View Full Version : his and her checkbooks or joint?


Shannon Marie
11-19-2007, 01:41 AM
So when we got married we got a joint accound. Seems to work out fine. But I find it hard to get out of "my money/his money" mind frame. I hate buying anything if i know he just got paid thus it is HIS money. And vis versa. Any suggestions?

Oh, and the reason we got a joint was just because he is going to training for a while as well as being TDY and it would be easier if i could just handle all the finances from here from one account. KWIM?

Anyway, any helpful hints would be appreciated.

USNIwife
11-19-2007, 02:21 AM
what I have witnessed (btw, I'm married) will alot of couples (typically married, but not necessarily) is money is 1 of 2 ways.
I think this depends on what will work for you both. If your happy with a JT account, cool, kudos and if not, things are separate, cool, kudos. B/C $$ is an important and unimportant topic within reason. Depends on how important it is to both of you and how you feel about it. You know what I mean?!

AshleyReida
11-19-2007, 02:50 AM
we have 3 accounts, his, mine, and ours. My money goes into my account, his into his, money to handle bills goes into the joing from our personal accounts. Works great to keep money separate but still great for bill paying.

Jennifer
11-19-2007, 03:18 AM
All of our accounts are joint, but one is primarily mine, one is primarily his. Neither of us cares whose money it is, because either he works at work to earn it or i am working at home to earn it.

diapason05
11-19-2007, 03:29 AM
We've only been married a little while, but I pretty much handle all our finances now, even though I don't have a job at the moment. :D
We kept his Florida bank because it was easier to pay the car loan to that bank, but while he's gone I've got a checkbook full of blank, signed checks! I generally pay our bills with either his checkbook or I transfer money to our joint account so I can buy groceries/gas. Our goal by the end of this deployment is to pay off all of our bills, except his jeep, and to save about 10k for the second "real" wedding we are planning for our first anniversary.
I like being the family financial advisor. ;D

Jennie
11-19-2007, 03:56 AM
We have a joint account thru Navy Fed and then I have my own account that I use for Avon and for emergencies, if needed.

I bought him an xbox 360 last year for his bday with our joint account. His friends, not him, made me feel bad because they kept saying crap like "well she bought you a gift with your own damn money" and "you work hard for her to spend it" to him. It really bothered me. My separate account never has enough in it to do anything with it, except buy gas.

I would like to have a job to contribute my money into the Navy Fed account as well so it won't seem like it's just "his", but that's really not an option now.

Steph*
11-19-2007, 04:13 AM
We've always had a joint account.

My paychecks go into savings. His go into checking.

sharine25
11-19-2007, 04:41 AM
I know how you are feeling..I have always been independent and was working before I married him. But then when we got married and move to Germany, things changed and I was not making anymore money..So I hate spending his money even though he insists it's OUR money. We have joint accounts but I also have a personal account with money I had saved prior to marriage which I used for emergency or when I feel bad using his money. Since he's deployed, I am incharged of all the finances and paying the bills and I am proud to say that we don't have anymore debt since early October.

It's really all in the head with whether spending your money or your husband money...I mean I joke with DH that "what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine" But seriously at the end of the day, it is both your money. if you feel really uncomfortable, why don't you ask your DH to give you an allowance every month so that the money you spend is money that you know he gave you to spend..Sort of payment for cooking and cleaning the house, etc...Maybe that will make you feel better..

Be glad that your DH trust you with his money because there are some DH out there who don't trust their wives at all. DH was married before me and on his first deployment she spend 8000 in 6 months on his CC on shopping, paying trips for her family, buying stuff...So instead of saving, he had to pay off all his CC debt because of her..DH trust me with the money because he knows that I am very anal about money and into budgeting. So we don't have a problem there...But I have seen wives who go into spending spree as soon as their Dh leaves and rake up a lot of CC debt.

dotb182
11-19-2007, 06:53 AM
we have 3 accounts, his, mine, and ours. My money goes into my account, his into his, money to handle bills goes into the joing from our personal accounts. Works great to keep money separate but still great for bill paying.

My db and I have talked when/if we ever get married this is what we're doing.. bc as long as the bills get paid, and we both contribute to saving alittle in the joint account we could care less what the other blows their money on

gunsgirl
11-19-2007, 07:20 AM
we have our accounts seperate;
I have a checking and savings he has a checking and savings..

my money never goes into his accounts and his money doesn't go into my accounts.

his money is our money and my money is our money- but this is the way we started out when we lived together and it worked out so well we have kept it that way..

also note that we pay bills like room mates too-

DH pays certian ones and I pay certian ones- even while he was deployed I payed bills out of two accounts- his and mine-

also to clarify we are both users on each others accounts- so we do have access- but mostly for the survivorship in case something happens to one of us.

girl20racer
11-19-2007, 07:39 AM
All of his are joint now.. but I have a couple that's just mine, even though they don't have any money in them :giggle

rosebud*
11-19-2007, 07:47 AM
we have joint accounts, we always have. Right now we have his, mine, bills account, but they are all joint. I currently am not working but even when I was all our money went into one account, and I paid bills with that account. I have a set amount of money that I can use as I please as does dh. IE we don't have to account penny by penny for it. I say go for what works for you.
Jennie I have to say his friends are jerks, :hugs

Shannon Marie
11-19-2007, 12:40 PM
all this sounds really reasonable. i think what we'll do is have the joint checking and savings, then maybe each have our own savings? then take whatever out of our individual account that way. makes sense to me. except you just have numerous accounts. i'm anal and like things simple. but it does make sense.

