Who pays what in 2 income household?

[dshep]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

My Fiancee and I just made up a budget, and have one joint cking acct, which we pay all of the bills with the exception of grocerys. Grocerys I decided need to be paid in cash..or we go way over. I have my pay direct deposited into my cking and then transfer my amount each payday over to the joint acct. He deposits his money every Friday... What happens to the rest of the money that is left over from each of our paycks is up to us. Mine tends to get spent on my teenage daughter and my son in college. His.. who knows...

[Ima saver]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

We have always had the "goes in one pot" method. I pay all the bills using the envelope system. We both get an allowance, all of his is spent on gasoline. I pay for everything else out of my allowance. We discuss big purchases and we trust each other. Never had a money problem between us. I would be very upset if my husband blew money! That is one of the reasons I left my first marriage!!

[lillyb]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

It's never been a mine or his income in our household. Alway been our money in one pot. Even now with one income, it goes into the same pot and is our money.

[JoyJoy]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

As of June 1, 2006 we are paying our bills separate since hubby retired. Believe me this is interesting as I thought I had divided the bills equally! Turns out hubby has $200.00 extra a month. We had estimated Fed and State taxes from his retirement check but US Government employees don't have to pay State taxes out of their check. O-k-a-y!!!

Hubby pays mortgage payment, gas bill, water, Verizon landline and cell, his Everquest game dues, savings for two accounts, Amex (his) and rest is his spending money.

I pay tithe on my income, car insurance, savings for two extra accounts, my ccs, food, electricity, cable, co-pay on meds, and the rest is my spending money.

Property taxes and house insurances are paid through 0% balance transfer checks/out of our savings. Accounts are joint here so we both pay 1/2.

Life and health insurances are deducted from his check. Government pays part also.

I probably missed something but the above are the essentials.

Great topic!

[melissalt]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

We also share one checking account that is used for all of our bills. We each get a small cash allowance every week that we can do whatever we want with, and we each have one credit card (separate accounts) that we only use occasionally and carry no balances on. Pretty basic and boring I guess, but it works for us so far.

[geojen]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

We have joint everything - chequing, savings, credit cards, bills.

All our income is direct deposited into the chequing account. I pay everything from that account and move the required amounts to savings. Hubby uses credit or debit for everything, and I download our transactions every night to keep current. This works for us really well - back when we used cash, we'd often have money going astray. Like a lot of men, hubby uses a billfold - which means change normally goes into his pocket. Well, he'd sit down and lose change (in the car, in the sofa, at work, anywhere he sat down). Not a big deal when we were talking quarters, but in Canada now both $1 and $2 denominations are coins, so a lot was going astray. The kids were making out like bandits checking under cushions, though. Restricting ourselves to plastic means that there's no change to worry about, and I get a complete picture of where every penny has gone.

Both of us are quite frugal, so I don't have to worry about him going on a spending spree. Large purchases are always discussed.

We started our marriage this way, and it still works for us (he worked as a geologist so was away from home for six weeks at a time, then home for ten days - if we had waited for him to get home to take care of bills, we'd have been in big trouble!). We've never distinguished between "his" money and "my" money - it's our money, our budget and our retirement.

Jackie

We do it exactly like this as well. It works really well for us.

[asmom]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

However, I now think that that was also part of our downfall. I think, after several years, she lost perspective on how tight our money was, and how much it took me to keep everything balanced without having any of our basic services cut off (like gas, electricity, and even the internet). I guess, for her, it was just always there.

And that is precisely what happened with my husband and myself. After I confronted him about buying a $300 watch and a $500 gym membership, he told me to get off his back because he worked and he could have it if he wanted. This was during the time he was working part-time at a minimum wage job while he attended college so his financial contribution to the household pot was minimal. When I explained to him that things were tight financially for us and that I was exhausted as it was working two jobs to keep things balanced, he told me that he never asked me to work two jobs. And that is when the proverbial light bulb went off. He didn't get it. And how could he, I was managing everything. Immediately after that, we split everything up and I told him to just make sure he had his share, I didn't care what he had to sacrifice to get it. Suddenly he got it.


He still has poor financial habits but at least it is his own downfall and not mine. I wish we could work together because I think we could achieve a lot together but alas it is not to be. I think it's great that the rest of you are able to do it, I just don't want to be cold and hungry in my senior years.

[geojen]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

[


He still has poor financial habits but at least it is his own downfall and not mine. I wish we could work together because I think we could achieve a lot together but alas it is not to be. I think it's great that the rest of you are able to do it, I just don't want to be cold and hungry in my senior years.[/QUOTE]

If he doesn't get on board and you work together, you will still be cold and hungry in your senior years, unless you plan on saving enough for retirement for the both of you to be comfortable on, or you plan on living in separate houses!

My husband didn't grasp the severity of our finances either, until I read smart couples finish rich and made him go through the exercises in there with me. Now we work together and plan for our future. It is much more fun!

