Accounts joint / separate

I don't have a lot of savings either, as I'm paying off a personal loan first and putting any extra $$ on the mortgage the return is better.

I have 2 accounts DP has one oh actually we have a savings account each ontop of this.

my everyday account was where my wages went into, then I have another account that DP transfers bill and rent money into.

When I was working DP paid bills and his gas, I paid my petrol and food, and any spending money we had. I found this abit annoying as I always felt like he was spending "my money" We only changed it to this after we went away one week and I didn't get paid holiday pay as didn't qualify at the time before that we paid half and half, well I paid about $25 less as I earnt less and had unsteady hours.

Now I get nothing into my account as we stopped WFF weekly payments. DP still transfers money so that we can pay our storage otherwise we just swap cards when I have a little bit in my account he may need, or I take his and spend it all lol. He's generally fine with what I spend. Although he did tell me that I was meant to take control of the accounts so that I can manage the money and get us out of debt.

LOL Little Red....my DH may know nothing about the household finances, but by the same token, he never knew anything about his own finances when he was on his own either!! Except when his eftpos card declined - then he knew he had no money.

LR, I guess it just makes sense if at home to have that responsibility as well...at least it is not the other way like it was in grandparents times where the husband took care of all the finances and the poor wife had not much say in where it got spent....and imagine even worse the husbands that got themselves into huge debt and the wife never even knew...or those who took the money off to the pub.....

What an enlightened age we life in now!

ETA: And aren't females better at maths too??

Edited by TaliP

TaliP wrote: LR, I guess it just makes sense if at home to have that responsibility as well

But surely all there is to do is make a budget as all bills are set up on automatic payment/direct debit nowadays? And a budget is a joint task otherwise how do you know how much money DH needs for that week?
We have a meeting where we discuss it around the computer and then key it into Excel, that way we both have equal input. It often ends in a heated debate but that's always fun - there's usually a glass of wine or two involved

We have everything joint and are with Kiwibank where we have three accounts.
The cheque account where our earnings go into, an expenses account where all of our expenses get paid from (food & all bills which are all on direct debit) and a savings account.
We calculated how much we spend each month (including annual payments such as rates etc) on all our bills and add a bit extra, that amount goes into the Expenses account when we get paid. This is great as there is always money in it for groceries, incurance or rates bills.
Anything left over in the cheque account is for spending (appart from what we save which is transfered into the savings account)