Household budgets
Discussion
How do the good folk of PH run their houses?
I've just tied the knot with the good lady and would like to put her on the mortgage and start to properly share the costs of running the house with her. However, in the past I've only ever 'sensed' how I'm doing with money. The process was pay bills at the start of the month and gauge what I've got left and what else I need to spend. Nothing more sophisticated than that really.
Does anybody have a good method they would like to share as to how they budget to run the house?
I've just tied the knot with the good lady and would like to put her on the mortgage and start to properly share the costs of running the house with her. However, in the past I've only ever 'sensed' how I'm doing with money. The process was pay bills at the start of the month and gauge what I've got left and what else I need to spend. Nothing more sophisticated than that really.
Does anybody have a good method they would like to share as to how they budget to run the house?
Here's one that won't go down well. We have one joint current account and one joint savings account.
What's mine is hers and visa versa. I buy what I want and she buys what she wants and neither of us give either any hassle.
I think it works as we both think twice before buying anything mildly expensive.
The only down side I can think of with us is christmas' and birthdays.
What's mine is hers and visa versa. I buy what I want and she buys what she wants and neither of us give either any hassle.
I think it works as we both think twice before buying anything mildly expensive.
The only down side I can think of with us is christmas' and birthdays.
aussiebruce said:
Here's one that won't go down well. We have one joint current account and one joint savings account.
What's mine is hers and visa versa. I buy what I want and she buys what she wants and neither of us give either any hassle.
I think it works as we both think twice before buying anything mildly expensive.
The only down side I can think of with us is christmas' and birthdays.
What's mine is hers and visa versa. I buy what I want and she buys what she wants and neither of us give either any hassle.
I think it works as we both think twice before buying anything mildly expensive.
The only down side I can think of with us is christmas' and birthdays.
And you can always use cash for presents if you're that concerned.Bill said:
And you can always use cash for presents if you're that concerned.It's interesting there isn't a hard and fast method coming through at the moment, so I wasn't that far off with how I was running the house.
Used to be:
My account
Her account
Joint account
All bills and food including mortgage paid from the joint account, into which we both paid agreed sums, mine being larger, the difference being to cover the mortgage which I was paying.
The joint account used to bump along on the overdraft limit, as did her sole account. To do it this way both parties need to play fair with spending out of the joint account.
Nowadays I live alone and my mortgage is double the size, but still seem to have more money than I used to
.
My account
Her account
Joint account
All bills and food including mortgage paid from the joint account, into which we both paid agreed sums, mine being larger, the difference being to cover the mortgage which I was paying.
The joint account used to bump along on the overdraft limit, as did her sole account. To do it this way both parties need to play fair with spending out of the joint account.
Nowadays I live alone and my mortgage is double the size, but still seem to have more money than I used to
.We're not married but have a spreadsheet on google apps that she created (based on one from a flatshare). Bills, meals out, concert tickets, etc all go on there and it does a running total of who owes who. When one owes the other a lot, they just pay for a few big things until it balances back out.
Works fine for us, allows us to keep tabs on things, but then we both earn similar amounts. Others I know (esp once married) tend to have a joint account that they put agreed amounts into each month, bills and joint expenses go out from that and they sweep into a joint savings account when an excess builds up.
Works fine for us, allows us to keep tabs on things, but then we both earn similar amounts. Others I know (esp once married) tend to have a joint account that they put agreed amounts into each month, bills and joint expenses go out from that and they sweep into a joint savings account when an excess builds up.
We have 3 accounts: mine, the missus, joint.
We used to pay in the 40% of our take home earnings into the joint account and at the end of every month put the remainder into a savings account.
Now my wife is on maternity leave it's a bit different but we will revert back to the previous method when she is back working in the new year.
We used to pay in the 40% of our take home earnings into the joint account and at the end of every month put the remainder into a savings account.
Now my wife is on maternity leave it's a bit different but we will revert back to the previous method when she is back working in the new year.
Bill said:
aussiebruce said:
Here's one that won't go down well. We have one joint current account and one joint savings account.
What's mine is hers and visa versa. I buy what I want and she buys what she wants and neither of us give either any hassle.
I think it works as we both think twice before buying anything mildly expensive.
The only down side I can think of with us is christmas' and birthdays.
What's mine is hers and visa versa. I buy what I want and she buys what she wants and neither of us give either any hassle.
I think it works as we both think twice before buying anything mildly expensive.
The only down side I can think of with us is christmas' and birthdays.
And you can always use cash for presents if you're that concerned. from me too. One current account, in both names, and one savings account in both names. Bills are done by DD at the start of each month and a given chunk is moved to the savings account at the start of the month as well. And if you find there is a bit of a build-up of cash in the current account over time then you move another chunk to the savings account (just done that this morning actually.) It works as long as you are fairly consistent in what you spend, and both trust each other not to waste money. And if you are married then you should be trusting each other ...
Oli.
theboyfold said:
How do the good folk of PH run their houses?
I've just tied the knot with the good lady and would like to put her on the mortgage
Getting married soon so this is an interesting thread. We've been living together for a couple of years anyway now but never got round to sorting the joint account thing. I've just tied the knot with the good lady and would like to put her on the mortgage
Question I have, how easy is it to add someone to the mortgage? Is it a simple case of phoning the mortgage company and they'll do it or is there fee's and as someone said to me once stamp duty to pay again (could be rubbish).
As others have already said,
We both have our own bank accounts that salaries get paid into. Also have a joint account we then both put into in proportion to our salaries. The joint account covers all household expenses, bills, food, car insurances/tax/fuel, repairs and renewals etc and a bit extra for unexpected costs, redecorating and savings for holidays/christmas etc. This leaves us both with an amount of spare cash each month in our personal accounts to do exactly what we want with it knowing everything else is fully covered.
We both have our own bank accounts that salaries get paid into. Also have a joint account we then both put into in proportion to our salaries. The joint account covers all household expenses, bills, food, car insurances/tax/fuel, repairs and renewals etc and a bit extra for unexpected costs, redecorating and savings for holidays/christmas etc. This leaves us both with an amount of spare cash each month in our personal accounts to do exactly what we want with it knowing everything else is fully covered.
aussiebruce said:
We have one joint current account and one joint savings account.
We have the same deal and I can't understand why it should be any other way.If you are married or living together as married, then you have one account and you trust each other.
If you don't trust each other then IMHO your relationship won't last.
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