Housekeeping

[Pugless]

Not sure if i should post this here.

Me and dp are finally moving in together (well hes moving into my house) and obviously we need to discuss finances. As i have always lived alone i have paid for everything. Whdn me and dp got together he startd paying for my car insurance tax and he gave me money for my dcs xmas and other money for them . Then me and dp had a ds and he pays for all his needs. He has always had his own home so he paid his bills and i paid mine. Both contributing to food shops.

As we are now going to make it official we both think its a good idea to have a budget. Just wondering what everyone else agrees is a decent amount. There would be 2 adults and 3dcs one still in nappies. He has said he would give me a set amount each week. And then cover any larger costs himself. We both have things that i dont think neither of us should contribute too (i am paying off old debts he is paying a small amount on a mortgage him and his ex still have)

You need to sit down and work out all your bills - everything - rent/mortgage, all utilities, house insurances, TV lic, car tax, MOT, insurance, incl petrol money, general food costs, childcare. Everything that is costs to run a house.

When that is decided, you then look at the contribution percentage.

I think 'decent amount' is going to vary far too much from person to person to be useful. I think you need to break things down into a few categories. Personal debts definitely go to the individual. Joint costs of running the family - mortgage, bills, groceries, insurance, school trips etc - I think should all come out of a joint account contributed to on a pro-rata basis so that whoever earns the most pays in the most. Have a joint provision for savings as well because there are always unexpected repairs or one-offs like Christmas presents or replacing the washing machine. Ideally, at the end of this process you should both end up with a similar amount for personal 'spends' for incidentals. Then it's fair.

Good luck

Thank you both thats what i was thinking utilities and food shop split his and my personal debt seprate ,joint savings and the same amount of personal money each

Agree with Cogito's approach - costs vary so much other that people's won't be that useful.

We have a detailed spreadsheet with all of the shared monthly costs on it: mortgage, food, all the various bills, car costs, transport costs, savings, kids' clothes/nappies/shoes, nursery, going out fund, sports/gym costs, 'incidentals' like birthday presents etc. We then worked out a percentage pro rata. We use a joint account to cover these shared costs with contributions proportioned to our relative incomes. The remainder of our money stays in our individual accounts to do with as we like. We review the spreadsheet every few months as bills change and a couple of times a year we take out the savings in the joint account to put into ISA's/better rate savings account.

I like it as it's fair on contributions, clear and is a shared co-owned process, rather than one of us dealing with all the money stuff. It also means I never have to justify how much a haircut etc might cost (not that he ever asks) as this is from my own individual money.

The spreadsheet also has a page with account details for all the different service providers and savings account/ISA's. This just means if anything happened to either of us the other has all the important financial information readily available.

Happy cohabiting!