"Her" money vs "my" money

gayleygoo

OH and I have been together for 10 years, and I am currently a SAHM. We have separate accounts, but all that gets paid into mine is CB and CTC! He pays the bulk of the household bills, rent etc, and I contribute a share of the rent in proportion with what we both "earn". Most of my money gets spent on household stuff, kid's clothing, groceries etc anyway, but I still budget for personal treats where I can.

OH has told me that if there's anything I want or need, just to ask him for the money, as it's "ours". Our budget doesn't stretch to too many luxuries so generally I don't feel the need to ask him for money for things for myself. He's fairly okay with money himself so I don't try to restrict what he chooses to spend money on either. One day I will have a wage of my own and we'll rework things as needed.

Maybe a joint account would be useful for us, so we could each pay in relative amounts and use that for all our household needs, but really we're probably a bit too lazy to do that! And as we are not married, I have no idea what would happen to our money if either of us were to die.

Lee_Howden

Since we moved into our house nearly 9 years ago, we've had a joint account for the purpose of paying the bills and food. We also have a number of savings accounts which have different purposes (general savings, Christmas).
Our salaries are still paid into our own accounts and we keep a little back for our own spends (not very much at all these days). We still keep our own fuel money separate as one spends more than the other. Car insurance is paid on our own too (mainly for the purpose of keeping a track of it). What we each pay into the Joint Bills Account isn't 50/50 though as one doesn't earn as much as the other. It is proportioned off so that the higher earner pays more. This is mainly to keep everyone solvent.

To be fair though, apart from small disagreements about who has spent what on Credit Cards, whether it be our own or one we use jointly, it seems to work pretty well. We've managed to keep our heads above water for 9 years, so we must be doing something right!

tgroom57

SailorSam wrote: »

What's mine is mine, and what's hers is ours.

Beware anyone who jokes about this. An excellent indicator to keep your finances separate.

laura_hoggle

DH and I opened a joint account when we first moved in together for rent, bills, food etc. We both kept our separate accounts that our salaries go into, yet each put the same amount into the joint account each month, and any left over after bills has gone towards saving for various things-wedding, house deposit, furniture, holidays etc.

Since we married 2 years ago & have bought a house, I tend to take charge of the joint finances, and we still keep our own accounts. I do currently see what's in the joint account as 'ours' and what is in my personal account as 'mine'. This way we feel that we can treat ourselves, or each other. We both earn a very similar wage. However if one of us were to lose our job, or if we have a baby and I go on maternity leave, there would be no issue with pooling it all together.