Paying the bills?

Question

I just recently moved in with my fiance and we are dealing with the pretty normal financial issues most people have. I was just wondering how many of you help out with the bills around the house? Do you have a relationship where the hubby pays most everything or do you evenly split things?

Answer 1

Well honey let me tell you finances can either make you or break you. My husband and I have our own individual checking accounts and one joint checking account. We each put a portion of our checks (enough to cover all of our living expenses) into the joint account and pay bills that way. That way there is no confusion on who's spending what and when. . .and no overdrafts (when it comes to personal spending). You don't have to answer to him when he questions you about what you bought and how you needed that money to pay bills or vice-versa.

I feel that your expenses should be evenly distributed if you are going to just decide who pays what bill. But the account works for us. . .one person just writes all of the checks or online billpay. You will just have to decide how much you guys are going to put in the account every month. I hope it works out for you guys.

Answer 2

The best thing to do is put an equal percentage of your pay to pay for bills. For instance your fiance makes 500 dollars less then you a month, it is not fair to you to pay equal amounts. That means he will have more in his pocket if you split me bills down the middle. Say you and your fiance come up with 30% of you monthly paycheck goes to bills. It will be equal amounts, on person may pay more then the other, but it is because they make more. This way you both have money to spend on yourself.

Answer 3

TALK to each other. There are so many ways to divide this up and they all can work if the people using them believe in the system. So you're job now is to come up with a system you both believe in before you get into financial issues so huge that they ruin your relationship.

For myself, DH earns the money and I manage the day to day spending. We both make bigger decisions and we both take an allowance for personal spending money. It works for us.

But one of my aunts earns everything and my uncle manages more of the day to day stuff. Then they both have money that is theirs from prior to marriage. And they both have a say in joint assets. It works for them.

Another aunt and uncle maintained separate accounts and then split bills and day to day expenses so that each paid percentage. Since he made more, he paid something like 70% of the bills and she paid 30%. Then they had the leftover to put away for bigger things they wanted or to spend. It worked for them for a long time until they decided to switch to a joint account and draw everything from that.

When you're talking about what system will work for you two, you might also consider starting to invest money. The sooner you do it, the more time it has to grow. I'm so glad we started giving up 1 meal a month out and putting it away when we were newly married. You would not believe how much it's worth now.

Answer 4

Every marriage/relationship is different, and no one on here can really tell you what would be the right for you and your finance to do. It depends on what works for the two of you. Some couples have separate bank accounts and they split the bills 50/50. If only one spouse works then of course he or she would be the one who pays all of the bills. Everyone is different. This is something that you should work out with your spouse to be. Try different ways to see what works best for the two of you. Good luck! :)

Answer 5

When I first moved in with my partner he paid the mortgage and I paid the utility bills and the shopping - unfortunately he has recently finished up in work through the advice of the doctor because he has a disability so until he re-trains and gets another job - muggings here is paying for the lot!! 2 children and a dog as well!!

Answer 6

I recently got married and I find it much easier for us to split the bills. We also have separate bank accounts. This may not work for everyone, but for us it is working great. We do share the expenses for some things and most of the time if we go out to eat he will pay. It is easier for me to handle my check book and pay my bills when I know exactly what is being written out. What is left over in my account is for me to spend after our bills are paid and what is left in his account is his.

Answer 7

my bf and i have lived together for over a year.. we both handle some of the bills.. we take turns paying for this and paying for that depending on who has want in their accounts and who has other stuff coming out..

we both pay equally for rent..

so far we haven't run into any arugemnets finically which seems to be the ruin of most relationships besides fideltiy issues

Answer 8

As a couple, we consider we have a joint pot of money. We both get the same spending money for the month but the rest of it goes into the household pot and the bills get paid out of that. If I want to buy makeup or clothes I take it out of my own money and he does the same. He earns more than me but doesn't mind that he puts in more as we both work equally as hard. Hope thats a help.

Answer 9

I cant see how it would work if one of you paid the bills and the other paid for something else. I would have thought that th level of commitment you are at with your fiance, would mean that you are comfortable and sure enough about each other to share everything 50/50.

Answer 10

We have a seperate account where we both contribute to, which is just for the bills 50/50