Who pays for what?

Tigsteroonie

Marley receives the CB, CTC, WTC, Andrew's DLA & the CA. He pays for the rent & council tax. I'm working, and I pay for everything else. But any surplus from his account (less a bit for personal spends) gets transferred over to my account on a monthly basis. So it all evens out over time.

Buddingblonde

We now have a joint account and similar salaries so we put in the same amount every month and all the d/ds are set to come off the joint account.
Before we had similar salaries OH was making 65% of household income and I was making 35% so he paid 65% of the total bills into the joint account and I paid 35%.
Sounds v complicated but it meant that we both had surplus income at the end of the month that was ours alone and that I wasnt trying to keep up with his larger salary.
A d/d into a savings account on top of out bills and a bit extra for the food shopping and we plod along nicely.
I pay my credit cards from my account and he pays his credit cards from his account even though there might be joint items on them. If we buy something big (holiday, furniture etc) then it is put on one of the cards and then the savings are used to clear it or if there isnt enough in there to clear it the d/d for the savings is ended and the money that would have been paid to it is paid to the card with the large item on.

faerie_girl

Everthing gets paid into our main bank acount, DH's salary, the wage from my partime job, child benefit, tax credits. Then we have a direct debit account. DH get's paid on the same date every month so we have set all the DD's to come out 2 days later. When DH get's paid we transfer x amount over to cover the bills. Whatever is left, my wage, tax credits etc are to cover food, travel costs, new clothes, swimming lessons and groups for LO etc.

I couldn't ever imagine having seperate accounts, it would just make things hard work transfering money, here and there. Most of our utlities, mobile phones etc we are down jointly or one of us as the billed customer but we have set it so the other one is also allowed to access the account to sort any problems out, do enquiries etc.

jcr16

were married , were a team. nothing is mine or his ,it is our's.

when i worked we had two sets of wages going into our joint account and all bill's came from there. i'm now a stay at home mummy to our 3 children and i don't earn a penny but my day to day routine with our children and running the home is priceless, so hubbies wages now cover everything. thats how we as a team work and it works excellent for us.

virgo149

I have been with DH for over 11 years now. When we moved in together, we opened a joint account for all household bills and kept our own accounts for personal spending. We earn roughly the same and put the same into the joint account each month. From that comes every household bill, petrol, meals out etc. As we are lucky enough to no longer have a mortgage, we still put this into the account but save as much of it as we can every month. Any spending above this gets split between both (i.e new stuff for house etc) and if we want to buy anything for ourselves we pay for it out of our own accounts. I have a cashback credit card and if DH buys something on it, he just pays it off when the bill comes in. It has always worked very well and ensure arguments are avoided. That said, when I have been occassionally unemployed, DH has always been happy to help me out.

Tropez

Forris wrote: »

Brilliantly put! To be honest, I don't understand why people in a committed, long-term relationship feel the need to keep separate finances.

In my partner and I's case it is because the important things, such as keeping the house running are taken care of by the joint account. After that, there really is no reason for us to have joint finances so we maintain seperate accounts. There isn't a need to keep seperate finances but then there also isn't a need to keep our finances in one big pool, particularly given we have different interests and spending habits associated with those interests, and also different savings goals.

I think that both of us, considering we both lived very independant lives until we became a couple, also prefer managing our own financial commitments.

74jax

Tropez wrote: »

In my partner and I's case it is because the important things, such as keeping the house running are taken care of by the joint account. After that, there really is no reason for us to have joint finances so we maintain seperate accounts. There isn't a need to keep seperate finances but then there also isn't a need to keep our finances in one big pool, particularly given we have different interests and spending habits associated with those interests, and also different savings goals.

I think that both of us, considering we both lived very independant lives until we became a couple, also prefer managing our own financial commitments.

That's how we see it too. All our bills including food is jointly purchased. There really is no need to jointly pool our other finances due to our different spending/saving habits.

I think your reply is the best 'reasoning' behind what my partner and I have decided, just never seen it worded like that before.

pimento

ariba10 wrote: »

OH has never worked.

So no problem.

Same here. I pay for everything.

nickinoo

Our financial circumstances have changed so much over the years.

As soon as we got engaged we started saving, DH put much more in than I did even though he was a college student (back in the days of grants!) with a part time job where I worked full time but had debts to pay so I worked on clearing those. He then received a compensation pay out which went into the joint account after buying a new car.

We got married & bought a house, I worked full time & paid the mortgage etc but again he had an income in the form of a grant & he used to get a job every summer.

Fast forward a few more years & I was made redundant just as DD was born so we cleared some debts, had new windows put in etc. I had managed to run up debts whilst he was a student (I was too proud to admit it & spent years juggling cards, taking out loans etc), anyway we consolidated the debts into our mortgage (yes, he forgave me!). Luckily he finally finished uni around the time I finished work. I then had 6 months maternity leave, 6 months JSA, 6 months incapacity benefit & finally 6 months without any income.

I got a part time job, we saved hard & bought a house for almost double what our last one was worth. Then I had DS 16 months ago, returned to work only to be made redundant again so I am now on a mix of JSA & being self employed (all earnings declared so not always in receipt of JSA).

Anyway not sure why I had to tell you all that! We have very much a joint account, with no debts except for the mortgage & a savings in the bank. Amazingly even with what happened in the past I am in charge of the household finances!

I just can't imagine being married, having children & a mortgage & having to beg for money like friends do.

joeblack066

Having been a single mum for most of my adult life, I have always paid for everything. Believe me, it's way tougher than having to work out who should pay for what. Sorry, whinge over! :-)