Joint bank accounts

Me and OH both pay £750 from our own accounts into the joint account every month. This covers the mortgage, all bills, food etc, and leaves us some spare every month. Whats in our own account is ours, including our own petrol and car expenses. If there is something like a holiday or xmas coming up where we need to buy 'joint' presents from us to everyone, then we use the joint account, but would just top it up xx

this si what we do. if we book holidays we just up the monthly amount for a while

We too get our salary paid into our own individual accounts. We have a standing order set up to be paid into a joint "bills" account each month, which covers the usual household bills, food and a little extra. We also currently have a standing order paid into our "wedding" account.

If we need to pay for something big, if the washer breaks for example, we generally either pay it by splitting the bill or put it on a credit card and split it the following month.

We already have a joint bank account in our different names, everything gets paid in and bills/whatever we want to buy goes out.

I couldn't be bothered faffing transferring everything but realise this is what a lot of people do to manage their money.

WE've got a joint acccount for big stuff. My account has all the direct debits going from it and Aidan transfers his half of it to me. The joint account wi;ll be for savings, big stuff.

Wages get paid into personal accounts and we both transfer enough money to pay the bills - we put in more than we need so that we've got extra money in case something breaks down etc.

Dont live with OH.... Yet! But our plan is just have one joint account, everything goes in and everything comes out the same account and what left is left. To me getting married is all part of sharing everything in my eyes that includes money. I dont earn as much as the OH, but at the same time there are certain parts of the year where he earns nothing (self employed) so its all about working together.

This is precisely what we do!

x

We have had a joint one for 3 yrs now since buying our house, everything goes in and everything goes out we have savings account which we put a bit each month in for the wedding and extras but i cant be bothered worrying about who's money is who's etc once your together your together IMO if he wants something and we have the money he will have it and vice versa as for gifts either of us can transfer from the savers as its an online one neither can see what the other has had the money for so suprises are still suprises x

We do this. If we have an extraordinary expense, we just transfer extra cash into the joint account (or one of us pays and the other gives them half). It's fairly straightforward...

I think the set up that we have works brilliantly.

All wages get paid in to our own account, and then we transfer a set % (at the moment it's 70% due to wedding, etc. but it used to be 50%) in to the joint account. This covers all of the bills, grocery shopping, etc. and allows some money to build up for holidays, house repairs, etc.

What we have left in our account is our own which means we can buy shoes/gadgets without any guilt - also allows for impromptu sneaky gift buying which I would imagine would go out the window if all the money was shared. ?

Thanks for all the comments. I do see the the points you are saying for each option.

My quim with just putting enough money in the JA to cover to bills is that if we need to buy something bill I can't be bothered faffing around transfering money. Having the conversation "well the fridge was £197 so if I transfer £100 and you £97 because you bought the light bulbs last week" if that makes sense

But I'm also nervous about putting all our money into the one account because it sounds too grown up LOL

Currently we each have our own accounts, plus a 'house account' into which we both currently pay £400. The £800 covers the mortgage, kitchen (bought on finance) and monthly bills. It doesn't currently let us build up a reserve though, and we take it in turns to buy food or split purchases for the house.

Soon we're going to sit down and go through all of our finances in order to both pay as much as we can afford into the joint account (ie our salaries minus what we *need* for our personal financial commitments - eg I have the horse, OH has a car on finance - plus a bit extra for spending for ourselves) rather than our current system of paying what we *need* for house costs into the joint account.

We both believe that in a marriage, everything should be shared; however, I am very conscious that horse owning is an expensive commitment and it's something I have chosen to spend my money on for my whole adult life; I would feel guilty spending £400 a month of 'our' money on horses and competing, and equally when he spends £100 on a computer game and it's accessories, I'd be thinking "but that's half of the horse's monthly living costs!" which isn't rational or fair, but I am quite anti-games. It therefore keeps the peace to keep our hobby costs separate!

It's always been the risk of completely-combined finances that I have an issue with. That, and I won't be able to spend with impunity.

What I have said works well for us. Just because we are to be married doesnt mean we have to have one joint account where everything goes. As long as all bills are covered etc its fine.

If I want to buy myself a handbag or treat him to a pressie, I do this from my own account not joint. It defeats the object when he can see how much pressie cost or see it come out of the account before its been given.

Also your idea of you transfer £100, me £97 cos I bought light bulbs - I see what you are saying, but internet banking makes transferring an extra £100 to cover an emergency so easy, its no stress at all.

I like having a little of my 'own money' as what I treat myself too is mine. xxx

We are 100% joint on everything. Our salaries get paid into the joint account. Bills, mortgage etc are paid from there, as is our own spending money. I spend money on clothes, he spends money on going out. Neither of us resents the other's spending. The only thing I don't like about it is that I'm not buying his Christmas/Birthday presents out of my money, it's out of our money.

It's not for everyone, but it works for us.

I think I'd be happy to stand Boy a few lightbulbs

We have a joint account that we pay into an agreed sum every month and all the bills, mortgage, etc come out of it. We overpay and the surplus is used for holidays, etc but this year it all went on the wedding.

OH earns almost twice what i do but doesn't pay in twice as much. He does however buy almost all the groceries and pays for sky tv and broadband seperately, I'd settle for freeview and a dial up connection but he can't cope without it! Similarly to others I'd feel guilty if OH was expected to pay for my horse and he has his bikes, toys, flashier car than me to run, etc. It works for us but when things are tight he will never let me or horse go without. He's paid for vet bills in the past when i was struggling, I would never ask but he offered and it made more sense than me maxing out my credit card!

.

Nice helpful thread! I've been wondering the same, don't know why I didn't think to ask here ?

