Who Manages the Finances in your Home?

[kimmyo]

How do you manage your money? What works for you? What doesn't work?

My husband and I have been married almost 18 years and we have tried many different ways to manage our finances. We have found the best system for us works like this:

We have seperate checking accounts, and joint savings.

I am in charge of making sure all the bills get paid.

On payday I tell my dh how much money I need for bills and who we need to pay. He writes checks for most of the bills on his account (because he makes more $$$). I write checks for the few bills I pay from my account, and I am responsible for giving the kids money and the grocery money.

Dh has money automatically deposited into savings and into 401K.
I deposit money into savings on my payday.

Even though we have seperate accounts we still share. If I need money he gives it to me. If he needs money (and I have any left..LOL) I give it to him. We have had less fights over money since we got seperate accounts. I balance all the accounts so there are no secrets! (Like he could hide anything from me...LOL)

The one thing we know doesn't work for us is him paying the bills and balancing the checkbook! Whew!! What a mess that was!

[tama-toe]

Yea we tried that once, it lasted about 3 months and I was tired of always being the one broke. Because I was the one that picked up the little things the dks needed for school or lunch money or milk for the house etc. But I must say we didn't do it as organized as you guys did.
Now dh is always so busy with work that I have taken over the finances, we use to do it together. If I didn't do it I know bills would be paid late etc due to his hectic schedule. I am a sahm so there is only one income. First bills are paid, 2nd groceries are purchased, 3rd lunch money is dispensed, 4th allowances are dispersed, 5th what ever is left over is what we have to spend on other, such as picking up fresh veggies or milk between paydays. When the next payday hits what ever is left over from the pay day before goes to paying extra toward a bill.
I know it's not exactly a science but, unfortunately we drained our savings for a new roof and boom x-mas was here, furnace broke, needed oil for heat and we just havent' been able to get the savings built back up as of yet. Keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else unexpected hits us this more this month, so we can get savings back up and on track.

[Shawn]

I do it all and we both are happy with the way it is working out

I balance, I write checks I do all the bils , I do it all. I like it this way, DH has no problems with this.

I know exactly what we have or don't have, what we can afford or can't. ALso, with the hours my dh works, he really has no time and since I am home all day, it works out perfectly.

[ronsan]

We operate under a very simple Golden Rule for money management: what's mine is mine and what's his is mine!

ROTFLOL

That is a standing joke around here and certainly not true, but still funny.

Hubby and I have been married for almost 40 years, and we learned pretty early on that I am a better personal finances manager than he is. I am very detail oriented ~ he is the more global (i.e. big picture) thinker. Drives me nuts to not have a bill in the mail exactly 10 days ahead of due date, while he is lucky if he remembers it the day it is due.

Hubby is chief operating officer of a 20M company but I insist he have his own personal checking account. He has to balance it and all that ~ I do the accounting and bill paying for household. Reason being that the two or three times I let him have the checkbook for household he forgot to enter the amounts of checks, deposits, etc. He had planned to do that later and then forgot about it. And I NEVER let him justify the account ~ he figures anything close is fine.

This man is the most wonderful, considerate, thoughtful and helpful to others person I have ever met in my life ~ however, I don't want him touching the household checkbook.

To be honest (and you may begin laughing at any time), I probably am anal about our personal finances. I use accounting sheets and have in a huge 3-ring notebook every month's bills and when we paid them and in what amounts for the past 11 years. And yes, I am so frugal (i.e. cheap!) that I use both sides of the accounting sheets.

However, when someone wants info on any of it, guess who they come to??? Want to know how much we had to pay the moving company for storage for how many months? Mom can tell you. Want to know when the last payment on the van was made? Mom can tell you. Want to know exactly how much one of our children still owes us (and when and in what amount that loan is being repaid)? You get the idea ...

My accounting systems are the butt of every joke in this family, but it works for me!

Sandie

[Jenna]

I am the one in charge of all the finances. I really like it that way, then I know what is going on all the time. Dh really likes it too, frees up his mind for other things.

Not to say, that we have always been brilliant in the way that we handled everything. Most of our problems were that Dh didn't really make enough money in the early years for me to stay home with the kids. We chose to have me stay home anyway and that caused a debt just to pay for everyday things. We are so happy to have that all behind us and are much better with money now. We will NEVER be in debt again, if we can help it!

We now have a contingency fund for unexpected happenings. My Dh had been out of work since October and just recently found a great new job!!. It has been tight, but we made it through without any debt!!

Jenna

[kimmyo]

I'm beginning to see a trend here! LOL! We could give marital advice to young married couples....ie..don't let your dh touch the checkbook!

Congrats Jenna! Glad you and the dh made it through a tough time!

[Jenna]

Thanks Kimmyo!

My Dh has been on cloud nine! I said " Have a good day!" when he was leaving for work the other day and he said " Every day is a good day now!!" It's wonderful to see him happy again!

We are so blessed!
Jenna

[aubry]

ME!
Actually when we were first married dh wanted too do it. Its a guy thing!
I ended spending the better part of a year secretly following around behind him, fixing his mistakes so checks didn't bounce! Until I finally had enough, and said give me the finances or else! He is a sweet heart but has no financial sense what so ever! he now agrees, that it works much better with me in charge!
We have such a horribly tight budget, it has too be watched and figured down too the penny. I am working on trying too develop a better system for keeping track of it though. I recently bought a planner and I have put everying in there that way I can keep track of all expenses, whats due and when. And always have it with me in my purse. As soon as money goes out I immediately write it down. its working pretty well for me so far.

[Shell]

I have only been living with dh for a year now and we have both agreed that I would pay the bills. I am also very anal and like to have the bills paid on the due date or earlier and he thinks bills should be paid the day before the power goes out! Of course, he also likes to drive the car on empty and I don't let it get past one quarter to the bottom.

[ronsan]

:p We are two peas from the same pod!!!! And here I have been enduring YEARS of teasing because I won't, under any circumstances, let that gas gauge get lower than 1/4. Others, whom shall remain nameless, don't mind running a vehicle on fumes before they fill it up! Thanks for the smile!!
Sandie