Following on from the ‘do they know how much your bike cost’ thread, I’m curious as to how people split their living costs with their better halfs. I’d say its now common for most couples to both work, yet its also probably common for there to be a significant imbalance between the two people’s earnings.

So – do you split costs 50:50? Split ratio based on your earnings and everything else is yours? share everything 50:50?

H

All in one pot. Then she spends it. 🙁

My wife currently earns roughly double what I do, and in the furture will earn 3 to 4 times what I do.

If either of us wants some thing we just check with each other and get it if theres enough money in the bank. Surely if your together then its a joint income ??

Our earnings are pretty similar (she earns a bit more).. We split everything 50:50.

We pay the same amount into a joint account each month to cover standard costs (morgage, bills, food, household stuff) and the rest is ours to spend how we choose.

She earns more than me on basic salary but i tend to make a bit more in commission.

Joint account to pay for all the household stuff (and often meals/cinema etc…). I pay in about a third more because I earn about a third more.

If we had done 50:50 I would have had lots of spare cash and she would have had very little which I think would have caused issues long run.

I spend all of my money on pints down the club with the lads. Then she can have whatever is left, which is nothing.

Both salaries into the joint account and then each month we have the same amount transferred to our individual accounts.

50:50 – it’s the only way for a married couple.

“oh and don’t forget, you owe me £30 for that shopping….” nah

Simple. I pay for everything!

We pay the same amount into a joint account and split all necessary spending 50:50. Keep the rest separate to do what we want with.

Manage our own savings, investments, spending on luxuries etc.

Not married but live together. At the minute we both pay the same amount into a joint account for rent/bills/food etc. However, in future I think we’ll adopt Clubbers way:

Both salaries into the joint account and then each month we have the same amount transferred to our individual accounts.

Sounds fair that you both get the same amount to spend how you wish.

Both salaries into the joint account and then each month we have the same amount transferred to our individual accounts.

Yup, works for us. We pay for all of the “joint” stuff (food, bills, fuel, days out where we are both going etc) from the joint account. We take £XXX each per month from the joint account and put it in our own separate accounts. I spend my £XXX on bikes, occasional pints etc, don’t know what she spends hers on. Mrs PixelMix was quite insistent on this, as she wants her own wee pot of money so we don’t just buy each other birthday presents from the joint account. 🙂

Edit:- And before we were married we did what Doosuk said – equal amounts per month into the joint account.

We used to pay the same(ish depending on salaries over the years) amount into the joint account but changed to the other way once Mrs Clubber was on maternity leave and then not working full time when she went back to work.

Both earn decent wages, and have a Joint account.

If you want something- you buy it.

set amount to cover rent and bills goes into joint account, equal for each.

we earn the same pretty much, and i drive to work 15 miles each way every day (she cycles) but she never has any money.

I blame CoOp Cheese Twists.

they are like catnip for some people.
Still, made christmas shopping easier.

Gf earns nearly double what I earn…it all goes into one account, we don’t keep track…whats the point!? It was the same when we met except I earned more than her…she has overtaken me 🙂

We are lucky in that we are both relatively sensible spenders, if one of us was a big spender we would just do what some others do, either the same amount out of the joint account into personal accounts for spending money, or a proportion of income i.e. 20% of own income for spending.

I’m with CLubber – everything gets paid into joint account and we get same amount of pocket money each month. I don’t ask how much her haircut was, she doesn’t ask how much that chainset was. Simples.

Now and then the missus occasionally gets some clothes or whatever paid for our of the joint account funds, I get some geeky bits like new monitor or she looks the other way when I desperately need new chain/cassette.

We do earn kinda the same but I’m in positive brownie points for covering a lot of stuff when she did maternity leave.

I get paid monthly on the last day of the month, I pay the rent, all the bills, the gym memberships, and we spend the rest on some treat things for both of us. By the 2nd of any given month I have no money left.

Mrs g gets paid every friday so she always has money, she pays for the childcare, train tickets, food, going out, and we put the rest in savings.

If one of us wants to buy something we dont “need” then the other one gets that money made available to spend too, and from time to time as the savings add up we take a load out and split it 3 ways between us two and things for baby g. Savings pay for holidays etc

It’s a ratio of earnings split into the joint account now that I earn more than her, with all my remaining cash spent on fast cars, loose women and pickled onions things she asks for. Oddly, when she was the breadwinner, it was a 50/50 split. Both of these things makes me feel better when I buy a secret new toy for myself.

