How to split bills with partner

greensalad

Hi everyone. Sorry this is probably in completely the wrong forum. I can't find anywhere that it fits well so I figured it sort of comes under "debt free".

I'm trying to significantly reduce my outgoings so that I can pay off debt but I'm running into problems when dealing with joint bills with my partner.

As a bit of background, we are 23(me) and 25(him) and we live together, have done since May. I graduated in July and he graduated two years ago. We're both employed.

My partner earns significantly more than me (double my salary). With tax, he earns about £1000 more than me per month.

At present we split all household bills straight down the middle. For rent, I pay £10 less and he pays £10 more.

The issue for me is the Sky bill. We have superfast fibre broadband at the top speed, and we have the top package for Sky including sports. HD, plus, all that stuff.

Because I do not watch sports I pay £38 a month and he pays £50 (the total bill for Sky internet TV and phone is £88).

However I still feel like this is a huge amount for me to pay considering I'd actually be perfectly happy with freeview telly and the cheapest broadband. I can get freeview free, and we can get internet and phone for a reasonable £18 a month I'd say. So the fact that I'm paying over double that just myself, which means I'm paying four times what we could be for a still good service... it's just silly.

I've tried bringing it up with him and he says that I use it and like it too. Of course I use it, because it's there. And yes I like it, but I'd rather have something cheaper and more money to put towards my debts.

How can I negotiate this with him? It's so tough because I understand we split electric, water, food bills because we both have half but honestly I wouldn't have this bill if it weren't him wanting the expensive internet and package. I just really need to reduce my outgoings.

HappyMJ

You need to discuss a fairer split with him. We can't really help.

Maybe suggest a 40/60 split on the bills.

As you do like the Sky then suggest splitting it as if it was the basic package and he pays for the extras.

glentoran99

Withold sex until he agrees :-)

Monkeyballs

Hi Greenie,

Does he know about your debts? Does he perhaps have debts too?

Personally I'd approach it from a "I have debts and want to repay them so lets bin the Sky subscription" for a start and then take it from there.

Happy is right, you need to sit and discuss what is fair because if he isn't in debt then he probably won't understand the pressure you feel with debts hanging over you

Failing that, Glen has made another suggestion

Good luck!

MB

runforlife

Just write down £1,056 which is the amount you pay Sky each year. With debts to clear this seems crazy. Hopefully he will see sense. He can always pop off to the pub to watch the football/golf/rugby....

When we cancelled Sky I worked out which channels we watched the most. It was all the mainstream terrestial and comedy central. So we lost CC and now barely watch any tv at all.

PenguinJim

greensalad wrote: »

my partner

This is a bit ambiguous. Exactly how partnered are you? House mates? Boyfriend/girlfriend or boyfriend/boyfriend? Married? Business partners?

From the description of your finances, I'm leaning towards "house mates". You could offer to continue to pay your agreed £38 a month until the next review/cancellation date, at which point offer £10 a month and let him choose whatever package he's willing to pay extra for. If you can review/cancel at any time, perhaps just offer two or three more months as a compromise.

If you're business partners, I don't recommend continuing to live together, as it adds too many complications.

If you're life partners, both of you stop swearwording around and grow up (financially). Your debts are his debts and his debts are your debts. You both need to remove any "bad debts" you have as soon as possible. Grown-ups with bad debts should not be swearwording away £88 a month on slightly faster Internet and the ability to watch men running around in a field at a convenient time. Tell that swearwording swearword to get something like an 8Mb package and download anything he wants to watch overnight (although be careful not to get a package with Internet caps). In the unlikely event that this £88/month is the only imprudent lifestyle expenditure, then you're sorted, but it's rare for this to be the case (from what's been said on these forums) - time to review all of your utility bills, stop buying designer clothes and accessories, replace the smallpenismobile, and cancel your gym membership! :beer: (Oh, that reminds me, and stop drinking alcohol outside the home!)

Pixie5740

As a couple you can't just split everything 50/50 when one of you earns considerably more than the other.

You've just graduated, he graduated 2 years ago so he should appreciate that you have some student debts to pay off.

Perhaps you should put a statement of affairs together to show him your income, expenditure and debts in black & white. Tell him that you just can't afford the Sky package, fibre optic broadband and everything else that's split 50/50.

If he doesn't want to hear it or come to some resolution on the matter then you should kick that dawg to the kerb as they say in the US of A. That's not the kind of man you want to hitch your star to.

Kate_fixing_it

I'd be asking how much sky sports he really watches. I had a similar thing going on with DH. For the sport he watches it cheaper for him to go to the local with his mates and he gets a night/afternoon out.

We're now with Virgin. We have a lot of extra channels but use them (we're a household of 6) however if we need to cut back further it'll be the first thing to go.

Does he watch one particular team? A season ticket is going to cost less than the sky package and national games are on terrestrial TV. Once you know how much he actually watches you can figure out how much it's costing per event and compare that to watching in the pub or a match ticket.

My DH would much rather spend time with his mates when sport is on and the only thing I watch is cycling which is on a free view channel. For me this works, (I just have to convince DH it was his idea :rotfl:)

The other option (in this house) is to find something he really wants to do (safari? Trip to the Caribbean? etc) which will be expensive. Point out that ditching Sky in favour of watching it in the pub would save the money to pay for it. You can then do the same thing with other bills. It could be a treat for you for becoming debt free too.

Kate x

James_B.

glentoran99 wrote: »

Withold sex until he agrees :-)

A recipe for absolute relationship disaster...

James_B.

Pixie5740 wrote: »

As a couple you can't just split everything 50/50 when one of you earns considerably more than the other.

Why not?

I earn a lot more than my wife but she wants us to split every bill exactly down the middle, as she prefers to know that she is paying her share.

There is no hard and fast rule about how a split should work, it really is down to each couple to decide what they feel is fair.

glentoran99

James_B. wrote: »

A recipe for absolute relationship disaster...

It was a joke