How do you split expenses in your household?

nickyhutch

Luckyred wrote: »

My OH wouldnt have a clue what I spend on my hair. He never looks at the bank statements...ever! He never asks how much I have paid for anything for myself though I usually tell him when showing him something new that I have bought.
I keep an eye on the finances.

That's us exactly.

JodyBPM

I would say that during the "early days" that everything is simply split 50/50, or proportional if the higher earner is prepared to sub the lower one at that stage of the game. Later on, when you are fully commited, buying property together, starting a family together etc, then I think that all finances should be pooled, with each person having the same amount of personal disposable "spends" each month.

Different people organise their finances in different ways, though, so go with whatever feels best for the both of you.

Gorgeestwo

Luckyred wrote: »

My OH wouldnt have a clue what I spend on my hair. He never looks at the bank statements...ever! He never asks how much I have paid for anything for myself though I usually tell him when showing him something new that I have bought.
I keep an eye on the finances.

lol thats us

claire16c

We used to each put some money into a joint bank account, he put slightly more in than me as he was earning more, then we used that to pay for all the bills.

Now we are married it all goes in joint account. And like many others have said, DH never asks me how much anything costs, and never looks at how much money weve got in our bank. He lets me get on with it!

I think as long as neither one of you goes crazy and makes sure that there is always enough money for the other person to do something with, i.e you get a haircut then make sure there is money left for them to spend similar on something of their choice, it should be ok. I guess you just run into problems if one person was a massive spender or something.

Giddytimes

DaisyFlower wrote: »

I dont think you should pay less but still expect a 50% share in the property as thats unfair.

Either pool all resources or go 50/50.

But if we pool all resouces I'd still (at present) only be putting in 1/3 of the total pool, so the arguement that if we pool everything it's OK for the house to be owned 50/50, but if we work on proportions it isn't doesn't make much sense to me.

The areas he/we want(s) to live I don't think I physically could pay 50/50 at the moment, I'd be leaving myself with nothing.
In some ways by suggesting a proportional split I am still at a disadvantage compared to a joint account (although better off than I would be at 50/50) as I'll only be left with my % share of my own income, which would be less than a 50% share of the remaining income in any pool. But I don't see that I am entitled to a 50% share of our pooled income, my OH earns more, so he should have a greater discretional spend than me.

If we were to have children and this reduced my earnings I would of course think differently, maybe at that point I'd think pooling all money would be fair.

Abbafan1972

Both our wages go into the same account and the direct debits/bills come out of that account. Any money we are putting by for something else goes into a separate account.

It's me that keeps track of it. If I need anything such as groceries or things for the kids then I go and get it. The same goes if I need anything.

Hubby works full time (5 days) and I work part time (2 days). We can't be doing with all that "I contribute that much and you contribute that much". You might as well say "I get a full plate of dinner, but as you only work 2 days a week, so you get 2 fifths of a dinner".

princess

All wages pooled, everything financed from this joint account.
£125 per month paid from joint account into our own personal accounts for our own personal things eg presents to each other, evenings out independently from each other, hair cuts, clothes etc

Abbafan1972

Talking about haircuts, I went to the hairdressers today and myself and our 2 DD's got haircuts. DH said, "you had your haircut again!". I get it cut every 5 weeks! :eek:

He shouldn't be complaining, as all 3 of us only cost £24! Hardly a big spend.

Gavin83

We split all bills 50/50 and the remainder of the money we keep in our own accounts to do with as we wish. I wouldn't have it any other way to be honest, I don't wish to be justifying to my girlfriend how I spend my money. Luckily we both earn about the same so it's no issue at all. The only situation where I think it should be different is if you have children but we aren't having any so this isn't a problem either.

Couldn't cope with having a shared bank account, would drive me nuts.

neverdespairgirl

We both have our own bank accounts - as we're self-employed, it makes life easier. Other than that, we have no sense of our own money, though. I actually pay most of the bills - rent (up to now), and now our mortgage, and the utility bills, and our childcare and car costs. So if my account's running low, I just ask OH to transfer some money, and he does.

We both spend what we want to spend on ourselves, but have very similar ideas about what's reasonable and sensible, so we don't ever argue about it.