Money in marriage

lynseydee

I don't know if this is the right place to put this or if it should be put in the forum at all but basically when I started my new job about 18 months ago, and I was going to be taking a pay cut, my husband and I decided we would work it so whatever percentage he earned more than me he would pay that much more of the bills (i.e. if he earned 65% more than I did he would pay 65% of the bills and I would pay 35%). I thought I had it sussed and had worked it out properly but he recently had a payrise and when I worked it out again it meant me having to pay more and him having to pay less. I don't know where I have gone wrong and don't know if there is anyone out there who might be able to help me work it out.

Thanks in advance.

WestonDave

Presumably what you are trying to acheive is that if your OH earns £1000 and you earn £500 (say per month) he pays 2/3rds of the bills and you pay 1/3 (as you earn half of his earnings)?

If that is what you want to acheive then you add up his salary and yours which gives you total income. You then divide your salary by the total income which will give you a 0.x number. In the above example yours would be something like 0.33. You can then multiply any bill by that and it will give your share. (As a double check do your OH's and the two should add back to be 1).

RadoJo

I am sure there is some simple thing you have overlooked in your calculations - easily done when you have stared at the figures for a while! Basically, rather than working out the percentage more than you that he earns, just work out what proportion of the total income is brought in by each of you.

For example: if you earn 10K and he earns 20k then you earn a third of the total household income of 30k and so pay in a third of the outgoings, and he pays the remaining 2 thirds.

If you are happy to post or PM what you both actually earn, I will be happy to work it out for you, but it sounds to me as though you have the right idea and have just snuck a misleading figure into your calculations somehow!

RadoJo

WestonDave - are you in my head, stealing my thoughts and writing them in much more sensible mathematical terms?

lynseydee

I can post full ins and outs later.

lynseydee

Hi bylromarha

We would rather not pool our wages as I don't like to feel like I'm relying on him for paying for things. I was exactly the same when I lived with my sister. I would pay half the shopping bill then ask her if she minded me making a sandwich :rotfl:

This way does seem to work for us if only I can get it right.

lynseydee

Ok, here goes:

I earn £14,000.00 pa and my husband earns £23,139.00 pa. Our joint bills equate to just over £1,200.00 but for easeness I have rounded it up to £1,300.00 so we have a bit of a contingency sat in the account. I have tried working it out as to WestonDave's mathematics but have got it totally wrong. Can anyone work it out for me?

melancholly

I make it that you pay £490.05 each month and he pays £809.95 (although that may be a little pedantic about the 5p!)

melancholly

just to add what calculation i did (although i had to do it in parts and write the total down )

for you: (14000/(14000+23139))*1300
for him: (23139/(14000+23139))*1300

[Deleted User]

That makes life complicated. Maybe I am old fashioned but there is 100% trust in our marriage of 38 years. Both salaries went into a joint account from day 1. We had a joint savings account and we each had pocket money for personal things. I am now in sole charge of his pension pot. Now that really IS trust

OP I am certainly not saying that you don`t trust each other but your arrangements seem pretty complicated

jfdi

But surely gross salary is not the same as the take home?

Which way did you decide to split it? Gross or Net?

If it's a split of your Net salaries we'll need some more figures - although the end result won't be much different, it will be a few ££ out!