Me and OH have a joint wedding savings account where we transfer the same amount online each month from our own individual accounts. We also have a shared online business so money from there gets directly paid into the joint account and our wages from our other jobs get paid into our own accounts each month (we earn about the same). For all wedding purchases we use the wedding fund and everything else comes from our individual accounts. I transfer half the mortgage by standing order to OH each month as it comes out of his account, we also alternate months paying council tax and take it in turns to pay for shopping, meals out etc. Bills work out pretty evenly as I pay some and he pays others. It's not an exact science but it works for us - we treat all money as "ours" so even though we have separate accounts as we take it in turns paying for things it works out evenly and there's no resentment as we're both contributing to the pot.

We set up a joint account not long after we moved in together. Everything goes in and comes out from that account. We also have a savings account which is used for wedding bits at the moment.

We have our salaries paid into our own accounts and transfer a chunk into our joint account to cover mortgage & household bills plus a bit extra - we try and keep enough in there to cover a month just in case payroll departments have a hiccup. We then pay our own car insurance, mobile phone, credit card etc ourselves. We would dip into the joint account for emergencies such as new washing machine. But I buy groceries, he buys household/garden/DIY stuff, I fund my son, and if one of us comes up short one month we just move money around. This way we both have a decent degree of independance for Xmas and birthdays etc.

We agreed on this when we bought a house and moved in together with my son - nothing has changed since we got married. And we never argue about money.

I never had a joint account with my ex as he was competely irresponsible with money. Just one of the reasons he's now my ex!

At the moment everything goes into my account, we transfer a small amount each month into oh savings and all bills come from my account.

Once everything is paid if he wants something he gets it and vise versa. we have 2 children too so if they need they get. he never goes without but sometimes his mates take the p*** as he 'asks for pocket money' to go to club or football etc...

once were married it will probably stay the same although this works for us. we use the cash from his savings each december to buy presents for our parents and siblings.

x

(am an old married)

We have a joint account, have done ever since we got married. We still have our own separate accounts from before we got married but we hardly ever use them for anything; all salary, mortgage, bills, childcare, holidays, food, presents, treats, clothes etc all comes in and out of the same joint account.

The separate ones are useful in case we were planning really secret xmas /bday presents, but tbh we actually rarely do that, we tend to know in advance, and just make a pact not to look too hard at the bank statements in month leading up to our own birthdays.

It probably also works because I earn more, but am also probably more likely to spend more (though have kids now so rarely get a chance to do decent shopping). He has always been uber-frugal and it is me telling him to get to the shops and buy new shoes / jumper etc! Sometimes he splashes out on a cd...! But he wouldn't begrudge me spending more, and I think it's partly because I earn more anyway, and I don't spend outside our means.

We almost always consult on biggish purchases though, him because he is incapable of spending lots of money anyway, and me because I love to consult on things and always go through the whole internet to get the best review of things anyway. Works for us but it would drive others up the wall!

Hello,

Me & Now Husband have our own accounts and a joint account (was in my maiden name) our wages go into our own accounts each month then we transfer the nesessary funds into the Joint each month. We got back from honeymoon Saturday and made an appointment with our bank for monday (Both personal accts with the same bank). and opened up a new married joint account with them and I also got my personal bank account name chaged to Mrs as I took my marriage cert with me. We still operate on the same basis though that our wages will go into our own accounts and then we will transfer whats needed wach month to the joint. So much easier now that all bank accounts are in the same place and even better we have an iphone app so the transfer can be done on that every month x

I just have to say how nice it is for everyone to give opinions on a very personal issue and see all the different ways of going about something without anyone getting upset that 'their' way is best! Well done hitchers! xx

We have separate bank accounts into which our salaries get paid, we then transfer some money into a joint current account (house bills and food) and a joint savings account (holidays, now wedding).

We don't pay the same amount as each other cos I earn a lot more than OH, so we pay different amounts so that after we've paid into the joint accounts we have the same amount of money left. Otherwise after paying into the joint accounts I'd have money left and he wouldn't so I'd end up paying every time we went out, which wouldn't feel right.

We have had a joint bank account for the last 6 years.

Works very well. We both have everything go in together and we both spend when we need to. Left overs go in savings.

We've had a joint account and joint savings account since we moved in together years ago. We get paid into separate accounts then both pay a fixed amount into it each month (used to be equal but OH now earns a lot more than me) and it covers the mortgage, bills, food and everything we do together (meals out, nights out, presents to family, holidays etc etc). We have a bit left in our own accounts for petrol (not sure why this is separate!!), prezzies for each other and anything that we might have guilt about e.g. his geeky gadgets, my shoe obession.... There's normally enough in the joint account to fix anything that breaks but if not, we transfer extra and if there's no money, help each other out. I agree that what's mine is his and vice versa but I do like a little bit of independence and I'm not sure I'd like to have to justify everything I buy!!

All get paid into one and then money is transfered into the 'bills' account.

We figured out when we moved in together that for the sake of £100 that was left after bills and food being bough,t, it wasnt worth sharing

x

Me and H2B pay a set amount into the joint account each month, and some money each month into the Wedding fund account. We then have our own pennies in our own accounts that we can do whatever we like with. Obviously the joint account pays bills, food etc and if we have a night out then we pay from the joint. but if we go out with the other one then generally we pay from our own cash. Obviously we can dip into the joint if needs be (if one of us has run out of cash before payday!) but generally we don't need to. I think it works well cos it stops us spending too much. I feel like I think about how much I'm spending more if it is "our" money rather than "my" money!!

Saying this, I wouldn't give up having my own account too!!! I like my independence too much!!!