50/50 split

[scarymary]

if you live 2gether as a couple and earn the same salary should every bill be split 50/50 ????

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, it depends how grown up you wanna be. You might earn the same salary, but your lifestyles will be different. You dont say whose house it is. If it was my house and she was just living there, i would just ask her to give me a little towards the bills and let her keep the rest for herself. But if you wanna be childish and split everything 50/50, where would it end? would you make him pay the day after for a takeaway which you bought the day before? Would you still pay half the phone bill if it was him on the landline all the time and you on your mobile? would you expect him to pay half your mobile phone bill cos you were texting a lot more. What about the internet bill? if he never used it, would you expect him to pay for half the toatl bill?i could go on all day, but had better not. Basically, what i am saying is, you have to come to some sort of agreement as to who pays what and how much towards. there could never be a 50/50 split. It would end up causing too many arguments...

[scarymary]

thanks very interesting point of view !!

[oldwoman]

I have always been given sole charge of the money. My husband has pocket money but everything is paid by me. Its worked for 38 years.

[MrBen5]

I didnt mean to sound bad then by the way scarymary :)

[yinyang]

If you're on the same salary why not have a set amount ; say, half your wages; which goes into a joint account every month to cover all household expenses - rent, food,etc,- and each of you has a seperate account that the remainder goes into for your own expenses - nights out, clothes and so on.

[Le Chat]

If you live together in a committed relationship, of which you see a far future, then why not just have a joint account. My husband and I have only one account and everything is paid from this. Of course, you have mortgage, household bills and essentials like food ... and then you have personal things you may want to buy.
It is the personal side of money which causes the tension. Unless one of you is a spend-aholic or has a very expensive hobby, then if there is mutual trust, coupled with a discussion before the purchase of any expensive personal item, then you should be ok.
The joint account system will not work if one of you is a tight-fisted git, or your relationship is not sound.

[Delgirl]

Not at all, as long as the bills get paid, does it really matter! Who's house is it, is it in both of your names? Relationships are about give and take, I really think this is the very least of your worries. If he pays the mortgage/rent ect, you can put your money towards food or saving for a holiday, just have fun, its only money,x

[ronnie_07]

Yes of course you should. Me and my ex ( we had a house together for 6 yrs ) had 3 bank accounts - one each of our own and on joint one for all household stuff. We set up monthly standing orders for exactly half of everything and we still had our own independance and cash for ourselves too ! Everyone's a winner!

[WendyS]

I think every couple has to work out their own financial relationship and I guess it partly depends on how stable it is and whether you trust each other. Would your attitude be different if you were married, rather than just living together and do you see your relationship as permanent, or only just as long as it suits you both? Perhaps it might be sensible to set up a joint account for all household bill into which you both pay an equal amount, and then keep your own separate accounts for your own spending money. That would at least prevent any arguments about responsibility.