Real life MMD: My hubby earns more. Should he pay more of joint bills?

Why not pay 75% each into a joint account which will cover bills and things, then you each have 25% salary left for your purchases, Christmas presents to each other etc. Left over money in the joint account could go to other people's Christmas presents, holidays and so on.

It's a similar suggestion to other people's, but allocating a percentage means it's easier to work out and completely fair.

I'm in a similar situation and wondering the same type of things, so reading all these posts has been really good. Not that they have helped me reach a decision, since as many others have pointed out, the final decision must be taken by talking with your partner. (To those who've said "talk to your partner, not to the forum!" I'm sure that she is intending to do so, but there is no harm in canvassing experiences from others)

My situation is: not married, but we bought a house together. We both contributed 50/50 for the deposit and currently are taking the approach of "we each add £600 into a join account and from here all the common expenses come out" that includes the mortgage, food shopping, bills and even going out for dinner together (unless it's a specific treat from one of us) and holidays.

We decided this because even though he earns 50% more than me, I wanted to "pull my weight" and particularly because we are in a joint mortgage and I want to feel the house is as mine as it's his. Previously I used to spend a lot of time in his (rented) place and I couldn't feel like I belonged there (he didn't want to come to my place).

Now I find out that I'm struggling to save and he's living cheaper than he's ever lived (just in rent he was paying more than we pay for the mortgage). Yes, I need to save for my things, for my holidays or visiting my family abroad (he doesn't like to go on holiday often and doesn't particularly like coming to my family's because of the language barrier - fair enough, but I'm not going to stop doing it because of that nor I'm going to pay this from the joint account). I even want to save for the future, for having kids, for my pension...

He also spends a lot on treats for himself. Very often without even researching for the same thing cheaper somewhere else. I'm a member of this forum for a reason! That type of things drive me up the wall, but I happily live with it because "it's his money". If we had completely joint finances, then I probably would not be so happy. He very often says "I don't care how much it is, if I want it and I can afford it, I'll buy it". At least I know that he hates debt!

So I'm considering proposing the "% of your income into a joint bank account" (instead of both the same amount), but I guess that the OP is feeling like me "is this going to be understood as me trying to get advantage of the situation"? It's a bit uncomfortable to bring up this when you are asking the other person to contribute more. I fully understand her dilemma. How do you bring up this conversation?

I would have thought if you are married the time to start separating your funds has long gone, what would you do when children come along? You're a unit now, a couple, it's all one pot of cash and you're striving for the same goals in life.

Cuidadosa wrote: »

Also, even for joint bills, many times he chooses more expensive things for the house, the expensive internet package (because of bandwidth)... His view is "I can afford it". And I can "afford it" too, but it means less spare money for myself!

Rather than pay a percentage, why don't you propose that he just pays a bit extra and you a bit less for him to cover the expensive things that he likes to buy (like the better broadband package) and explain to him that you don't have the spare money to fund those things and try to save for your future. He sounds like he isn't that bothered about money, so probably won't mind chipping in a bit more.