Couples - how do you divide money

[Nojustalurker]

Although we have lived together for a while, I have only recenly sold my flat. Currently he pays all the bills, except for food while I put a large sum into the joint savings account. This situation is only temporary as his flat is on the market and we are looking for houses.

To help us decide how much we can spend on a house we need to decide how to divide up money. We already have a shared account which we plan to use for house hold cost/future children but can't agree on what % we put into the account. My take home pay is 1250 a month and his is 2500.

Can I be cheeky and ask how to you divide your money?

We work out all our joint expenses, including household bills, holidays, going out together etc then deduct it from the total of our joint income. The remaining amount is divided into two so we each have same amount of money. So in your example household income of 3750, if total joint expenses were 3250 then we know that's how much goes into the joint account. The 500 left over means we each have 250 left for personal things. That means from your income of 1250, you would at beginning of month transfer 1,000 into the account (leaving you with 250) and your dp would transfer 2250, also leaving him with 250.

Anything else that leaves one person with more money than the other, I think is unfair.

We have a joint account and operate on a "what's mine is yours" basis, which is a lot easier for us with having a baby. We've just started having "pocket money" each week to start trying to save.

I appreciate that this won't work for everyone, we earn about the same and my OH is quite relaxed when it comes to money so me spending more than him isn't much of an issue for him.

Everything goes into one bank account.
We spend from it.
we are fortunate in that we don't need to seriously budget, however we let each other know in conversation if were planning on spending more than about £50.

If thats not a way you wish to go, I'd go for novice's method where you each get the same amount for you to spend, otherwise when one of your salaries increases/decreases (e.g. Maternity) it all goes horribly wrong.

We share everything, spend what we want.

I with part time and dh works full time so he earns a lot more than me. We have a joint account and both spend from it as we wish - we just share it all- no percentages or 'separate spending money'.

Our choice about how to do this is influenced by the fact that we are not married, that we both work f/t and that we have a child and we have both taken equal responsibility for halving all parenting and household responsibilities - no differentiation between the money-earning and domestic responsibilities we bring into the family.

We have a joint household account out of which we pay every single joint family and household expense: bills, food, clothes for dc, all child related expenses. We each pay half the amount needed into this account on payday. What is left over is within our individual control. We own the house as tenants in common - i.e we have a specified % ownership of the house each.

I earn more and when we have done renovations or improvements (rarely!) I have contributed a greater share - to represent my greater income, or greater share in the house.

If our respective earning powers were wildly different I would probably suggest we did shared expenses pro rata to income. If one of us, with mutual agreement, became a sahp then we would pool all money and resources.

We have a similar system to Novice. Effectively all money is pooled and used to pay the mortgage, bills and so on. These accounts are joint accounts. We also have savings accounts for car, house, fun expenses. Jam jar method of finances works for me!

We each have the same (modest) amount of spending money which goes into our individual current accounts. That money is mine to do what I like with. DH the same.

We both earn a similar amount but have always had the same system even when I wasn't earning anything ( just smaller amounts of spending money). Works well for us.

We have a joint account, we spend from it. Large purchase are discussed.
When I was on unpaid Mat leave it was still 'our money' when DH was unemployed it was still 'our money'.
I trust him, he trusts me, I appreciate not everyone is this fortunate.

All our money goes into our joint account , bills come off at the start if the month and we spend what's left, though we would mention a large purchase of over 100 say.

Similar to the others. My dh earns more than me but all the equity was mine and he has a daughter. So he pays his maintenance. Our pay goes into our own accounts and we have a standing order to joint account. We each have the same amount of our own money left each month. Any extra we get from overtime etc goes into the savings. If we keep extra money we both have around the same.

We earn roughly the same so each pay the same amount into a joint account each month. All bills go out of the joint account unless related to hobbies or personal investments.

We have discussed if one of our wages stopped the other will cover all bills but of course both will need to cut back spending.

Thanks for sharing.

We work it the same as novice. We have an amount that goes into the joint account every month for bills etc. What we pay is based on making sure we both have the same left each month. I earn more than dh and always have but we have always taken the same amount each to have as 'our own' money. It works well for us and has nothing to dow ith how much we earn.

We don't have his n her money and share the lot, paying bills as we go.
We find it fairest this way. We both help ourselves to what we need if the money is there.

We are both paid into the same account and all bills etc come out of it. We're saving at the moment, so we have a threshold of £20 over which we need to discuss purchases, previously it's been more like £40 or £50.

DH's income is far higher than mine, and in principle the money is pooled, we don't think of my/his money or borrow money from each other. But for practical reasons we have kept separate accounts though and DH deposits a few thousand in my account on a regular basis which I spend freely. DH pays all mortgage and bills from his bank account, and pays for anything big like holidays, appliances and any social activities we do together. So the money in my account just pays for food and my personal spends. We don't ask permission to spend above any amount, there isn't any need to in terms of keeping within our bank balances. I never get close to the bottom of my bank balance as DH tops it up before it gets that low.

I probably spend a bit more than DH in practice on my hobbies as they're quite expensive. But we don't keep tabs or anything.

We don't. We are married and all money goes in one pot.

My money is my money and dh's money is his money

XH and I went for the joint account with everything coming out of it method. We never budgeted properly though and our finances went very wrong.

If I do live with someone ever again we will discuss money matters a lot more before we move in together and will keep checking it's working on a regular basis. I like the idea of working out what's needed and how much is left over and splitting that. Maybe a joint account for bills and separate accounts for each of us as well.

I earn double what DH earns but his pride won't let him spilt things the way I think they should be spilt (with me paying double) so we each put £700 a month into an account to pay the mortgage and the bills. I'll then pay big expenses like our holidays and meals out, clothes etc. Not my choice but it works for us. Things will have to change in future but it works for now.

Are we supposed to divide the money?
I thought I was supposed to have it all to buy shoes and handbags.
< Off (in a disgruntled manner> to consider sharing husbands wages with him>.

We devised a method when we moved in together (into my house where I was the only name on the mortgage) whereby we have our salaries go into our own account and a standing order to the joint account to cover all outgoing bills.

to start with we earnt the same so it was 50/50, then I had maternity leave, part time hours in a lower paid role and another maternity leave and we pro rata the standing orders now. I still often pay for treats for the girls but DH is more likely to buy an impromptu takeaway.

The joint account now has an amount of savings within it which we use for big bills and house renovation. We each have a savings account and I have no idea how much DH has and vice versa. We also have life insurance.

Everything shared - I haven't earned for at least 12 years but have full access to our joint account and spend what I need, neither of us is extravagent, we are both sensible grown ups and have never been over drawn in over 25 years of marriage .

I think when we first started living together, I paid all the bills and DH paid the mortgage. We took it in turn for meals out etc.

Then DH paid off my overdraft every month

We keep our finances entirely separate and agree at the beginning of each year who will pay for nanny, mortgage, bills, council tax, having worked out roughly what they will be. Food shops are just paid for by whoever does them. I pay for "big" stuff like holidays and renovations because I earn more.