Currently Jabi and I both work full time jobs and we each make comparable salaries.
We have ‘our’ money and then we have ‘our own’ money.
We have our joint checking and savings account and then we have our own personal accounts.
Anything that is related to the house we share equally, for instance the mortgage, utility bills, groceries, toiletries, household goods (i.e., light bulbs, cleaning products, etc.) We calculate the approximate monthly charges and divide that between us. So each pay period, a designated portion of our pay check is directly deposited into our joint checking account, and the remaining balance gets deposited into our own personal checking accounts.
We use our joint savings account for very specific things/goals; it’s saving for a purpose! Most recently we used the joint savings account to save for wedding expenses. Now that the wedding is over, we are considering using it as a savings for our next vacation or for the kitchen remodel that we’ve been considering. The money we use to build the savings account comes from our own money. If there is no deadline, the amount we deposit or when we deposit it (bi-weekly or monthly) is up to the individual. If there is a deadline, then we need to establish the cost and the money needed from each to accomplish the goal.
With our own money we are responsible for our own expenses like our cell-phone bill, personal credit cards, oil-changes to our own vehicles, or clothes. Basically, we use our own money for whatever we want without the guilt of taking away from the others’ hard earned cash. There are obvious things, that as a woman I enjoy like pedicures and salon haircuts, but I would feel wrong spending my husbands money for my personal luxuries.
We don't combine all our money because it would feel weird if I had to ask “permission” to buy something or to have to explain why I bought something and vice versa. I’m his wife not his mother, he doesn’t have to ask me permission to use money. Don’t get me wrong, for huge purchases we would consult each other but I don’t feel it right that, as adults, we have to ask permission to use money that we've earned. C’mon now!
I don’t want you want to get the impression that we're strict with the way we handle money. It just makes sense for a couple who have similar salaries to share equally in the expenses of the home. If one of us is ever in need then we would help. For example, out of habit, Jabi was always a saver and I was always a bit more of a spender (nothing crazy!) but it meant that Jabi always had more money than I did. Months prior to the wedding I found my credit card balance was steadily climbing. I was paying wedding expenses in cash and everything else I needed, that normally I would have paid with my ‘own money,’ I was using my credit card. Since last December I have been on recovery mode and because Jabi sees how ‘tight’ I am with money lately he has offered to help me pay down my credit card. At first, I felt guilty accepting his help because it wasn’t like he was the one charging things to the card but he insists on helping. If it was the other way around and he needed help getting back on track, I would do the same.
Now, if things were different and one person made a considerable amount more than the other, then I would expect that person would contribute slightly more based on an equal percentage. For example, if his pay check is $1700 and mine is $1200, if we each contribute 40% then his contribution is more but still fair based on each respective income.
Then there is the question of what if only one of us worked? Well, that is a whole other story and I will have to save that for a later time!
No comments:
Post a Comment