what do your husbands/oh's give for housekeeping

strawberry_laces

Hubby works full time, he pays ALL the bills, leccy, gas, rent, c/tax, sky, phone bill, my mobile phone bill (£35. a month on contract) tv licence, car insurance for 2 cars, pet insurance, he gives me £300 a month on top to feed us both, 3 children and a dog. Anything else I want, luxuries, overspend on shopping, shoes clothes for me and the children etc, comes out of the Child benefit and £40.00 a month I get in Tax credits.

I work part time and ALL my wages go into an ISA , except for when car tax is due for both cars, any car repairs, christmas, swimming club lessons, anything large that cant be taken out of housekeeping.

Triggles

DH works full time with some overtime, and I am a SAHM (although I used to work full time). We have a joint account only and always have. DH likes to joke that he's in charge of making the money, and I'm in charge of spending it - but in a good way, of course! I keep track of the bills, and it was my decision to go to cash for groceries so we could keep it under budget (we spend approximately £50 per week for a family of 5). We've always considered any money going into the account as OUR money and all bills coming in are OUR bills. He's never ever suggested giving me a set amount of money per month for expenses - although to be honest we both sit down each month and decide how much we'll each have for "pin money" for the month - but that's both of us - and we pay for miscellaneous items out of that - such as little presents for each other or just simple everyday luxuries - any gifts for anyone else comes out of our joint funds. Any monies to cover outings for our toddler are also covered by the joints funds. We've never had any problems with this. FWIW, it's pretty much the same as when I worked full time.

stretebaby

Both salaries (fairly large difference between the two) get paid into a joint account. From there all bills are paid (mortgage, water, electricity, food), a set amount goes off to savings (for our holidays, car repairs etc), and we each get a set amount (same for us both) sent to seperate individual accounts which we can spend as we choose (clothes, haircut, presents). We both feel very happy with this as there is a good level of trust that we wouldn't abuse the joint account. As an example, if one of us wanted Sky tv we would discuss, if both agree we would pay out of joint account, if only one person really wanted it then then pay out of their individual account. Neither of us have children from other relationships so I can't comment on that aspect.