barbaral@tekig1.UUCP (09/08/83)
I'm interested in knowing how 2 income couples handle their monetary affairs. Do you pool all of the income? Do you split expenses down the middle? Do you divide expenses according to each person's percent of the total income? Does one person pay certain bills, and the other person pay other expenses? Do you have separate accounts, invest- ments? I read that monetary affairs are one of the major subjects couples fight about. Talking to some of my friends who are recently married, they agree that working out money problems was one of the most difficult parts of their marriage for the first year or two.
hkn@whuxlb.UUCP (09/09/83)
#N:whuxlb:12600001:000:478 whuxlb!hkn Sep 9 09:37:00 1983 My "significant other" and I have worked out the following arrangement. We put equal shares into a joint pot to pay for things like food, utility bills, and household appliances and furnishings. Some things though, like our cars, really belong to one or the other of us and are paid for accordingly. Clothing, medical bills, etc are also paid for separately. We have one joint account, into which we put equal amounts. The rest of our incomes we each do with as we see fit.
eric@aplvax.UUCP (09/09/83)
We pool all the money and have joint accounts. We both make about the same amount, so there is really no question of it being 65% mine and 35% hers. We got married in college, and at that time there was no question about where the little money we made was going. Since graduation, we just kept pooling the money, even when one made more than the other. The only problem is who carries the checkbook, and since the advent of plastic, this is not a major concern. Sure, we still have "discussions" about what luxury items to buy, but neither of us has ever tried to pull the "I make more so I should be able to spend it" argument. eric ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric
hakanson@orstcs.UUCP (09/13/83)
#R:tekig1:-131000:orstcs:15700006:000:1465
orstcs!hakanson Sep 12 13:34:00 1983
Naturally, my spouse and I aren't necessarily a representative couple, but
here's how we manage our two (currently non-) incomes:
We have a joint checking account which we pay all of our bills out of.
Without going into boring details, we deposit our income(s) into this
account as we get paid. We also plan to set some aside if/when we have
extra income.
This works really well, especially compared to what we WERE doing. After
we got married, we each had our own personal accounts, and whoever had
the money paid the bills as they came. This was a pain for a lot of reasons.
1) We were paying service charges for two accounts.
2) We were keeping two sets of paperwork (etc.).
3) Quite often, since either one of us is liable to
work only intermittently (being students), one or the
other of us would have all the money and the "poor" one
would have to ask for money for whatever (groceries,
ice cream, a book, etc.).
Of course, the method we use may not work for every couple. Now if only
we could keep that stuff from disappearing so fast.... I guess having so
little money to manage makes things less complicated.
Oh yes, I have to agree that money is a major topic for couples in the
early stages of marriage (or whatever). I can't tell you when the subject
dies down in importance (we've only been married since March), but my
parents still argue about it all the time. :-)
Marion Hakanson {hp-pcd,taklabs}!orstcs!hakansonengels@ihuxs.UUCP (09/16/83)
On handling a two-income family-- Take out savings 1st. Put the remainder in the checking account. When it runs out quit writing checks.
mikezi@shark.UUCP (Mike Ziuchkovski) (09/18/83)
In answer to your question on how the money is handled. Since, we get married my wife has always made less money than I have. We split her money down the center and my money down the center and pay all the bills from the same pot. What I am trying to say is: It is all one family and the important thing is to make that family work. Problems are part of the process. Its like a good business, if poeple work to make it profitable it will be a good business. We also have fun. Keep smilling. mike ziuchkovski