Splitting the bills?

continualdiamond

My fiancee and i just keep it simple, a joint bank account. (Main reason for this though is im from Australia and when we decide to move we need as much evidence as possible to prove where in a relationship)

The joint bank account works great for us. Im paid monthly so all the bigger bills, mortgage, council tax, water, elec, gas etc etc come out like 2 days after im paid. My OH is paid weekly so we have the odd small DD scattered weeks apart and we use his income so to speak to live off week to week.

We earn pretty much the same every month and don't have a 'pocket' money allowance for each of us, we just talk to each other if we want/need something and work out if we can afford it. It's not like we keep tabs on who gets more money spent on them or who can afford to go out more with their income. It's just simply all our income.

It works for us, but i know not everyone likes joint bank accounts.

chewmylegoff

when i moved in with my girlfriend, i offered to pay 2/3 of the rent and bills because i earn about 50% more gross than she does, and i have significant savings and no debt whilst she has got a few grand on credit cards. she refused and insisted that we split everything 50/50!

for bills i pay the council tax, tv and water; she pays everything else and we settle up the difference every 3 months or so.

continualdiamond: i have a similar issue with possibly needing evidence of defacto relationship in the future, as she's from australia. we just have all the bills in joint names and a joint savings account, rather than pooling current accounts.

3plus1

Crap_with_money.com wrote: »

It is only a year long course as well (since it's a post grad), so at least it'd actually only be 10 months we'd be in that position for - which in the grand scheme of things I don't suppose is a very long time at all

Given that you'd quite happily marry this man if you had the money, 10 months isn't anything at all, in the grand scheme of an entire lifetime. By all means write down a list of pros and cons if it helps you feel better.

My boyfriend saw moving in together as a big sign of commitment - so did I, but I also saw opening a joint account as an equally big thing. He didn't at all. For me, it meant a lot and I spent a lot of time thinking about it, so I can understand why you're getting yourself into such a flap over money!

Incidentally, how do you split the chores at present? When I was the only person bringing in money, my lovely boyfriend did all of the household chores. (Not suggesting you do everything though, as you'll be studying, not unemployed!) I know this made him feel more comfortable with the idea of being 'kept' by me. It made him feel like he was making an equal contribution. I really appreciated a beautifully tidy home and I do sometimes look back to that period of our lives with nostalgia!

Obviously as we both work full time now, we split the chores a bit more evenly, but because I often have to do unpaid overtime (nature of my profession), he tends to help out more. Depending on how many contact hours you have, you might find yourself with more free time than your boyfriend - if that's the case, helping out at bit more around your home might help you feel better about the situation.

Just another suggestion.

POSSETTE

Cleaver wrote: »

Blimey, what an eye opening thread.

Me and the Mrs have one current account, all of our money goes in to it then what we need to buy comes out of it. Nice and simple. Realise that may not be for everyone though.

same here Cleaver..Me and MrPoss put it all in one account,(my rbs which i put his name onto,and we have his Tsb account for putting any ebay chqs into as its near to where we live and rbs isnt!)..and we just pay everything out of that..why faff with all this my money your money business.For a while i was earning more than him,but i suppose we are earning similar now.I want to go to Paris for 40th birthday next week and he just had new tv,we just look at what money we have and decide if we can run to it.
I thought thats what being a couple is all about?

ktee_uk

hi
After 20 years of living together we still stick to the same principals which are:

Both salaries get paid into a joint current account.
All household and insurance bills are paid out of this account.
All fuel, food and grocery is put on barclaycard and paid in full each month out of the joint current account.
We keep a "rainy day" amount in this account of £500 to cater for unexpected one-off's.
Anything left over is split 50/50 and we put it where we want to. We both have our own savings accounts.
We can spend our savings on what we want although in practice we rarely dip into savings.
If there is a really expensive item to buy and current account won't stretch that far then we pay 50/50 out of savings.

Has worked ok for this long.
It's reasonably simple to stick to. Husband has no idea what I've got saved up cos he has never paid attention to finances and left it up to me. If he wants to know he can ask and I can tell him. I know what he has got cos I organise his finances too get best buys !!!!

Good luck in sorting it all out.

maman

Very interesting thread. OH and I have been together almost 30 years now and we've still not hit on a 'right' way. We each have own accounts and a 'household' account that we each contribute to (proportionately). I do all the household shopping and traditionally I have banged everything on my cc and then at the end of the month we split the (household part) of the bill. I've been reading all your ideas because I have this dilemma: Since trying to be as MSE as possible I find myself shopping in places that don't take cards (Aldi, Lidl, markets etc) and I am forever spending 'my' cash. This sounds really mean but basically I knew I was making savings but having little to show for it at the end of the month which wasn't very motivating. OH and I have discussed it and he suggests a sort of cash float. Personally, I hate having money in current accounts unnecessarily but as interest is so poor now this is what well probably try.

mouche

maman wrote: »

I've been reading all your ideas because I have this dilemma: Since trying to be as MSE as possible I find myself shopping in places that don't take cards (Aldi, Lidl, markets etc) and I am forever spending 'my' cash. This sounds really mean but basically I knew I was making savings but having little to show for it at the end of the month which wasn't very motivating. OH and I have discussed it and he suggests a sort of cash float. Personally, I hate having money in current accounts unnecessarily but as interest is so poor now this is what well probably try.

My OH and I have a cash float as well. We have a fixed budget for our monthly groceries and I withdraw that in cash at the beginning of the month. I then spend from that on groceries and bung anything left into a piggy bank which then gets converted into money for my mum in law when we go to India. In practice I buy the groceries on my credit card for the points and pay myself back from the cash float. But in the beginning I would use the cash & allow myself the credit card only now that my self discipline is better. The sight of a quickly dwindling cash stash is very motivating to shop economically!

mouche

POSSETTE wrote: »

same here Cleaver..Me and MrPoss put it all in one account,(my rbs which i put his name onto,and we have his Tsb account for putting any ebay chqs into as its near to where we live and rbs isnt!)..and we just pay everything out of that..why faff with all this my money your money business.For a while i was earning more than him,but i suppose we are earning similar now.I want to go to Paris for 40th birthday next week and he just had new tv,we just look at what money we have and decide if we can run to it.
I thought thats what being a couple is all about?

I think the reason why some couples (including me and OH) go for the your money-my money thing is because one is a spender and one is a saver. We contribute proportionately to essential expenses, savings and certain extras (like furniture, holidays and eating out) and then do what we like with what's left. I tend to save it, OH spends it. We both like to spend our pocket money on each other as well! I would willingly spend every penny of my money on him if he needed it and so would he for me. It's just that our wants are different and handling our finances this way means we are both satisfied and never fight over money. I don't think that makes us less of a couple.

Gorgeous_George

I support the joint account route. We have one with Lloyds and we pay the same in each month. All direct debits and mortgage payments come out of this account. Food and anything else for 'the house' is bought on a Tesco credit card (for the points).

It makes it simple and, as we earn roughly the same, we pay in 50/50. The OP could pay in 75/25 but split the credit card 50/50. There's more than one way to skin the cat.

GG