbabe

two joint accounts - one which my money goes into and one which OH's goes into. Bills come out of his, other stuff out of mine - he earnes 4 times what i do and we have always worked on the principle of whats mine is yours. Also - he is hopeless at accounts and I'm not :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: . Reason they are joint is that having worked for a bank for a number of years I saw the heartache that was caused if accounts were sole and someone died or was taken ill and the partner had no access to money etc.

seven-day-weekend

We have joint accounts . When we were at work (early retired) his salary went into one and mine into the other. We paid all the bills and living expenses out of the one that his money went into(i.e. we lived on his money for the most part). Any 'extras', savings etc came out of the other one.

We had it this way this way as for around fifteen years I was either a SAHM, a student or earning a tiny wage from part-time work. We had just to live on his salary then.

However, we consider everything coming in as 'ours' regardless of the source, and any bill as 'ours' regardless of who generated it. Neither of us would dream of spending more than about £30 without consulting the other one.

This way has suited us for 37 years!

We also have personal accounts for savings.

fedupnow

Both of our salaries go into my account. All the dds and the mortgage payments come out of my account too.

I give him spending money.

Wow...... I sound such a control freak.

The problem is, he is as good as useless with money and so has always left it up to me. He wanted it this way. There have been times when things have got a little tight that I have longed for him to take control but he shies away and says 'oh no no no, you are so much better at that sort of thing than me'

He has one savings account where he can put any cheques that are made out to him but that's it. To be fair I don't think he spends any of this so perhaps he isn't as useless as we first thought. However, if he is going anywhere special or needs more than his usual I hand it over without too much quibble depending on what it's for.

I recall a conversation some time ago when we were at our friends house when it became very apparent that he had no clue about the cost of living or even what he earned. He just shows remarkably little interest in our finances. He trusts me when I say we can't afford it and trusts me when I say we can have a treat.

frugallass

fedupnow wrote: »

I give him spending money.

Wow...... I sound such a control freak.

I'd say you were brilliant !

When we have worked out what the bills will be, we then work out how much we have to live on per week for the next month. We get the shopping and the fuel and whatever is left is 'spending money' for the two of us

If we want to purchase/pay for anything out of the ordinary (hair cuts, stuff for his hobby) we discuss it and budget for it