Oh to have any spare cash to spend…dreams of the good ol days before wife and kids…ours is split down the middle for all the living costs (still not enought though!) guaranteed no spare left over. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I occasionally stash a little undeclared cash from various private jobs to keep the old treadly going…priorities and all that.

All goes into the same pot, and we have a set [equal] amount we transfer into our personal accounts for buying things (bike stuff for me, make-up for her, etc).

At the mo, I’m the only one earning – but the time will come when I might want to take a year off to study, and she’ll be the one earning.

Before we were married, we had a joint account for rent/bills/food/etc, which we paid money into each month, although my contribution was considerably more than hers, as she was a student – didn’t bother me though.

Both salaries into one account. We take a monthly personal allowance of £600 each and transfer that into our own account. The rest is for bills, food and savings

Joint account. I earn the lion’s share, It’s money for the household. Neither does silly things with it.

Set amount into joint acc then what’s left is hers/ mine. Considering I’m left with £25 after the bills etc are covered, and she earns a fair bit more than me I do get subsidised a fair bit.
Wish I could have £600 ‘allowance’. that’s nearly my post-tax monthly wage…..

piedi di formaggio – Member

Simple. I pay for everything!

Same here

MrOvershoot – Member

piedi di formaggio – Member

Simple. I pay for everything!

Same here

Same here too although my wife doesn’t work so I give her pocket money for spending. She looks after the 5 year old when not at school.

No joint account

One account, both salaries are paid in (I earn about 5x as much as her – she’s part time and I have a decent income).

The money is there for the family – we don’t do the your money, my money thing. We’re a partnership: What’s mine is hers and what’s hers is hers too.

Oh.

joke

I get paid monthly on the last day of the month, I pay the rent, all the bills, the gym memberships, and we spend the rest on some treat things for both of us. By the 2nd of any given month I have no money left.

Just saved you £60, no need to thank me…

3 accounts. We each transfer half what it costs us to live into a joint account – anything left in your account is yours to do with as we each see fit.
We never fight about money. we earn similar amounts

You don’t save anything TJ?

clubber – Member

You don’t save anything TJ?

Nope – Mrs TJ does tho out of her account.

I earn over twice as much as my wife if she’s having a good month (works a couple of jobs part time on demand, plus some supply teaching) We split bills into one account 50:50. We have separate ISA’s and savings accounts as well as current accounts. That said we know what goes in and out of each others accounts and the savings are for a mutual purpose anyway. For the most part I pay for things like meals out trips petrol etc. as I know she’ll struggle otherwise.
If she doesn’t have a busy work month then she pays what she can afford towards bills and if she struggles because she’s paid too much then she has it back. Whichever way it happens we don’t argue about it.

Apart from everytime I say I’m going to buy a new bike 😀 (Probably about 4 times a week to wind her up 😛 )

50:50 – it’s the only way for a married couple.

So if you earn say, 4x what your partner does, you’d still make her cough up for 50% of the bills, even if that leaves her with nothing and leaves you with lots of disposible income?

I pay the mortgage and the bills, she pays for the food. It’s the only way for us, and we’re married.

I presume what he means by 50:50 is everyting goes into one pot and you share it equally ?

You need a different set of rules if there is a big discrepancy between incomes. I think its important tho that both have money that they don’t have to account for.

we go for everything into one pot then equal amounts to each of us and the same to savings. everything else is left to cover bills etc. If the bills account builds up spare cash, it goes into savings. Both of us have fairly unpredictable salaries (me being self employed and my wife working on commission) so the savings pot is the most important!!

TandemJeremy – Member
You need a different set of rules if there is a big discrepancy between incomes. I think its important tho that both have money that they don’t have to account for.

No rules here and it’s worked for the last 18 years. I’ve consistently earned a lot more than Mrs STR, but all the money goes into one pot.

I suppose I’m lucky in the fact that even if she wants to spend a tenner on a new top, she’ll ask – not that she has to. I spend whatever I want, which she has no issue with, as long as the family as a whole has everything they need/want.

Just saved you £60, no need to thank me…

I wish, she goes to the Reebok gym, £100 a month

We do 50:50, since marriage both of us have been fairly matched with regards to salary, when one has earned a promotion the other has usually followed within a year of so, so the pay gap between us has never been much more that £1000 per year or so.

Salaries payed into joint account, used for all hosuehold stuff, shared savings account, individual current accounts for personal spending – we both have similar amounts of personal monthly spend put into those.