Separating Finances when Married

[sonofanarchy]

My wife and I have been married for 9 years and ALWAYS have had separate checking and savings accounts. She pays her personal bills as do I. For house expenditures, we share. I pay the rent, she pays the heat and hot water. My share comes out to more, but I make more. I also pay for all of our vacations and entertainment. I don't remember the last time we fought about money. It works for some people.

 

[pryncess527]

Honestly, that is the one thing about YNAB I do not like and that doesn't work for us.

We have spent about $4,000 in the last 10 years on car repair, and that includes new tires for all of the cars.

We have to save for college. We have NO idea how much it will actually be. The private school one son may be looking at is $40,000 per year. The trade/tech school another child is looking at we could write a check for tomorrow. However, we have NO CLUE how much it will really cost. Home repairs? Well, we have no clue as things come up (like a leak in our fridge that ruined our kitchen floor) as to how much will really be needed at any given time.

A general fund is much more workable for us. We don't go "blow it" on things we want. All of our emergency fund and savings is for things that we need.

We have no debt other than mortgage and we have a healthy savings account (general savings, no "you have a specific job and can only do that job" stuff), and retirement.

I see no reason to change the way we are doing things.

There's no reason YNAB would make you change. Just because the software makes it easy for those of us who prefer to dole out e-fund dollars in various categories, doesn't mean it would stop you from having a General E-Fund category instead. Or just maintaining an off budget (or off YNAB) e-fund account. The idea also isn't that money can only do that specific job. It's just that it can only do one job at a time. We change the "job" of our money all the time as we change our minds or shift priorities.It's flexible software, people use it to suit their own style.

I have no clue what those things will cost either, I just prefer having guesses broken out. It was easier for me to imagine how far our e-fund would go if multiple things happened at once. But the system doesn't force you to have 20 different rainy day categories.