does this make sense

sjh101

I'm hoping somebody can clarify something for me as I can't get my head round it to explain to the Mrs properly........even though I don't think it's that difficult to work out.

I have a phone contract which is due to expire in May. The contract is for £32 a month and I have rang up the provider to ask how much it would cost to cancel early. I was told it would cost £55.44 to cancel early.

We have a joint account where wages etc gets paid in, and we each of our own personal accounts where we take a set amount from the joint for ourselves each month. The joint account is where each of our phone bills gets paid from and we have allocated £15 each to cover phone bills, anything more comes out of our own accounts. So in my instance with my current £32 a month contract,£15 is from the joint and the remaining £17 I pay out of my own pocket. ( £32 still comes out of the joint, I just take -£17 from set amount each month )

I want to take up a new deal with a new provider that's going to cost £34.50 per month, and with it being my first bill it is usually a bit more.......let's say £50 for the new contract I want to take out.

The bit that's confusing me is........from the contract I'm cancelling i will have £55.44 to pay if I cancel now, and if I take out the new deal my first bill (for arguments sake) will be £50 (because it's the first bill and always a little bit more). So with regards to the £55.44 to end the current contract, and bearing in mind what I said earlier, am I right in thinking that £15 of the £55.44 would be paid for by the joint?

And regarding the new contract I want to take out, if the first bill is £50, am I right in thinking that £15 of that should come from the joint also, and the rest I pay myself?

((So to cancel contract £40.55 is covered by me and £15 comes from the joint))
((The new deal with first bill amount, if it was £50, £35 is covered by me and £15 from the joint))
Assuming these bill amounts are what it would actually be. In order to continue with our payment structure of £15 being allocated to phone bills from the joint, and the rest being from our own money I would need to pay from my own pocket £75.55 to cover cancelling the old (£40.55) and taking out the new (£35) and the rest covered by the joint account?

Does this make sense?? Just trying to figure out what I would need to pay.

Thanks

NoMore

I can't quite follow this and don't understand why you are only part paying the mobile bills from the joint, either they are your own responsibility or they are a joint. Also it seems to me you will be ripping your wife off by claiming an extra £15 in one month. One for finishing a contract and one for starting a new contract.

Why don't you both just take £15 extra each month in your allowance and then you are both responsible for your own mobile bills.

symphonies

Have to agree with the above poster, this seems far too complicated.

Why not move your respective contracts to your own personal accounts. That way, you're responsible for just your own contract and you can change contracts (not recommended but you get the point) as much as you like without all this extra confusion and hassle? I always thought phone contracts were a personal expense rather than joint ones like rent, ect.

Leave your joint account for things like utility bills, rent/mortgage, ect.

mgdavid

and there's me thinking partnership and marriages were all about sharing everything :eek:

Dobbibill

Probably not going to be a full month between the old bill finishing and the one starting (never known these to run the way you want/expect it to) so I would say the 2nd £15 you are not entitled to (unless last & first bills are at least 28-31ish days apart) - that would be fair

One other note - May is only 7 - 8 weeks away - whats the rush to change contracts early - you may get an even better deal if you wait

Robin9

Far too complicated - wait till contract runs out and then get new contract on your own account

cheexy

Oh dear Lord. Too complicated. Use your account if you cant pay everything from your joint account.

steveE2

Doing it your way you are taking an extra £15 this month(not sure wife would be too pleased at that)

Just pay the cancellation from your account £55.44
Pay the new bill from your account £50.00
Transfer your Allowance from joint to your account £15.00
Total mobile bill £105.44
Allowance 15.00
You pay 90.44

[Deleted User]

Hi,

gosh married life seems complicated and stressful.

How does the food budget account work if you want coco pops instead of alphabetti spaghetti? :rotfl:

pelirocco

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

gosh married life seems complicated and stressful.

How does the food budget account work if you want coco pops instead of alphabetti spaghetti? :rotfl:

Or you have a bath instead of a shower

Do you have his and hers loo rolls ?

bouicca21

If you really want to have personal accounts as well as a joint one, why don't you do it the other way round? Wages paid into personal account, calculate a budget for household bills and each pay your share into the joint account. I think, once you'd done the basic budget, that would be a whole lot simpler than the system you've got.