Married couples splitting bills?

Question

My wife and I both work and make about the same each month. At the end of the month she always complains about having to pay half of the bills(rent, utilities, cable). She has two girls from a previous marriage who live with us also. I also pay her health insurance and buy most of the groceries. Am I being unfair asking for half?

Answer 1

Tricky. Combining ALL of BOTH of your salaries in one account (and both have to DO that) and just paying the bills is what MOST mature married couples do - lol - but you are asking about splitting so I am assuming she isn't willing to turn her paycheck over along with you in one account every month either - that being said - here's my plan for splitting (like roommates! lol)

Your mortgage & utilities should be split 50/50 IF (as you say) you make nearly exactly the same amount of money as take home in your paychecks.
As for her insurance - do you pay out of pocket? or is it provided by your employer. If you pay out of pocket then deduct HALF of that amount from your portion of the Mortgage & utilities. Groceries should also be paid 50/50. If you are unwilling to accept her children to the point of assisting in feeding them - I just don't know what to think. Does she receive money for the children from their father for clothing & food? If she receives that - that should go STRICTLY to those kids. And if you don't want any of your money going towards their food - then yes she should pay for their end of the groceries along with anything else she might receive from their father. It's not rocket science.

I'm only hearing one side of this - but - if the salaries match nearly spot on - then the bills should all be 50/50 as I said above - yes.

Answer 2

Man ~ you will get all kind of opinions on this one. Normally ~ the one who makes the most will want to "split" the bills. I am coming out of a 15 yr marriage and we always "pooled" our money and paid the bills. Now that we are seperated ~ we are spliting the bills in half ~ b/c we both make about the same. Now seeing how both sides work ~ I think there is less arguments if the bills are split accrodingly. I can say that b/c while married ~ I was the one that "blew" most of the extra money. So there was never any "extra" for him to play with....

So ~ my opinion ~ you are not being unfair ~ however she will feel that way until she HAS to see both sides.

Good luck!!

Answer 3

As long as they are ALL even (including groceries, health insurance, and money spent on her two kids), then no, you are not being unfair for asking her to pay for half of the expenses.

You should both sit down and examine your finances as well as hers to find out where your paycheck goes, and why she complains about contributing to the bills. Perhaps she spends more on the kids (clothes, entertainment, etc) than you do. The solution might be to split the bills, as in you take half the bills and pay them (rent, groceries, whatever) and she takes half the bills and pays them (insurance, cable, utilities, whatever), then she knows she has to begin budgeting her money to help make ends meet.

Answer 4

Splitting the bills is the best way to avoid fighting over the checkbook. If you split the bills equally not in half for example one pays the mortgage the other pays the car loans and readjust as bills are paid off. That way, each feels they are in control of their own money and avoids the fighting due to difference styles of managing their checkbooks. For example if one is very good into entering every transaction, atm slips etc where the other waits for the statement to come in could cause friction between them. As long as it is fair then there shouldn't be a problem.

Answer 5

no. If you are married than it should be contributed evenly. My husband and I put all of ou money in the bank. We pay the bills and do whateve we want with the rest. Did you adopt the kids? than the dad should be paying for them. if not adopted than if you guys keep your money seperate than you will always have more money left. Because she has more expenses you should pay more of the shared bills/ ??? doesnt sound fair to me. Im glad that we have it all together and nothing is seperate. but we also have 3 kids together. I dont care what he buys and he doesnt care what i buy. but neither one of us have spending problems and we both know what we have to spend. Neither one of us hide purchases from eachother so it works out great.

Answer 6

I will never understand married couples who "split" the bills......why can't all the money go into a joint acct. and pay the bills, etc from that? Why is there a need to split the bills...that's what you do when you live together. Once you get married, the money should be combined and then mutually decided on how to spend it.

Answer 7

All money should be put into ONE pot and ALL bills paid from that pot. If each of you need a weekly allowance for personal needs, decide on one and give it out each payday. The his and hers or mine and yours deal doesn't work well once you are supposed to be one unit, it says that you both haven't fully committed to this marriage. Good luck and God Bless.

Answer 8

Aren't you 2 suppose to be working together in life . Why did you 2 get married why didn't you guys just shack up and have roommates or something .You sound like roommates to me .

I think you 2 need to figure out the difference in marriage and roomies

Answer 9

You should have talked about this before you married her. Why did you marry a woman with baggage if you were the type of guy that could not handle it? Or are you just one of these people on here trying to rattle my cage? Life must be pretty boring for you.

Answer 10

I don't think married couples should keep seperate money or accounts. All money should be pooled into one account and bills paid from this. What's mine is ours. What's yours is ours. Isn't that what marriage is all about?