Both working - fairest way to split the finances.

Mojisola

MoodyMel wrote: »

He is happy to just carry on as we are (with both wages paid into the same account and just paying bills from it then spending/saving what is left)

I don't want to do this as we need to get a bit more a grip on our finances.

We also have 9k of debt so this also needs to be paid off along the way.

Plus I want to get a savings account started and get a holiday booked.

Before you can work out what amount can be kept by the two of you as 'personal money', you need to know where the money is going now and how much is left after the bills are paid.

You can put an SOA on the Debt-free Board and people will suggest ways to reduce out-goings.

Izadora

clint_S wrote: »

How does splitting your finances help to get a bit more of a grip on them?

If one of a couple is rubbish with money it helps to have 'mine', 'yours' and 'ours' clearly defined.

My OH is absolutely hopeless with money and there would be no chance whatsoever of getting a grip on our finances if we only had one account between us.

Gilead

No right or wrong, just what works out best.

My wife and I have a joint account, all bills go out of it and S/O after pay day to put money into joint savings. Separate credit cards (paid in full each month - mostly!). It works for us - I tend to keep more of an eye on the finances, but my wife has probably the bigger say on spending, which is a good combination. Our salaries are similar.

Edit: Plus it is transparent. Our plan for savings is to overpay mortgage, so it is good to know exactly what excess money you have each month.

MoodyMel

jondav wrote: »

It does work that way, or at least it does for us, for exactly the reason you have said.

An example is that I always make a packed lunch for work or take leftovers etc., but OH insists on buying his lunch every day.....which is expensive and also completely pointless whilst there is perfectly good food in the house :huh: anyway, I digress....

My point being that if he wants to 'waste' his money then that's his choice. I'm comfortable in the fact that all the bills are paid and my money is my own and if he has none left at the end of the week then that's just tough luck haha

Yes - this exactly. I couldn't bring myself to spend a fortune on buying lunches when it takes 10 minutes to chuck something together at home.
But if he would prefer to buy lunches out then as long as it is within his spending money that is up to him.

clint_S wrote: »

How does splitting your finances help to get a bit more of a grip on them?

Mojisola wrote: »

Before you can work out what amount can be kept by the two of you as 'personal money', you need to know where the money is going now and how much is left after the bills are paid.

You can put an SOA on the Debt-free Board and people will suggest ways to reduce out-goings.

This^^
We need to have some clear guidelines on making sure all the bill money is covered and we can see exactly how much we have left and we need to learn to live within those budgets.

i am already over on the DFW board and have a plan in pace to clear our debts, but we are waiting to start work. As it stands at the minute we are absolutely skint.

We will be going from living on student loans, HB, and TC's to having a household income of around 55k I want to make sure we are strict with where all the money is, so we don't start overspending. We need to pay off debts and save as well as decorate and pay for a holiday. We will be able to do all of this, but only if we keep a tight reign on, what I view as, 'wasting' money.

Scorpio33

I would say B, as then there is an incentive to (a) ensure all joint bills never exceed the amount in the joint account and (b) and extra money you earn is yours as a reward for earning it.

However, the key is:
- How much money you both put into the joint account
- How the old debts are split
- If you want to save, who saves how much and how regularly.
- IT MUST WORK FOR BOTH OF YOU. What works for some people won't work for others.

The thing I would be interested to know is why the need for change at all? I suspect that your other half is a spender, you are a saver and you don't want to be left with no money with him spending more than he earns. I could be wrong of course, but if this is the case, the conversation is not about what money goes into what account, more of lets agree spending levels.

FBaby

I think A if you don't earn the same amount, B if you do.

If you don't earn the same, than it is fair that you should be left with the same disposal income for yourself. In this case, you make sure everything is paid, include a transfer to savings, transfer for holiday fund, and agree on how much to pay torwards your debt, then whatever is left over, split in two. You can do that at the end of the month for the following month.

Since you state that his salary won't always be the same, it makes even more sense to do it that way.

MoodyMel

Scorpio33 wrote: »

I would say B, as then there is an incentive to (a) ensure all joint bills never exceed the amount in the joint account and (b) and extra money you earn is yours as a reward for earning it.

However, the key is:
- How much money you both put into the joint account
- How the old debts are split
- If you want to save, who saves how much and how regularly.
- IT MUST WORK FOR BOTH OF YOU. What works for some people won't work for others.

The thing I would be interested to know is why the need for change at all? I suspect that your other half is a spender, you are a saver and you don't want to be left with no money with him spending more than he earns. I could be wrong of course, but if this is the case, the conversation is not about what money goes into what account, more of lets agree spending levels.

We have different spending habits. He spends small amounts constantly. He will buy cheap games on steam a few times a week, he plays squash once a week, runs and is often needing new gear, he plays snooker around once a week and he plays golf in the summer. He always wants to 'pop the shop' and buy pies and chocolate and crap... It just seems like it is constant spending.... even though it might only be a few pound at a time, it drives me insane!!

I tend to by stuff for the home, days out for the family, clothes for the kids with very occasionally a new item of clothing for me.

Thinking about it:

Another reason for the change is that I want my own money. I have never, ever had my own money. We have been together since I was 15, lived together since I was 16 and bought a house, got a car on finance and had our first baby by the time I was 20/21. I want to be able to buy myself some nice clothes without feeling guilty. For many years I have yearned to have my nails done, but could never justify spending the money on myself when we have never had much spare... if it is in the joint account I view it as family money and can't bring myself to spend any of it on myself except on essentials.


Wow - I didn't even realise I felt like that

clint_S

Izadora wrote: »

If one of a couple is rubbish with money it helps to have 'mine', 'yours' and 'ours' clearly defined.

My OH is absolutely hopeless with money and there would be no chance whatsoever of getting a grip on our finances if we only had one account between us.

I would have thought allowing the person who was rubbish at finances the ability to dig themselves a deep hole with no checks and balances would have made the situation worse.


Each to there own I suppose and this really is a trust issue, I know I wouldn't have trusted myself to keep out of debt before I met my wife. My wife is very prudent with money, I on the other hand lived via credit cards and overdraft, often paying bills late. On getting Married we combined our money, and her constant questioning of why I was doing stupid things with money and making sure bills were paid on time means we not only do we have savings and good credit ratings but I'm much better with money.

Madbags

Me and my OH both have our own accounts which our salaries go into.


We have a Standing order each for what is half of our total bills +£100 each for savings.


Our bills and shopping etc. all come out of the joint account. Before the month is over we move the £200 we've saved plus any float left over into the joint savings which we used for our yearly insurances, car services, repairs that kind of thing.


For anything else, say she wants a bar of chocolate, or I want beer then we buy it ourselves. If we go for a meal or order takeaway I tend to buy one month, she another.


Works for us.

[Deleted User]

"What's hers is hers and what's mine is hers"