Keeping money seperate. How??
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I know this sounds like a dumb question but how do you do the whole seperate accounts thing? How do you divide the bills. I have always done all the accounting and bill paying for both my marriages and am finally saying enough!
Have a joint account for just
Have a joint account for just bills that you both deposit a set amount in. Then you each have your own personal accounts to use as you please.
This is what DH and I did. We
This is what DH and I did.
We pulled up a budget. We got the grand total, we rounded up, we split the total.
Each paycheck, DH and I have an auto transfer setup from our personal accounts into a joint account to which we both have access.
All bills are paid from said joint account.
We rounded up the grand total, that way we put in a little more than required to cover the actual bills in case something comes up unexpected like a repair or something - then we have that money in that joint account to cover it - or if we want to make a household purchase like a new patio set for example, we pull it from the joint account.
DH has no access to my personal account, I have no access to his. We have our own credit cards - no joint ones.
If we agree to use a personal credit card on a joint purchase, we pay the card from the joint account.
Our personal accounts and joint account at at the same bank - with online banking its super simple, I sign in, I see my personal and our joint, he signs in he sees his personal and our joint - but we never see each others personal.
We each have different
We each have different properties so we take care of ours. He gives me some money for groceries since I do the shopping, but that's about it.
When we get our own together house, he'll do some bills, I'll do others.
My DH gives me most of his
My DH gives me most of his paycheck and then I just deposit it into my account and pay all the bills with my money and his money. He SUCKS at paying bills. He used to have a few things in his name, but I got fed up with paying late fees so we just decided it's better if I take care of all the bills and he can spend his extra money however the hell he wants.
My exH was horrible with
My exH was horrible with money. I made a little bit more than him as well. So what we did was make a list of all the household bills- rent, electric, cable, phone (we had land lines then) etc. We each took a certain bill that we would be responsible for paying for.
My list of bills added up to be a little bit more than his list, but that was okay because I made more than him. We had separate bank accounts that we each used to pay our respective bills with. We had a joint account for a while, but I wound up closing it because neither of us used it.
We still had problems because while I had no problem paying my set of bills, he was always "needing help" to pay his set of bills. I remember once the electricity was cut off three times in one year because he'd fail to pay the bill on time.
He would spend money foolishly and then when it was time to pay the bills he was responsible for, expected me to help him out. I felt that there was no reason why he had to keep asking me to help him with the bills he was responsible for when it was not more than what he took home in pay.
I got tired of him always looking for me to rescue him. One of a few reasons why he's my ex now.
This is what seems the most
This is what seems the most fair for everyone. So even if you make different amounts of income per month, you're still contributing the exact same amounts
http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/weblog/2007/01/suze-orman-how-split-bills/
We each have separate
We each have separate checking accounts. I am the breadwinner, so I pay majority of the bills, but I handle paying all the bills from both accounts. He doesn't question it. We mainly did that becuase back when BM had physical custody, she would take DH to court for everything she possibly could, so I was afraid she would somehow get to his bank account and I was right. She failed to pay an old hospital bill that DH knew nothing about. He was commuting to/from work at the time & stopped to get gas one night and his debit card wouldn't work. The bill that had never come to our address now had a lien on DH's bank account since he was the health insurance policy holder when the charges were incurred (four years prior shortly after the birth of their youngest daughter!). And guess who had to pay the now $2800 bill? That's right...she didn't pay a dime on it. Just another reason to add to the long list of why I despise her...
We tried to combine our money
We tried to combine our money but it was just to hard. I am the saver and he is the spender. He has 3 kids and we have 1 together. On the kids weekends entertainment is key - disney dad type of senario.
Seperate accounts now - split EVERYTHING 50/50. Now the board games and bike rides happen more on the weekends cause there is less money for him to spend. go figure.
I had my first mani/pedi last month - sad at 43 but OMG how wonderful it felt to spoil myself. Mom's always sacrifice their needs first - however no more.