Does the husband in your house pay the bills?

System

balletshoes wrote: »

what are you talking about? if you pay all the bills you won't be rich - but your wife will be as she'll have all her income to save .

The message I've learned from the thread is that women would rather half the bills than the man pay them all.

Mrs_Arcanum

I work part time and earn about a 30% that of my husband. I pay all utilities, TV Licence, Car insurance and clothing. Husband pays Mortgage Council tax and car running costs, TV, BB & phone. Plus I get housekeeping.

I am the one who negotiates and looks for better deals so it makes more sense for me to manage most of the variable household costs.

Has worked well for us for 24 years (only 9 with a mortgage though).

JethroUK

Tiglath wrote: »

...We do however have a joint account we're trying to get off the ground for household bills so eventually we will each transfer a set monthly amount into that. I'll still handle the groceries from my account and he'll still handle the car from his.

Why - you both eat food, and you both travel in the car

just a case of co-mingling more money for food and fuel

balletshoes

Tiglath wrote: »

DH and I have very different attitudes to money. I keep receipts, tally them to my bank account, always know to the penny how much money I've got. DH sticks his head in the sand, won't look at his statements and never knows how much he's got left for the month. I'm not prepared to risk bills bouncing, and if we shared one joint account for everything I'd be apprehensive to say the least. We do however have a joint account we're trying to get off the ground for household bills so eventually we will each transfer a set monthly amount into that. I'll still handle the groceries from my account and he'll still handle the car from his.

my sister and BIL, and my OH and I, have roughly the same system, as in both our marriages, each partner works, and each partner has different ideas on what they want to spend the money on . So we have one account where both put enough money and a bit left over for all the household bills (including the car bills as we only have one of those, and kids clothes, school expenses etc), then each of us has our own account with our own spending money in, to do with as we wish ie save/spend etc.

poet123

We have pooled our money from the day we bought our first house 32 years ago. We have a joint account and everything goes into that. My husband has always been the highest earner but has never paid a bill or checked a bank statement in all that time!! He controls a huge budget at work and didn't want the job at home as well.

Pennysmakepounds

I love reading these kind if threads.....:)

I have to admit, it still amazes me that 'Married' couples still see money as his mine.

Your sharing your life with the person you love...(Well I'm assumin you love them...lol).

Then surely it's irrelevant who earns what, it should be a shared pot.

Of course, there is always a exception to every rule and I guess this wouldn't work well if you ended up with a life partner who is stupid and spends money on silly things....:)

zcrat41

I have what most people would consider a rich dh. Didn't stop me wanting to pay half the bills whilst I was earning and there was no reason no to. He might not have been so keen to marry me if he thought I was just after his wallet.

But on the other hand, I did consider when we discussed marriage if he would be able to fund me in the lifestyle we wanted e g being able to be at home with kids for a few years.

burnoutbabe

JethroUK wrote: »

which could make it tricky when deciding who has paid for what - especially if these "bills" include mortgage payments

the records show that you alone pay all the bills (they all come from your own account)

which is fine from your perspective - but certainly not 'fair' finances

your partners position is rocky (have no claim to anything) and certainly not one i would put myself in

a joint account doesn't cost anything to set up but would be fairer

well he gets to live rent free and can save the money towards a future joint house purchase.

Would charging him rent (when my mortgage is paid off) be fairer?

Lilith1980

We go 50/50 on bills. I wouldn't want OH paying for all the bills, I consider myself independent and don't go for the 'traditional' roles of men and women.

The house we rent is in my name, as are the bills, so my OH transfers half the amount to my account each month.

barnaby-bear

balletshoes wrote: »

seriously - have you discussed this with your girlfriend? she may be perfectly happy with an arrangement like you propose, but she could be up a certain creek without a rowing implement if she doesn't invest a fair portion of her earnings as financial back-up. She will, as others have pointed out, really have to have her name on the utilities etc to help her keep her credit good too.

He doesn't have a girlfirend - this is a hypothetical discussion about how he plans to set the rules if / when(?) he gets one - like the hypothetical ones about if he became supervisor (What he could set as rules for staff).... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=58716691&postcount=38