what should get paid out of joint account?

[nomoneymoreproblems]

Hi

I'm looking to open a joint account with my husband.

I earn the same every single month, theirs varies (sometimes earns the same as me but can earn up to £400 more.

Do you think the joint account should cover their gym membership? or their car which is on HP (he uses daily but we if we go out together its always his car used as its bigger - I have my own car that is owned outright). what about each of our petrol bills? mine is £40 a month his is £270

I'm not sure

just would like opinions please

😂

The only unusual item in our joint account is my waxes, which we have agreed are a marital outgoing
Fair enough!!

We put everything in and take everything out of the joint account. We do have individual savings accounts, and we put the same amount each into those each month (plus a set amount into the DC’s accounts) and everything else is in the joint account.

We keep a spreadsheet of everything we spend categorised under different headings, so we can keep an eye on things, but generally we have a pretty similar attitude to spending, so it probably evens out.

If we make a large purchase, we usually discuss it firs; I think we’d both be taken aback if the other returned home with a new car or arranged a new kitchen without mentioning it first, but things like gym membership or new clothes we would just check the bank balance and go ahead and buy.

DSis does the same as us, everything shared.

But BIL and SIL have his and hers money, and so do my DB and SIL, and they pay for things like clothes, hobbies, holidays, meals out, cars individually.

Our joint account pays council tax, gas, electricity, water, food, meals and days out together, DC clothes, birthday gifts we give as a couple. Xmas gifts for DC, family and fuel for car we use together. I pay for from my own account haircuts for myself, my dentist, meals out with friends, gifts for DH, my life insurance policy, car insurance, car tax, car fuel, Bears membership, my mobile SIM card and any treats I want eg. a spa day, new clothes, coffees when out and about. DH pays for his car insurance, tax, fuel for his car, his mobile phone card, Vegetarian subscription, his dentist, meals or drinks out with friends, coffees put, clothes, Bears Membership, newspaper subscription, gifts for me, treats he wants. We both pay £1k into joint account each month. No mortgage and also we have other money paid into our joint account from 2 btl houses that are jointly owned.

It works for us because our income is very similar. Our salary goes into our personal account and we transfer equal money across into joint account.

Ours is similar to many others have said:
Joint account:
All household bills
Food
Insurance

Personal accounts:
Personal expenses - clothes, going out etc
Mobile phone bills
Petrol

We then have a savings account for holidays and big expenses. I'm the higher earner so I pay more in, but Dh is a saver so he tends to pay more into the savings account and I cover more day to day 'fun' expenses.

I've read threads on here in the past where posters have suggested that anyone who doesn't manage their finances completely jointly has a dysfunctional relationship, so it's quite reassuring to me that lots of other couples work things similarly to me and Dh.

For us

Joint account

Household bills and direct debits
All car expenses
Savings to pots for Christmas, holidays, cars and house
Emergency savings
Food
Fuel
Joint or family entertainment
All gifts including to each other

Personal accounts
Clothes
Hair/nails costs
Personal entertainment/holidays
Hobbies
Gadgets unless by agreement we replace from joint account.

All our income goes into the joint account and we each have £300 a month personal spends

In your situation I think the car and fuel expenses should come from the joint account as you use his more. His gym membership should come from his personal spends.

to offer a counterpoint to others on this thread:

nothing!

I don’t believe there is any good reason to have a joint account if both partners are in paid employment. Keep separate accounts, work out a fair and proportional way of splitting shared expenses.

so so many women get screwed over by merging finances. And even those who don’t have to spend time worrying about what does and doesn’t come out of the joint account. They are really not needed!

Yep, which is where we are but we then have a wholly separate joint account for shared bills and small amounts of savings. We pay in the same amount to this each month. My account is mine, not his!

I would just put everything in there and pay for everything out of there.

This, especially if you have children or are planning to

All our money goes in to the joint and all bills come out of it, including hair cuts, cars, fuel, parking etc.
we then divide what’s left saving 50% (this is shared savings) and having 25% each transferred to personal accounts for spending

We’ve only just got a joint account, together 9 years, married nearly 5.

I moved into his house when we first got together, and for whatever reason it made
sense just to do things separately. Then when we had DD we ended up with this complicated system where he paid x, I paid y, but because I’d gone part time he’d end up giving me a bit back towards the y and it got a bit ridiculous so we’ve gone for a joint account.

We pay a proportional amount in and it covers all household bills, grocery shopping, any DD related expenses (swimming lessons, clothes, her upcoming birthday party costs etc etc), and we will probably use it for family outings/ holiday spending etc.

Own cars, gyms, personal spending separate at the moment - but to be honest I’m increasingly thinking we should just pool everything. DH might need a little hand holding through that, so we will build up to it!!

Thank you everyone we have decided everything will come out of the joint account barring his gym membership. We will both be left with around £200 per month personal spends which is more than I have the current way (seperare bank accounts and him giving me a lump sum towards bills) so it looks like it's going to be a good choice for us.

If you have children from a previous relationship then joint account doesn’t really work as it would be unfair on the new partner to fund some one else’s kids expenses