How do you and your partner split the bills?

cattyboo

We both make a contribution to a joint account according to how much we earn. My OH earns more than me so what is 50% of the bills for him takes a bigger proportion of my income to pay, and if one day I start earning more than him then I'll make a bigger contribution, simples! We transfer the money from individual current accounts into a joint current account each month and what's left over is ours .

We just worked out how much we spend on utilities, luxury utilities (sky!), food, petrol etc a month, then we worked out what our combined take home pay was and what percentage each of us contributed to the overall household income and applied that percentage to how much we contribute to the bills...hope that makes sense!

It works for us but everyone has different ways of doing things so just figure out what you're most happy with and go with it. I'm sure there'll be points in our relationship where one of us is contributing far more to the pot than the other, say if one of us lost our job or if kids came along, it's just life, we'll have to go with the flow!

I think it's interesting that some have commented about using a 50/50 split as you each use 50% of the utilities, OK so I can see where you're coming from, and as I've said different people will have their own ways of working this all out, but as I see it if my partner lost his job or had to cut his hours so he was earning loads less than me it's not like I'd tell him he couldn't have a hot shower because he's not contributing enough to the bills! The proportionate way seems fairer.

Wouldn't go as far as to put all the money in a joint pot though, I quite like having his and hers accounts for individual spending. What if I wanted to but a surprise present, he's see on the bank statement!

At the end of the day it's a partnership which is why we looked at the combined household income way of doing things.

Hope you manage to work something out, good luck saving for your deposit! :T

C xx

Oregon

My OH moved in with me for about a year. He worked on the assumption that I'd lived and survived on my own for about a year begore and so didn't contribute to the bills at all. Unless he went grocery shopping alone when he paid. He rarely went grocery shopping alone lol.

iluvfreebies

we don't, I pay for all the bills lol
hubby is out of work at the min. when he was working we always pay the bills from my wage and then live off his for shopping / nights out etc his which is usually weekly.

elaine12022

I'm still trying different things with my OH, his income went down for 6 months while he was out of work, and has just started again.

He will be earning about twice what I get so he will be paying rent, council tax, gas/electric and I pay for phone (except his)/internet, groceries. His wages are now going into my account so he can't spend it all before the bills get paid

It's an ongoing process to figure things out,and try and get a solution we can both live with, and so I will no doubt be refining things as we go along.

Aubrey_Thompson

50/50 is great, but if you are willing to pay more than that, since you earn more than him, then its up to you. You both should talk about that. I guess when the time comes that he will earn more money than you, he will do the same, right? (I hope so)...:)