Sorting food budget- seperate for you/OH? how?

rebekahR_2

Ordinarily I pay for mine, OH pays for his & anything needed for kids, if I want to treat them them I do.

I want to make sure I stick to a strict budget this month and 100% only pay for my food budget. Thinking of using some sort of envelope system. Drawing out £50 for the month

How do you work it in your households?? ..I will add kids are grown up & spend weekends at ours. so we are not talking about little kids here!

Thanks in advance, wanting some input ,

Tiddlywinks

We are a partnership so we share food bills...

Are you saying that you'd buy your own biscuits and then not let OH have one?

fashionlover10

I think it's very odd that you each buy your own food. How do you know what 'belongs' to who?

I pay for all the food in our house, for both of us, as well as all the bills but OH pays the rent. However, if OH wants treats/lunch at work/takeaway while I'm away he pays for it himself as they're things just for him.

Lagoon

In our house, OH calculates the cost of his breakfasts and lunches, plus what he's willing to spend on evening meals, at the start of the month. He transfers that money to me, and I do the shopping which includes purchasing his food.

I have my own budget for my breakfasts and lunches. I then match what OH has put in for evening meals. I usually want more expensive evening meals, so if it goes over I pay the extra.

MERFE

I have to say I find the set up rather odd too, more like houseshare than living together as partners. Does your OH agree to this set up? Are you going to have your own space in the fridge for your bits and what about if you want to eat together? Just some things that I think would make it complicated. Before children we both put the same money into a joint account each month and food and all other bills came out of that, what we had left of our wages was our own. Generally if we went out to eat I ended up paying for it because OH had debts he was paying off but now he pays for everything so its worked out ok.

GoldenShadow

My OH and I just take it in turns to get a food shop. I'm a student so he usually makes my shop a cheaper one but that's how we work it. We aren't really three square meals a day people though, so it would be hard to split it!

*max*

I have never even heard of a couple having separate food budgets and buying their own. It just seems very odd to me (not to mention very complicated!).

burnoutbabe

i can see the point of splitting the weekly shop If one drinks alot or smokes or wants expensive protein shakes. But not if you just live together and eat normal meals.

If you need to stick to a strict budget, does that mean you have to live on beans on toast and OH has steak and just lets this happen? thats not really a partnership, thats flatmates.

rebekahR_2

yes I need to stick to a strict budget wheras OH trains & eats a strict diet- buys a lot of fruit, high protein items, pricey yoghurts etc which I just couldn't afford !

We have a pretty unconventional relationship...I will give it that!! ..we are best mates, we are open with money, me ending up short..then having to ask for help..was counter productive!

We used to take it in turns, I would pay 1 week, then him 1 week, then him 1 week, but no way I could afford that long term

So this is the compramise.. He wouldn't eat what I eat and vice versa..so there isn't an issue there e.g he drinks milk, I dont!

If either of us treats to something there isnt an issue..anyone can eat it!

Do you all just go 1/2 on all food shopping then??? - an account or a weekly discussion about whats going to happen?!!

burnoutbabe

So then you just go 40/60 on the shopping or whatever it roughly works out.

We have a joint card, all joint spends go on that (ie weekly shopping and tescos tops ups plus eating out together) then that gets split 50/50.

fashionlover10

On pay day I ask OH what he wants in particular for when I do the food shop online that night. The list is also on the side in the kitchen for a couple of weeks prior so if he wants anything he writes it down on the list.
If he doesn't ask he doesn't get and seeing as he has zero interest in doing the food shop he's quite happy with that rule :rotfl: