how do you guys organize finances?

SBmini

We have three shared accounts- a bill account, spending and saving. Our paychecks get split between these three accounts. For the most part, it works, except when hobbies come in play. For example, we just got a fun sports car. My husband wants suspension and an audio system. We're talking at least $1,000 in stuff. And I want to get into road biking. That isn't cheap either. 

So I don't know how to handle these things. I think that maybe we should both have our own savings account for our own hobbies so we aren't taking it out of the house savings account (which is in good shape, but is not as strong as it could be.)

How do you guys handle this stuff? All together? All separate? Something in between?

sarawifenow

Currently, everything is separate. One FI and I are married, we will have a joint checking and saving and then separate checking accounts. We were going to go joint sooner, but we figure we may as well wait the 4 months instead of me having to change my name on the accounts.

JCbride2015

There was a recent thread, just on whether Knotties have separate vs. joint accounts.  

We have separate and joint accounts.  We aren't super organized right now because I live off a lump sum at the beginning of each semester (student loans) and now I'm living off a lump of savings and my signing bonus for the next 5 months.  I pretty much use what I need and keep an eye on the declining balance.

Fi has a certain amount from each paycheck deposited to the joint account, which I then use to pay our bills.  

We both have separate retirement accounts (mine is from my previous job as a teacher, his is with his current job).  Once I start working, we're going to meet with a money manager to figure out exactly how much we can/should be saving for retirement, buying a house, things like that.

littlemushroom

We have a shared checking used for bills, groceries, and joint entertainment (like movies, dinner out, etc) and will have a shared savings once we get married that will be for big house purchases and vacations.  Any amount that isn't used up for bills, groceries or entertainment one month will get moved to savings.  The savings will likely be through Capital One 360 (online only) because they let you subdivide your account into different things, so you can see the amounts allocated to house purchases/upkeep, vacations, etc).  

We also each have our own checking and savings accounts that are used for gifts for each other, if we go out for lunch during work, going out with our friends, and our own hobbies/interests (he buys video games and board games, I get pedicures and kitchen gadgets).  He doesn't have to ask before buying video games, and I don't have to check in before getting a pedicure.  It works great for us.

cupcait927

Currently FI and I have 3 joint accounts (food, wedding and savings for house-related expenses) and then our own separate checking and savings accounts. Everything right now is split 50/50 and we each make the same $ contributions into our joint accounts every paycheck. Right now it's working because we make about the same salary but FI has a LOT more expendable income than I do as he has less in loans and a smaller car payment. It makes it hard for me to pay for anything we do and then I feel guilty for not being able to contribute as much.

Once we're married we've talked about pooling our paychecks into one account and then portioning out what we need for bills, the house, loans, and then personal spending money and savings. I know that he would help me out if I needed it (he also has a lot more in his savings account than I do) but I don't want to have to ask for money once we're married to, say, fix things like my car because I may not have enough money at the time. Our biggest fights are about money and it's something we need to get on the same page about pretty quickly. 

photokitty

We have completely separate accounts. I have access to his accounts, I'd give him access to mine, but I'm a financially savvy one out of us, so he's not too interested. I keep track of all the bills and he gets an allowance, so to speak :-p

theartistformerlyknownas

Our money is all over the place right now. I have 2 checking and a savings account (savings account autopays a debt consolidation loan I should have paid off by the end of the year; it's not really being "saved"), we have joint checking for the wedding, he has... I don't even know. Then I pay him $500 a month toward house expenses, and I cover his health insurance. 

FI wants to ultimately whittle down to as few accounts as necessary, but I like keeping money bucketed out separately for different things (i.e. one checking account is for bill paying because it's easier through USAA, and the other is for spending because that's easiest with my Schwab Visa check card). 

I'd like to have a joint checking and savings into which we put the same percentage of our paychecks, and separate savings and checking for the rest to spend/save as we please.

wandajune6

We each have separate accounts and a joint account. The joint account was originally meant for weddings savings but now it gets used as needed- his dental work, my new tires, etc. We both put money into the account when we can.

So far, our division of expenses is a mess. The house is his so he pays the mortgage and utilities. I pay the internet and tv because both changed when I moved in. I also handle all groceries and other consumables. My student loan payments and other debts are similar to his rent payments so I cover those out of my account. The goal was for him to cover as many expenses as possible so I could pay off everything as quickly as possible while handling wedding savings. This approach also helps for his student financial aid and child support. (Not an asshole - he has custody, ex doesn't pay.)

kat1114

We have separate accounts and pay joint bills as a percentage of our monthly take home. Example: if your joint monthly bills are $2,000, you take home $3,000 monthly and FI/FH takes home $2,000 month, for a total of $5,000 monthly, you would pay $1200 of the monthly bills (60%) and FI/FH the other $800 (40%).

theartistformerlyknownas

kat1114 said:

We have separate accounts and pay joint bills as a percentage of our monthly take home. Example: if your joint monthly bills are $2,000, you take home $3,000 monthly and FI/FH takes home $2,000 month, for a total of $5,000 monthly, you would pay $1200 of the monthly bills (60%) and FI/FH the other $800 (40%).

This is how we plan to divide them as well.

VulgarGirl

I have my own checking and savings account. Then FI has her own checking and savings account. Then we have a joint checking for bills and joint savings for trips/big household thing/stuff like that.

Then one day we sat down and did a lot of boring math. We figured out how much our monthly joint bills are, mortage, cable/internet, home insurance, utilities, cell phones and groceries. Then we split that in half and we each contribute that amount monthly to our joint checking account. We agreed to each put in 5% of our paychecks into our joint savings, so that we'll always have money in there for anything we need/want. Then everything else goes into our separate savings/checking accounts, and we pay our separate bills out of there.

It works pretty well. Though we both have access to each other's separate accounts. More as a just in case thing.

loveislouder

We have a joint chequeing, he has his own savings account, and I have a chequeing account. His paycheques go directly into the joint chequeing, and that's where all the household expenses, mortgage, etc. come out of. I have a chequeing account and that's where all our pre-authorized debits come out (life insurance, car payments, etc). We generally don't touch that account.  Anything left over in the joint account at the end of the month goes directly into his savings account.  

MrsMack10612

kat1114 said:

We have separate accounts and pay joint bills as a percentage of our monthly take home. Example: if your joint monthly bills are $2,000, you take home $3,000 monthly and FI/FH takes home $2,000 month, for a total of $5,000 monthly, you would pay $1200 of the monthly bills (60%) and FI/FH the other $800 (40%).

We have 3 joint checking account - 1 for the mortgage, 1 for the bills and 1 was for the wedding and is now general savings and "oh shit" money.  We each have our own checking/savings accounts.

We each put in the same amount to the bills account so all the utilities, household expenses and other joint expenses are equal.  The general savings & mortgages accounts are broken out like the above based on our incomes as H makes more than I do.

We are hoping to buy a new house soon, once that happens we will make some changes to how things are done as we will have different bills/amounts as we currently live in a condo.

SBmini

kat1114 said:

We have separate accounts and pay joint bills as a percentage of our monthly take home. Example: if your joint monthly bills are $2,000, you take home $3,000 monthly and FI/FH takes home $2,000 month, for a total of $5,000 monthly, you would pay $1200 of the monthly bills (60%) and FI/FH the other $800 (40%).

We currently use a percentage system to split checking/bills/savings too. It's the most fair when you aren't making the exact same amount. 

AddieCake

We have our own accounts and then a joint account that bills, joint purchases, and shared activities come out of. We use a percentage system for contributing to the joint account. Before spending more than $100 on anything, we discuss it first, no matter whose account it would be coming out of because while we have yours, mine, and ours, we agree that at the end of the day, it's all "ours."

NYCBruin

We had joint and separate accounts for a while but it ended up being too annoying to keep track of since we don't view money as "yours/mine/ours" it's all "ours" so we ended up having to check in constantly to make sure all our accounts had appropriate balances, etc.  So now we have everything in joint accounts, with the exception of a very small amount of money each of us has in personal checking accounts but that's mostly for emergency money (these accounts are at different banks, so we could get cash if there was ever an issue with our main bank).  It's easier for our budgeting purposes for us both to be able to see where everything is.

NowIamMrsKlein

Right now our accounts are all separate but once we are married we will probably sit down with the bank and discuss our options. I have a chequing, saving, tfsa and rrsp. He has chequing, tfsa and rrsp. 

While FI has the higher income, I am better at managing money. How we are working it right now is that he pays for everyday items such as groceries, movies, etc. as well as the car payment and half the rent. He also pays for the items that he had before we got together such as his phone bill and health insurance.

I pay for the household items such as cable/internet/home insurance and half the rent. As well as my phone bill. Since I get paid twice a month I can usually cover all expenses on one paycheque and then the entirety of the second paycheque goes directly into wedding/house savings. With me paying lesser of the bills it ensures that money is going into the savings account each month.

