How do you and your SO manage finances?

[Rella Bella]

Our friends had a great idea… from the day they got married her entire check went into savings & they lived on one income. Then when she became pregnant they took the savings & put a sizable down payment on a house. They hardly had any adjustment at all… just went from a lot of eating out & playing to buying diapers and baby food.

My DH & I have a jar system... you can use jars, envelopes or just accounts but we use jars.
(Just for the record we didn't think this up.)

10% for tithe
10% for saving to invest
10% saving for emergency fund
(appliance or car breakdowns, or other unexpected expenses)
10% to play (entertainment, eating out, whatever)
5% for saving for spending (vacation, boat, etc)
5% for continuing education (self improvement, higher degree, etc)

50% for necessities (housing, food, bills)

When we began this system we only had two of the categories at 10%, the others were just “goals” but eventually we got there. We divide our 10% for play evenly and that is our personal spending money. You can modify the system so the categories reflect your goals. The best thing about it is you are confident you’re not enjoying today at the expense of your future.

 

[DVC Sadie]

We have separate checking accounts and a joint savings accounts, plus a combination of joint/separate retirement funds. I never wanted to feel as if I had to ask for money so this system works for us.

 

[ducklite]

DH doesn't like 2 people using the same account. He knows I would forget to tell him I took out $ or write down when I wrote a check. But since the household is the joint acct I do have access to that money if I need it.

That's exactly why we each have our "own" even though both are joint. We don't keep more than a small "cushion" in our checking accounts, and a couple of forgotten ATM withdrawls and a check not written in the register could lead to trouble.

Anne