How do you split expenses in your household?

Kazipoo

He earns it, I spend it!!!

The OH has always worked full time and I have always been a SAHM, occassionally with a part-time job (to stop me from going a bit doolally). All the money is paid into the joint account (only I have a seperate savings account - with a £0 balance!!) and I ensure that all the bills are paid and I do the shopping etc. He snaffles a few quid every week to have a brekkie on a Saturday morning with the lads at work, and the only time he uses the atm is when I have forgotten to get him some money for petrol.

If I want to buy something for me, I just do, its not an issue, unless we can't afford it, then I don't. If he wants something, if we can afford it, I buy it. I am attending college this year, it has cost £1000, its not an issue because we know I will benefit from this in the long run.

I often take the mickey out of him, he wouldn't know where to begin with the household bills, he doesn't even know the login details for the bank account. He has always said as long as he has money for his fags (he has stopped now) and petrol and there is food on the table, he is happy.

It works, and has done for the last 19 years.

mouche

Rebecca01 wrote: »

From what a previous poster said,I am curious how all the 'splitter's pay for a meal when they are out. I just couldnt imagine OH saying oh I will get it tonight. Just seems weird when your in along term partnership. Thats just me though, I guess it is what couples are both happy with.

That's why we have a budget and the entire money for joint expenses (including eating out) gets put into the joint account with each of contributing proportionally. Sometimes we overrun the budget, then one or the other of us pays. At the end of the month we usually have money left in the joint account and the person who spent extra gets 'paid back' and the remainder goes into our joint savings.

If we're eating out without each other, then we pay with our pocket money.

I think the trick to success with this method is to have a really comprehensive and detailed budget and to have at least one partner whose obsessed with sticking to it (me!) and another whose happy to stay out of it except to occasionally say 'wow, have I really saved that much - couldn't have done it without you keeping an eye on my spending'. Fortunately, in our marriage we have both!

Mojisola

Kazipoo wrote: »

I often take the mickey out of him, he wouldn't know where to begin with the household bills, he doesn't even know the login details for the bank account. He has always said as long as he has money for his fags (he has stopped now) and petrol and there is food on the table, he is happy.

You have made some plans for if you're suddenly not able to manage - accident, serious illness, etc - haven't you?

Trying to cope with a sick OH and not being to access the bank accounts would pile pressure onto stress!

Rebecca01

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We don't have a set amount of spending money each, either. We both just spend what we want to, and as our ideas of what is reasonable are very similar, that's fine with us.

We are the same , day to day purchases we are just sensible . However if one month I decided I wanted a new PC or an iPad 2 we would just mention it to each other to decide if we could afford it.

rach

Everything we earn (v little for me at the moment) just goes into a joint account, we both have joint credit and debit cards and everything is just joint. We have a food budget which I am in control of (though he keeps the accounts, i spend the money) and small 'treat' pots each, and a joint treat pot. I can't see how else we'd do it but we are married so perhaps it's different

lurvlyloz

for me and my ex we earnt roughly the same. we had our own bank accounts and each month we put exactly the same amount in the joint account each month. this covered the household bills & food and anything left over went into our joint savings for the house/holidays. i had full control of the joint account coz my ex wasn't great with money and didn't trust him self not to p*ss it up the wall 2 days before the mortgage was due to go out. he woul doften joke that i coul drun away and not pay the mortgage and just buy shoes so i always made sure he knew about the ins & outs of the house.

this didnt cause any problems and when i got a better job and he was then earning less, we did a slight sightly where i paid more in and he paid less. this was fien as i still had my personal spending money & he had his. this wasn't a contract os a dead set percentage...i just eyed it up kinda thing. it was a relationship not a business.

gwhizz75

Me and my fiance pool all of our income together into a joint account and have done since we bought our house together 6 years ago. He earns more than me, and tbh I spend more than him (bit of a shopaholic!) but I also do more of the housework, all of the cooking, the food shopping, and the general arranging and organising things like holidays and christmas.

We have a main savings account with deposit savings for a new house in it (which we can't withdraw from), and a "mid-savings" account for any unexpected costs such as car repairs, or for holidays and things. If either of us wanted to buy something pricey (£100+) then we would tend to tell the other and when my OH bought an expensive new bike, I took the same amount in shopping funds to spend as I liked :T

A family member and his wife have separate bank accounts and split the cost of EVERYTHING. I find it really strange when we're standing in a sandwich shop and one of them says "you owe me £4" or something. Just hearing them working out who paid what in petrol costs and things... get over it! It seems so complicated and unnecessary to have to spend time working out who paid for what, life's too short... and you're married! If you're happy to share bodily fluids, you should be happy to share your money

Gloomendoom

gwhizz75 wrote: »

...and when my OH bought an expensive new bike, I took the same amount in shopping funds to spend as I liked :T

I'd be a bit wary of tit-for-tat spending. It might seem fair but it can be a quick way to blow a budget.

Margaret52129

When my sis got married (37 years ago), her OH took on her 2 children from a prev relationship and they went on to have 2 between themselves. My BIL didn't want my sis to work so she has always been a SAHM and so there was only ever 1 wage and CBs coming into the house. They had a savings tin with 5 slots in - rent/gas/electric/food/savings and every Friday when he came home from work they split his wage into the various slots so they knew how much was left over for spending money. They continued to do this for many years and in fact only got a bank account about 15 years ago.:eek:

In doing this, they knew where every penny went and they were able to save up and buy a house, have a caravan holiday each year in this country, and were as happy as larry. Nothing was ever spent frivously and nothing wasted. That's some money saving talent!

Today they've no children at home, but my SIS still writes a shopping list and everything she buys in a little book with the price against it!

She has a hobby which she makes and sells cards and that money is kept separate for any spends on that hobby. BIL goes out on a Friday and Sunday night with his pals at the local WMclub, and they go out together every Saturday and that's it really!

I know it sounds harsh, and I couldn't have lived like they did - it seems an almost hand to mouth existence, but it does show their determination to save and provide for the family out of just the one wage, so good on them!

Any

Rebecca01 wrote: »

From what a previous poster said,I am curious how all the 'splitter's pay for a meal when they are out. I just couldnt imagine OH saying oh I will get it tonight. Just seems weird when your in along term partnership. Thats just me though, I guess it is what couples are both happy with.

Just because not all finances are joint, it doesn't mean we split and argue about every penny. Do you also completely share all the housework? One shirt for me, one shirt for you.. I don't argue with him over who pays for the dinner as much as he doesn't argue with me over who irons his shirts.

It actually feels special to be taken out, or to be bought flowers and on Birthdays not know how much he actually spend on you!! I buy him clothes and books, just for the fun of it, just to treat him.

And lots of meals are paid for from the joint account, as are house repairs etc.

The idea that we are less partners just because we don't completely share finances seems to me completely ridiculous. And sharing bodily fluids therefore sharing money? Since when sex had anything to do with money, unless talking about the obvious?? (tongue in cheek:D)