FI was terrible with money when we met and was breaking even each month. I've whipped him into shape over the last couple years, we've managed to pay off his debt, and have quite the little nest egg in the bank. I definitely think we will go with joint accounts since I basically control our finances right now and make all the financial decisions. It would just make sense for each of us to have access jointly to each account.

JCbride2015

SBmini said:

kat1114 said:

We have separate accounts and pay joint bills as a percentage of our monthly take home. Example: if your joint monthly bills are $2,000, you take home $3,000 monthly and FI/FH takes home $2,000 month, for a total of $5,000 monthly, you would pay $1200 of the monthly bills (60%) and FI/FH the other $800 (40%).

We currently use a percentage system to split checking/bills/savings too. It's the most fair when you aren't making the exact same amount. 

This will be us, too, at least in some modified way.  I'll shortly be making 3x Fi's salary when I start my new job, so it's only fair that I contribute more.

I don't see a reason to change our distribution while we're in our current apartment, because this place was chosen with Fi's budget in mind.  My salary will operate as "extra" for a while, for things like wedding savings and discretionary spending for both of us.  Later on, we'll use my salary to upgrade to a better condo and we'll probably pay the mortgage roughly in proportion to what we each take home.

We've lived together for over five years at this point, so we operate with a "what's mine is yours" policy.

Couggal12

Right now FI and I have zero shared accounts. Honestly we prefer it this way right now just until we get married and buy a new house and then we plan on opening an account together just to put money in for our mortgage and other house bills. It works for us because we can just split everything evenly for right now. We make roughly the same amount of income so we don't mind splitting the bills and then we take turns paying for groceries, dinner, nights out, etc. I think people might think this is odd but, it works for us. I honestly can't think of the last time we fought over fiances.

Maggie0829

We have a joint account (checking and saving) and we also have our own personal accounts.  A certain percentage from our paychecks gets put into our joint checking for household bills.  Then we each contribute (or try to) a set amount into our joint savings.  Then whatever money we have left is used towards our personal bills and our personal savings.

We don't split the household bills evenly though because H has more/larger personal bills then I do and I also make slightly more then him as well.  So we worked a budget that allowed us to have approximately the same "fun" money leftover at the end of the month so that things were fair.

cupcait927

Maggie0829 said:

We have a joint account (checking and saving) and we also have our own personal accounts.  A certain percentage from our paychecks gets put into our joint checking for household bills.  Then we each contribute (or try to) a set amount into our joint savings.  Then whatever money we have left is used towards our personal bills and our personal savings.

We don't split the household bills evenly though because H has more/larger personal bills then I do and I also make slightly more then him as well.  So we worked a budget that allowed us to have approximately the same "fun" money leftover at the end of the month so that things were fair.

This is what I want to eventually get to with FI. Right now we make the same and will most likely continue to do so for at least the foreseeable future. I have more in personal bills than he does, and his car will be paid off within the next 8 months, where as I have years. I'd like to have the vast majority of our loans paid off by the time we're 30 (with the exception of our house) and we can't do that with the way our current system is working (keeping everything separate and both contributing 50/50 to joint expenses).

flyingfoxes

I think I heard something on the news a couple weeks ago asking what men and women considered to be the "appropriate" dollar figure to consult his/her spouse about.  The average for me was like $1200!  I think women said around $400.  Both of those numbers seem a bit high to me, unless it was something known about in advance, like needing a new appliance or school clothes shopping, etc. 

Jells2dot0

Everything is separate for us. The only obligation that has both of our names on it is our home. However, DH solely pays that bill. When we move later this year, I will be paying that new mortgage (we're not selling our current home, so we'll both be paying a mortgage) All other bills are divided based on our incomes and priorities. He pays utilities for the home and my SD's college tuition. I pay for our cars, our travels, and most daily expenses (groceries, eating out). We each pay our own medical costs and car insurance/registration. I really have no idea how much he brings home each week and how much he is able to save, and vice versa. 

SBmini

april182015bride said:

I think I heard something on the news a couple weeks ago asking what men and women considered to be the "appropriate" dollar figure to consult his/her spouse about.  The average for me was like $1200!  I think women said around $400.  Both of those numbers seem a bit high to me, unless it was something known about in advance, like needing a new appliance or school clothes shopping, etc. 