ProudNavyWife
11-19-2007, 12:43 PM
I had the same problem, for other reasons. He was married before, so he was scare of finances being screwed up. So 5 years later, I finally said...this is stupid, opened another checking account with both our names. It was shortly after, he put my name on his. So - One is all his, but I have access and the other is mine but he has access to it.

Loretta
11-19-2007, 07:52 PM
I am in charge of all the finances, he won't even keep checks or a debit card in his wallet. He says he feels more comfortable with me handling everything and just giving him cash when he needs or wants something. It feels weird to me, but it works fine for us. He tends to be an impulsive spender and we definitely can't afford that! :lol

jlbecker
11-19-2007, 07:55 PM
we have both joint & individual accounts. we keep a little in our own accounts for personal spending, put some in our joint for bills, & have another that is strickly long term saving & we both contribute to it as much as possible.

MichelleB
11-19-2007, 07:55 PM
All of our financial stuff is joint. Checking, savings, and investments.

CoffeeGirl
11-19-2007, 08:22 PM
All of our financial stuff is joint. Checking, savings, and investments.

:agree always has been:yes

Bex
11-19-2007, 08:25 PM
All of our financial stuff is joint. Checking, savings, and investments.


:yes

our money is OUR money. granted i work full time as well, it still means its OUR money.

sweetpea20
11-19-2007, 10:19 PM
DH & I believe that marriage is a partnership and that includes finances. It's OUR money.

Lckychrmzz
11-19-2007, 10:24 PM
We have joint accounts, I have one that in mine and my moms name.. in case of emergencies. I dont use it unless my mom is putting money in it for presents (its easier/safer then mailing a check since the account and her are in CA) but DH knows the account number, pin, and password. His money and my money(the whopping $10 I get from ebay lol) is OUR money.

Kris
11-19-2007, 10:35 PM
we have a joint account that I manage

Rachael
11-19-2007, 11:46 PM
we have our accounts seperate;
I have a checking and savings he has a checking and savings..

my money never goes into his accounts and his money doesn't go into my accounts.

his money is our money and my money is our money- but this is the way we started out when we lived together and it worked out so well we have kept it that way..

also note that we pay bills like room mates too-

DH pays certian ones and I pay certian ones- even while he was deployed I payed bills out of two accounts- his and mine-

also to clarify we are both users on each others accounts- so we do have access- but mostly for the survivorship in case something happens to one of us.


:tu thats how we have it broken up. Honestly, before we did this...I was upset that he wanted to seperate the money and I took it very offensively that he didnt want to share an acct with me. Now that I have gotten used to it, it's nice. As long as I pay the bills I need to, he doesnt care what I do with the rest of my money :tu Its nice

Amber V
11-19-2007, 11:52 PM
We went from seperate to joint and now we have 3 joint accounts. But it is the his, mine and ours philosophy.

aubrey
11-20-2007, 12:05 AM
We only have joint accounts and we like it that way.

Kt-did
11-20-2007, 10:34 PM
we have our accounts seperate;
I have a checking and savings he has a checking and savings..

my money never goes into his accounts and his money doesn't go into my accounts.

his money is our money and my money is our money- but this is the way we started out when we lived together and it worked out so well we have kept it that way..

also note that we pay bills like room mates too-

DH pays certian ones and I pay certian ones- even while he was deployed I payed bills out of two accounts- his and mine-

also to clarify we are both users on each others accounts- so we do have access- but mostly for the survivorship in case something happens to one of us.

I'm so glad to know I"m not the only one!!!!

I would strongly suggest the triple account, his, yours and joint. I know some folks do it so all money goes into the joint and then each gets an 'allowance' so to speak. My best friend did it this way so she could avoid the 'bought his gifts with his money' mentality she suffered from on their first Christmas together. Me personally, I don't think we'll ever get a joint account.... We treat bills and rent like roommates, we each pay 1/2. I'm the more responsible, so I get to write the checks... Just gotta total up his portion and he writes me a check.

*Crystal*
11-20-2007, 10:38 PM
We have a joint account. I feel like we are married and its our money, not "his" or "mine"

Miss B Hav'n
11-21-2007, 06:43 AM
Right now we have separate accounts. DH is a geo-bachelor in NC and the kids and I are here in IN. It made more sense to us to have DH use our old Marine Fed account for his living expenses there so as not to have situations where we were both drawing from the household account but not always able to communicate right away.

SezzySue
11-21-2007, 11:19 AM
joint, we have no reason not to share, even when we were working we shared