Sharing Expenses as a Couple

Here you will find how couples can easily share expenses.

How to Keep Separate Accounts but Fairly

If you are committed to maintaining separate accounts, try this strategy: divide your expenses based on a certain percentage of your income. For example, you might agree that each of you contributes 35% of your income towards housing costs each month.

The partner who earns more will pay a larger amount (in cash), while the lower-income partner will pay a smaller amount. However, both partners will pay the same percentage of their income. You can do this with every category of your budget – groceries, utilities, veterinary care, and more.

One key to this system is a commitment to complete transparency from the beginning. Each member of the couple must be very clear about what they earn and how they budget before you can determine who owes what each month.

Other Options

Remember, this advice mainly applies to couples who want to keep separate accounts and all contribute to shared expenses. This isn’t the only strategy couples use to maintain a “pool” of separate money. Here are some other ways couples can keep their finances separate:

Allowance: Each partner gets an “allowance.” This could be the same amount (in cash), or it could be proportional to each person’s income. This allows each partner to spend their allowance on whatever they want while keeping the majority of their money in a shared pool. This strategy is particularly useful if one partner is a shopaholic while the other tends to avoid overspending.

Division of Bills: In this scenario, each partner pays some bills, while the other partner pays the remaining bills. For example, one partner pays the mortgage, while the other covers grocery costs and car insurance. If one member of the relationship earns more than the other, they might choose to pay the more expensive bills.

Performance Bonus: One partner focuses on bringing in as much money as possible to the relationship, while the other lower-income partner focuses on cutting costs as much as possible. This way, the partner who values their time more can increase income, while the lower-income partner can practice thriftiness and help the couple save as much as possible. The partner focused on saving money should keep a record of the amount saved each month and might even receive an “allowance” or “performance bonus” based on that amount. In the end, a saved penny is a penny earned.

Salary for a Stay-at-Home Partner: What if one partner is a full-time parent while the other works outside the home but both partners want to keep separate accounts? The income-earning partner could pay a “salary” to the full-time partner at home. This might seem extreme to some, but there are reports of success stories from happy couples who enjoy keeping separate accounts, even when one partner focuses on full-time homemaking.

Talk to your partner about these options and any other choices you may consider and determine which will work best for you as a couple before making a decision on which option to adopt.

Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/how-to-split-expenses-as-a-couple-453852