How should couples split household costs when one earns twice as much?

[ourSusie]

How do people arrange their finances once they move in together, to a rented house, one earning exactly twice the other, both with good well paid jobs.
To have a joint pot for standing orders for paying utilities, to buy food, pay for repairs, household stuff, we put in half each. Is this fair. Is one subsidising the other.
Your thoughts please.

It took us a while ie a couple of years until I got fed up of being perpetually broke.

We then moved house and he started to pay 70% including the mortgage.

I think it depends how much you're earning. If you're both earning high wages and 50/50 is affordable to both parties then I'd do that.

If 50/50 is significantly impacting the lower earner then I think percentages is the only way to go, not sure how you could do it differently unless the higher earner is happy to continue doing 50/50 but also pick up the majority of additional expenses?

I’ve thanked everyone who made a sincere response and moved on…

We did
total bills including food = x
total household income = a

if person 1 earned 30% of household income they paid 30% of bills. Person 2 paid 70% of bills.

Married with 4 children, both work full time. Husband earns more than me.
All money paid into our joint account. No questions ever asked as it is all seen as joint money, although I am far better at spending it than DH 🤭

Before we got mafrried, we paid a % into a joint account.
After marriage and kids/SAHP, wage goes into a joint account, and then each paid the same amount of fun money into personal accounts.

My partner and I have always paid 50/50 of household costs (housing, utilities, insurance, groceries etc). If there are things that the individual wants, then they pay separately (e.g. partner wants Netflix, he pays for it as there isn't anything on there I want to watch, I want a new book, I buy it). Joint things get saved for for in a joint savings account.

All money is shared for us.

We share everything. We have separate accounts but money just flows freely between them. My husband covers most costs as he’s better at life admin but he takes money out of my account when he needs a top up. I tell him to try to leave me with at least £2k in my current account just in case I need it, but anything else is free game.

Dh and I have never had shared finances, but we’re both quite generous and it’s been equitable. When I returned to study and only had a bursary (we had one dd) he paid everything basically apart from food. Now that I earn more I pay more day to day.
I don’t think there’s an exact right way to do it. It’s more important that both people feel that it’s fair. If one of you don’t then it’s a problem.

DP is 8 years younger than me, earns low wages but public sector pension
I earn higher but have much lower pension, consensus here seems to be that I subsidise DP, how is that fair? Any surplus I have goes into savings to subsidise my pension.

When we moved in together it was percentages, I think it was 35% of our wages went into the joint account. As soon as we were engaged and buying a house together, one pot, all in the joint account.

The right answer imo.

If you both pool all your money, how do you buy each other birthday and Christmas presents etc? We each put a % proportional to what we receive into a joint account and also have our own current and savings accounts. That way we are contributing to the running of the house but have independent money to do with as we please.

When we first moved in together we tried the percentages thing. But we got married, got a mortgage and it was just easier to get a joint account and have all the bills come out. I'm great at saving, so I save all the money and we use it as and when for big stuff. There's been times when one of us hasn't been earning. He's earned more than me in the past. Now I earn twice as much as him. We always follow the same plan and it works for us

50/50 until married, then when married shared money.