[TinyFish]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

All our money goes into one checking account. The emergency fund money is split between our two ING accounts, mostly for the bonus and so that in the case of sudden death, the surviving spouse would have access to the money until the joint account to bridge the time until the will is read. Money we are saving towards our latest home improvement project is in my ING account just for simplicity so I don't have to ask him to make the transfers.

I pay all the bills out of the joint account and take care of pretty much all money matters. I try to keep him clued in on the basics of where we are financially and we consult on major expenses. We are experimenting with a monthly allowance of 'mad money' for hobby supplies, music only one of us likes, and other such little treats that only benefit one of us. That way I don't have to feel guilty every time I buy some fish flakes and he doesn't have to ask me every time he wants to order some gothmetal CDs.

-TinyFish

[asmom]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

[
If he doesn't get on board and you work together, you will still be cold and hungry in your senior years, unless you plan on saving enough for retirement for the both of you to be comfortable on, or you plan on living in separate houses!

My husband didn't grasp the severity of our finances either, until I read smart couples finish rich and made him go through the exercises in there with me. Now we work together and plan for our future. It is much more fun!

Well fortunately he has a pretty substantial 401K and a pension so in that regard, he is in good standing. However, I think his CC debt and spending habits are a barrier to true financial independence and his future wealth.

Like I said, I wish we could work together but this is an issue I have dealt with for 16 years now and you can't make a person change. I have explained it on paper, I've nagged, I've tried to reason with him calmly. He has some personal issues related to his childhood that affect the way he views money and this is something that is out of my control. I can only control my own spending and savings habits at this point.

[greedy4chips]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

We put all money into one checking acct to pay our bills from. Most bills are autopay so no one can be late in sending out the check.

When I worked and my DW was a SAHM, it drove me nuts because she had no clue about the finances, due dates, budget, etc. She spent and I nagged that we needed to pay off the debt and yes dear every penny spent does count! We argued alot about extra trips across town by her to get a coffee. Eventually the debts were paid off and now she works and I stay at home.

This is where it gets good. Now it is her earning income and I hardly care about those coffees. Our financial situation is 180 degrees better so $3.50 here and there isn't much of a deal.

We do have friends who seperate every bill 50-50 except phone, which is split by the calls made and who made them. That is nuts! Who has time to do that?

To each his own.

[abowers]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

Not married, but living together. We have 2 separate checking accounts.
We split rent.
We split cell phone, gas & electric.
We alternate who pays for groceries.
We split car insurance (my share should be a little more than his though b/c of a newer car).
He usually buys food out.
We buy gas for our own cars, but he fills mine up for me every few tanks or on trips.

I'm paying my car payment and was paying my student loans until I just went into deferment for grad school. He owns his car and went straight from undergrad to grad so is still in deferment on his edu loans.

We are both grad students, but he is making a little more than me. He's made it clear I don't have to pay my share all the time if money is tight, but I'd feel like I was mooching if I did that. Money's not too tight (yet... but I just started grad school), so I pay my share.

[TinyFish]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

Oh, and Jewelsmom, my DH is a math major...but somehow that skill didn't transfer much to money. To this day I don't think he knows the procedure for balancing a checkbook. He'd just write checks and hope it all works out!

-E!

[Ima saver]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

I always balance all my check books, right down to the penny! My dh has never paid a bill or even know how much the bills are!

[LuxLiving]

Re: Who pays what in 2 income household?

Joint checking - separate savings but we are both on each others accounts as co-owners but we neither one get into each other's pot! Joint owners on CD's, MM.

He doesn't even know how much we have in savings, checking, MM, retirement, etc., etc., etc. as I handle all of that. He has never made a withdrawal from his savings.

Once a month I go over the upcoming budget biggies and I'll tell when folks need to cut back on this or that. This is when I update him on our networth. I tell him throughout the month how much he has left in his gas budget and he gets an allowance. He is told every month that the checkbook balanced and whether or not the last month's budget worked according to plan.

I'm not sure he is interested other than knowing that our obligations are met in a timely fashion. We have always had excellent credit and have worked hard over the years to maintain it. We are in a much better place though overall with me doing the accounting work - I'm a squirreler and he wasn't. Savings were non-existant when he did the books. He justs asks now if we can afford to do this or that - generally the answer is yes. He has few desires that a good 1000.00 can't handle at Dell.

I do have a separate business checking account for my little jun'que business. The timeshare belongs to me and the DRIPS and investment club shares are in my name. We do own a 'piece of the rock' jointly. We each have savings bonds in our own names. I am the POD on all of his, the kids and grandkids are POD on mine, except for a few which are POD to him. Remember we are a May-December couple.

Right now he has a separate checking account that belonged to him and his Dad for the last 10 years or so of FIL's life and an Estate Checking. Once the house sells and those funds disbursed these two accounts will be closed. I am so tired of balancing checkbooks!! ...and loaning the estate money out of our savings!!

Oh yeah - The truck is in my name now!