How do you manage your finances as a couple?

liney

DH's salary is paid into one account where all the direct debits for bills come out, with the remainder going into our joint savings account.

My money goes into another current account, and pays for petrol, food, clothes, going out, and any remainder being transferred into the savings every few months.

If he needs new shoes, clothes, etc, he'll tell me, and i'll tell him to go and buy it this week/next week depending on payday, and what's left in the account. My DH is happy to have his spending controlled, as it burns a hole in his pocket.

nic283

My bf and I have our own accounts where our salaries are paid. We both transfer x amount into the joint account which pays the mortgage, bills, food shopping and home improvement. Any leftover is also being paid into a high interest account for mortgage overpayments. We pay for our own cars, petrol, mobile bills etc out our own accounts and anything left over is for us for nights out, clothes etc. I tend to save some of my money but he on the otherhand does not know this concept!

This seems to work quite well - we've been living together for 6 months now :j . The only gripe I have is how much beer he buys, or wants to buy, during our weekly shop. I have told him that £10 per week is enough and anything else he wants should be coming out his own pocket and not the joint account. Does this sound reasonable?

glossgal

LittleMissMoneySaver1986 wrote: »

Hi

I would like to say thankyou to all of you that have posted so far. I have been reading them all as they have come in but not had the chance to respond to any individuals hence the collective hige THANKYOU to everyone! It has really helped to see what works for others and I have gotten a few ideas from you all!




Just to clarify on this, I am not trying to be his mum, I dont care what he spends money on as long as our bills are paid and he has done a very good job of supporting us for almost a year now by himself . I am (we both are) simply trying to find an easy, convenient way to pool our finances and organise bill paying/budgeting/trying to save for a deposit in a way thats fair. And whilst we are not married, we have been together for a long time and plan to get married in the future but would rather focus on buying a house at the moment than spending all of our money on a wedding. I really dont see what not-being married or having children would have to do with whether or not to have a joint bank account! Its possible to have a commitment to each other without having to have a piece of paper that says so!

lol of course not but I am a firm believer in retaining independance as a person in a couple or otherwise. For me this includes some degree of financial independance. I can appreciate that children and/or marriage bring different priorities which is why I mentioned this. For the record, I wasn't actually directing my comment at you but in general-I see lots of posts from 'partnered' people who only have joint accounts and I was simply saying that I find this unhealthy. Maybe I've got an old head on young shoulders but for me knowing the ins and outs of my partners money is an extention of bad manners!

Any

Hiya!
Me and my hubby as many people here have 1 joint account and then each of us have separate account. We opened the joint account the moment I started to work full time - I am much younger and foreigner, so after deciding to stay in England for him I had to get my english qualification to get my first job. Until then I worked in the pub while taking my exams and my hubby paid nearly all the bills (he already had a house with mortgage when I moved in). Our wages go to our own accounts and bills and food money goes to joint account from there. I pay in just slightly more then half what he does as he earns more then twice as much as I do. And he used to earn 3 times more, but now my exams are starting to pay off by getting promotions. We spend all the monies we want when we want to spend and if the joint account goes short for any reason (like quaterly gas bill, we have Aga in the house), whoever has got more money at the moment puts more into joint account. I like it this way. He financed me while I was studying, but then as he is older I will be still working one day while he will be retired... So it's going to turn around.

Any

glossgal wrote: »

The 'old fashioned' way for me eg fella pays me x amount each month and I do all the donkey work! We take turns paying for shoppping, OH pays for the petrol. BUT all the bills are in my name so this may account for that, may do it more evenly otherwise.

I have to say the idea of two non-married people without kids pooling all their money in one account horrifies me! I have no interest in what OH does with his cash and vice versa, Im not his mum!

Hi Glossgal,
Why does it horrify you? It's only bills money that are pooled in most of the cases... Do you and your OH live together?
Also once you are married you are also financialy connected to each other on credit reports etc... His mum is not going to pay his debts one day, his/hers OH is!

newlywed

Any wrote: »

Also once you are married you are also financialy connected to each other on credit reports etc... His mum is not going to pay his debts one day, his/hers OH is!

You are only financially connected when you get a joint account, joint loan or joint mortgage

I'm married and not financially linked with OH - it's not automatic on marriage

You can be financially linked when not married - if you apply for a joint account

glossgal

Any wrote: »

Hi Glossgal,
Why does it horrify you? It's only bills money that are pooled in most of the cases... Do you and your OH live together?
Also once you are married you are also financialy connected to each other on credit reports etc... His mum is not going to pay his debts one day, his/hers OH is!

Wow, never realised my views were so controversial, it's like feminism never happened! There is clearly no biggie whatsover having a joint account but my stance was ; why would two people with no debt issues, kids, marriage etc (although as newlywed says I wasn't aware women morph into one with their husband automatically:rolleyes: ) feel the need to have all their money together in one place? People do and have discussed that on here and it genuinely baffles me, I don't see why that is an odd opinion to have? Just as people are entiled to do whatever they like with their hard earned am I also not entitled to have an opinion about that way of doing things?

Ebany

My husband hasn't got the faintest interest in our finances, so I organise the lot. He is a student so he just sends over the money he gets and I ensure all the bills get paid. If he wants to buy small things I always leave him with £50 in his account, or for anything bigger he just has to ask and we can decide if its really neccesary.

As we are currently paying off debts, all our spare cash goes towards that. We have decided once that is done we will divide up any excess 3 ways - 1/3 to his account, 1/3 to mine, and 1/3 to savings. We will probably cap the amounts we will take for ourselves at some point to direct more into savings, but I don't think we will be getting enough money in to need to worry about that for a while yet. It will be nice when we are into that phase as I won't automatically know how much he has spent on presents for me on my birthday and christmas! I see all our money as joint regardless of who earns it (and while he is a student I am bringing in most) so I am quite content for it to be shared out evenly.

Pssst

Believe me, no matter how luvdup you are,if you dont get this right,it will be the source of trouble..

Here we have our own separate accounts. We also have a joint account for all household expenditure eg bills,food,etc etc We each have a debit card for that expense account. We each pay the same amount from our own current accounts into that expense account.

We occasionally review the amount we pay in to make sure its adequate and the account doesnt go over=drawn. The account is a Nationwide flexaccount.

In this way,joint expendtirue and responsibility is clearly visibel and we manage our own personal finances.

People may think its not very trusting or romantic but theres nothing romantic about having arguements when one partner or other has blown all the money in the joint account.

Lets not confuse love,romance and finance.

suki1964

Whats mine is mine, whats his is mine - simple