Sharing the bills

ironman1

We both have our own accounts and a joint account. When we get paid we both transfer our 'share' into the JA and save some of the rest in a savings account. I think we would both feel a bit trapped if we both had our wages paid directly into the JA. Buying presents etc must be a nightmare!

Gloomendoom

ironman1 wrote: »

Buying presents etc must be a nightmare!

Not if you pay cash or use a credit card.

We have separate accounts and a joint account for bills that only I pay into.

Mrs Hoggyn just buys the food and cleaning products. Although, to be fair, I just bought a new (to me) car and she paid for that too.

In effect all our money is pooled so it doesn't matter who pays for what.

mazinmouse

When we go supermarket shopping we get to the till and I say 'shall I pay or will you?' - I don't know why I say that as our salaries go into a joint account we've had since we got married many years ago.

GEEGEE8

Me and Boyfriend are moving in soon and he wants it 50/50, my mum says it should be percentage wise. I broached the subject with him and he said 50/50 is all he is comfortable with.

I will be starting uni just before we move in, so I will have a student income of £550 (+anything I can get working), he brings in about £1500-£1800 a month. My income will be taken up in bills and my train tickets, so I won't have much left, if anything, whereas he will have money left over.

He has said he will pay for going out, his car will be the only car in the household so that will get wear and tear, and fuel costs. He will pay for meals out and activities we like, golf, snowboarding etc..

I won't be 'working' as hard as him, so I see this as being fair really.

Although if I end up doing a lot of the housework then we may need to discuss it further.. lol.

Taypier

Our wages are paid into our separate accounts with standing orders to our joint account to pay the bills. Sometimes it's easier for one of us to pay for a one off bill direct from 1 account and the other person will pay half into their account, bypassing the joint altogether. Or one will pay for petrol the other food shopping and vice versa. We work in the same profession but I do 37.5 hours, he does 30, so I earn a tiny bit more.

It works for us. Doubt we'd change when we marry.

jtr2803

No joint account here either! We started that way as I don't want OH being financially linked to me due to my poor credit rating, it's quite likely if/when we buy a house we will get a joint account but we will just seperately transfer money to it in order to pay bills etc then use the rest of our money as we see fit.

At the moment, as tenancy is in OH's name, we worked out our fixed bills when we moved in and I transfer him half when I get paid, we then take it in turns to do shopping. OH has a higher amount of disposable income so he often pays when we go out etc

Everyone is different and we all have different ideas of what is 'fair', you just have to find a happy medium for the pair of you.

bramble1

I pay for rent, council tax, food, travel, OH pays for everything else. it's no where near 50/50 split, but he's self employed and his income isn't guarenteed, so i take on the bulk of the responsibility to try and give his business a chance to get off the ground

thisuseridistakenagain

My partner earns a lot more than me, so i pay an amount each month into his bank and all of the bills come out of there.

I'm a serial saver and he is a big spender, so if we shared money id be furious at his spending and he would be angry at my tight fisted-ness!!

moneypuddle

My partner and I live seperately at the minute but are looking to move in together soon and I've been thinking about how we would do this, so its great to read different people's version of how it works for you.

Only odd thing for us is I am paid on the last day of the month, so have all my bills going out on the 4th, and OH is paid on the second friday on the month so tends to have bills going out around the 15th of the month. I think once we move in together we are going to have to go for the 15th as well, just so I can make sure he gets his money paid in too in time!

x

rach

Everything is joint for us, we have a joint account, and our CCards are joint with me having an extra card on both his accounts (we'll open them in my name in due course with him as an extra cardholder, to get the introductory bonus ). We have ISAs in each name as we're lucky to be able to make use of the full allowances. DH works in finance so I let him deal with it all, though I sort out things like car and house insurance as I had them before we married. DH currently earns about £8k a year more than me, he probably buys himself the odd extra little treat like a PS3 game, but I just tend not to spend on me after having no money in the past!

Don't find things like buying presents a problem, who cares what we spend or don't spend - more that we get each other something we like!