Yeah, I think that is high. I like knowing when it gets to around 100. I actually let him know for WAY less than that because I think it is polite and helps make sure we don't blow the monthly budget. 

Sugargirl1019

I suggest having two separate "fun" accounts. Do not ever take money out of the account that pays house bills until all bills have been paid, including your savings portion. Then you can divide what's left between you two. You will have to save up for the little fun things you want (suspension or a mountain bike) and maybe your spouse will contribute some of their fun money for it. But that's a controlled way of making sure you're not spending important money on silly things that should have been saved for other things (emergency fund).

Maggie0829

SBmini said:

april182015bride said:

I think I heard something on the news a couple weeks ago asking what men and women considered to be the "appropriate" dollar figure to consult his/her spouse about.  The average for me was like $1200!  I think women said around $400.  Both of those numbers seem a bit high to me, unless it was something known about in advance, like needing a new appliance or school clothes shopping, etc. 

Yeah, I think that is high. I like knowing when it gets to around 100. I actually let him know for WAY less than that because I think it is polite and helps make sure we don't blow the monthly budget. 

Yeah, I very rarely let H know about my purchases, regardless of price.  I am the bookkeeper so he trusts me to not let us go bankrupt.  Also, we can buy whatever we want personally as long as it is covered under our "fun" money.  That money is for us to do with whatever we please without having to consult one another.

I also make purchases for the home without his input.  I bought a new couch one day and surprised him with it.  Again, he knows that I am a stickler with money and I wouldn't just blow it on things without making sure that our accounts can afford it.

I don't know, I guess letting the other person know how much you are spending really depends on the situation that you are in.

VulgarGirl

Maggie0829 said:

SBmini said:

april182015bride said:

I think I heard something on the news a couple weeks ago asking what men and women considered to be the "appropriate" dollar figure to consult his/her spouse about.  The average for me was like $1200!  I think women said around $400.  Both of those numbers seem a bit high to me, unless it was something known about in advance, like needing a new appliance or school clothes shopping, etc. 

Yeah, I think that is high. I like knowing when it gets to around 100. I actually let him know for WAY less than that because I think it is polite and helps make sure we don't blow the monthly budget. 

Yeah, I very rarely let H know about my purchases, regardless of price.  I am the bookkeeper so he trusts me to not let us go bankrupt.  Also, we can buy whatever we want personally as long as it is covered under our "fun" money.  That money is for us to do with whatever we please without having to consult one another.

I also make purchases for the home without his input.  I bought a new couch one day and surprised him with it.  Again, he knows that I am a stickler with money and I wouldn't just blow it on things without making sure that our accounts can afford it.

I don't know, I guess letting the other person know how much you are spending really depends on the situation that you are in.

We're pretty much the same as @maggie0829, I don't care what she buys and she doesn't care what I buy so long as it's not out of our joint account. And not like hookers or blow. We share our hookers and blow.

Though...we both have to come together to make any kind of decorating decsions. But that's just because we both have very strong style tastes, luckily they mesh well together and we have an easy time agreeing.

afox007

We are awful with money and its all a big clusterfuck. I don't have a bank account, so all bill money goes into FIs account. All our purchases are paid for by who has money at the moment.

Most purchases if he needs money he grabs my wallet and vice versa. Unless it is something big neither of us asks, but big purchases usually would require us splitting the cost anyways.

lovesclimbing

We have one account that's split into two.  That's how our account works.  It has a checking and a savings.  I wish we had another that was for saving for a vacation or kayaks or something splurgy like that.

I also have a "household binder" (google it) that has all sorts of sheets for organizing different things. I use that for keeping track of spending.

BlackLace2015

We have separate accounts right now and my fi makes more than I do, but when we combine households it gets complicated as far as bills are concerned since we have kids. My son and I hardly use any utilities right now and I am very frugal with things like electricity, while he and his two kids and constantly have every light on and a million devices plugged in, big cable package, etc. At first he wanted to split the bills but when I told him my electric bill is only $25 a month (with central air) I think he almost died of jealousy! haha. Basically we have agreed that I will contribute what I pay currently and if he wants to save money he will have to change some of his habits!

I have also offered to put most of my paycheck into a joint acct seeing as he pays for all our family activities and "dates" anyway, so I don't need much spending money. Basically even though I work full time, I am the family "secretary" while he is the "treasurer"! I do all the chores he doesn't like to do (picking up gifts and cards, paying the bills on time, keeping track of appointments, etc), we share the housework, and he covers any unexpected expenses that come up with the family.