how do you and your spouse divide up household bills and chores?

Question

my husband pays all the bills except for internet and our storage shed, i pay those. plus i buy groceries and household items like laundry soap, toothpaste etc. he works 40 hours a week, im a housewife right now. i just finished physical therapy for my right arm. i busted my shoulder up in dec and had to have my shoulder replaced, it was terrible.my right arm will never be completely back to normal, but its functional. im looking for a part time job now preferably w/ children. i also pay for my own cell phone. i get money each month from my exhusband for childsupport plus back owed support.
as far as the chores go, i do all the cooking and housecleaning except for taking out the trash, my husband does that.
he actually likes it that im at home, which i dont mind. i enjoy being a housewife.

we do share money, my husband will give me money if i need it. we just got married a month ago so we havent added eachother to our accounts yet. we both have checking accounts at the same bank, i get my childsupport direct deposited into my checking and his work check gets direct deposited into his. so i hate to mess w/ those. but we are gonna open a joint savings account together w/ the money we got when we got married and just build on it from there.

Answer 1

I too, am a homemaker due to fighting cancer. I can't stand it! I miss working. No grown ups here to talk to. My kids are almost grown though at 18 and 15, so it is not such a big deal if I don't want to be home, not like when they were little.
As for how do we split bills and chores... We figure we are both grown up and whoever has the money at the time the bill comes in, That person pays it. The chores are the same way.If you see it pick it up, wash it, whatever.
As far as the child support goes, that is the kids money, any excess needs to go in their account, not on any of your bills. Of course the absent parent has an obligation to pay for the extra cost of rent and utilities that you and the new husband have to pay, but he is not liable for your cell phone... It is just a very literal translation of what you said. I know you don't take their money. The back owed support, that is yours. I only say this because the way it was stated, it implies use of their money as a way to get by.

Answer 2

My husband pays all the bills and his own personal bills. I pay for my personal bills and credit cards. He buys the groceries and actually does the shopping. If needed I step in and buy little things that he might have forgotten to buy or did not have enough money. We tried the joint account thing for six months after we got married but we could not deal with it. I would see him spend so I would go spend. I has been a lot better now that we have separate accounts. Good luck. Plus if one of us gets laid off/or has financial problem, then we juggle the one income to cover all the bills until we are able to get back on track.

Answer 3

Well when it comes down to bills I think it is important to have a bank account just for paying monthly bills i.e. mortgage/rent, electric, phone, cable, grocery. However, if your spouse makes $4000 a month and you make $2000 a month he should contribute more to the bill account. In other words he should contribute the ratio of the amount of money he brings into the house.

$4000+$2000=$6000 ==> $6000 dollars come into the household monthly
4000/6000=67% ==> So your spouse brings in 67% of the money
2000/6000=33% ==> So you bring in 33% of the money

So, if the rent is is 1000 a month he should have to pay 666.67 and you should pay 333.33.

So if you subtract 666.67 from 4000 your spouse will have $3333.33 left over. And if you subtract 333.33 from 2000 you will have $1666.67 dollars left over which is really fair.

If your spouse went to college or has a higher paying job he is still rewarded by that fact because he contributes to rent and still has more money left over. Also, if you don't have as high a paying job as your honey you aren't stuck trying to pay half the rent which would just make life harder for you.

I think being in a relationship is about looking out for your significant others best interests. And in this case you both can win. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

That's great that you enjoy being a housewife! Make the most of it, dear lady!

My outlook on household responsibilities is . . .

If there IS a homemaker, that's your "job", including cooking, cleaning, lawn care/gardening, laundry, dishes, etc. This especially is the partner is working full-time, outside of the home.

If both parties are working full-time outside the home, then both partners should equally share the household jobs.

We both work full-time, so we completely share all household jobs. We often rotate our tasks, so it's fair and so we don't get too stressed out/bored with certain things!

I am concerned about the money/bill-paying aspect you mentioned . . . Do you not combine your money as a family? Really, that's what it should be (at least in my opinion). The money should not be his, hers and ours. It should be "ours". Of course the money you get for your childrens' support should be given to their needs directly.

Hope I helped answer your question! Good luck!

Answer 5

If only one spouse works, then the other one should shoulder most of the chores. It wouldn't hurt the other one to help out some though.
If both partners work, then household work should be split 50-50. It's a marriage, not a business arrangement.
I've always done my share of the cleaning, cooking, dishes, laundry,and do all the yardwork.
If the paying of the bills setup works for you then more power to you. Personally, my ex was better with the bills and such, both of our checks went into the one account and bills were paid from there. There was no yours/mine, it was ours.

Answer 6

Divide up chores??? hahaha My husband believes in the old way. He thinks he supports us even though I work full time and bring in at least half the income if not more. I do all the housework, all the money management (trying to pay for what he spends), all the shopping, child care, etc. At least yours takes out the trash, mine doesn't even do that. I pay my dad to keep up the yard because he doesn't even do that and I don't have time. I decided recently I would be better off alone. I'm leaving soon, but not soon enough. I have spent the last 2 weeks teaching him how to take care of himself and our daughter because Tuesday I am leaving for awhile. I will still give him enough money to pay the bills but that will be it. He is going to have to grow up at the age of 49 whether he likes it or not. I feel so much better since I see freedom in my near future you can't imagine.

Answer 7

You are married... you shouldn't have seperate bills. My husband works and I am a stay at home mom. I have children from a previous relationship, however all of our money goes into one bank account and what needs to be paid, gets paid. What the kids need, they get. It isn't my money or his money, it is our money. As for the household stuff.... I usually do everything in the house and he does everything outside the house.. 50/50 that is the only way to do it.

Answer 8

I only pay my credit card bills and the car insurance, but this is probably because I'm still a graduate student and he makes twice the amount I make.

Chores: he cleans the kitchen, takes out the trash, and cleans the bathroom. I clean the living room, all of the bedrooms, and all of the floors.

Answer 9

Bills, we do not share. It is the man of the house who should take care of that unless he does not make enough. Chores, share it in whatever way is convenient. Say, the husband can cook if the wife has something on. Be flexible.

Answer 10

WHen I was married, we had a joint account. We paid everything fom the account. It's supposed to be equal not HIS money or YOUR money, it should be OUR money! As for chores, he did the outside work and I did the inside work. However, if I cooked a big meal, he washed dishes. Hope this helps.