Bank accounts. Yours mine and ours?

[NikkiP]

My husband and I had 6.

One joint checking
(mortgage, utilities, HOA dues, car insurance, car payment [we shared one car] cell phone bill, groceries etc.)

One joint savings
(down payment on said house, extra payments to mortgage, vacations, improvements on house etc.)

We sat down and made a budget and said XYZ is how much it costs to operate this house every two weeks (which is when we got paid)
Whatever you make on top of that is yours.

My checking - my shopping habits, credit cards, old debts?, presents for him, dinner etc

My savings - buying myself or him nice things, helped to have some cash when I needed to get out (ignore that last part)

His checking - credit card, old debts, his Jared card etc

His savings - was usually spent on me

It was just nice to have those separate accounts because there was never any arguments about what we spent money on. If I went to a Pampered Chef party and spent $200? Well, it wasn't half his. It wasn't "we could have used that money towards XYZ" because we were already putting money towards that. *shrugs* Just my 2 cents.

[DarkSolitary]

I'm not really sure to be honest.... I think once he moves here we will have separate accounts but we will have access to each others account, but only with permission. I think a joint account would bring too much stress upon us especially since our spending habits are different.... ^^; Were both Tauruses but he got the practical trait while I got the materialistic trait = He likes to save while I like to spend. And a joint account would cause fights over money and I want to try to avoid that if possible. It's an independence thing really.

[MissAnnThropee]

We have our own accounts and just opened up a joint account two days ago. It's more for the wedding than anything, but I'm pretty sure that we'll be keeping the account open after we get married.

[sabby64]

When I was still with my ex we opened a joint account after a year an a half of being together, and we both had our own separate accounts. He also had a prepaid credit card so we could buy things online. We weren't married and I definitely wouldn't do that again. :P We ended up not using the ours one because he kept spending it on 'emergencies' like stereo equipment and junk food. I think I'd want to get married or at least be together for a longer time before setting up a joint account, and even then probably only to save towards something expensive like a vacation or a house or something.

[Riyko]

For me it's 3 accounts, i have my own account, you have your own account and we have a joint account. I'm also like that because what if something was to happen to him or if we got married and then divorced, i would at least have some money that's my own to help support myself.

[threecheers9980]

I imagine that when we move in together, we'll keep our checking accounts separate and maybe have a joint savings account or something since we've already talked about opening a joint savings account. And then when we get married, we'll probably just have one joint checking account and the savings account. I don't really know though since I keep forgetting what he thinks, lol. Personally, I can see both sides...having personal accounts is a nice idea, especially if you want to surprise your partner and you don't want them to see the purchase on the bank statement, but having just a joint checking account would be simpler. It's something we still have to discuss, lol.

[Elissa]

Two seperate and one joint is what I'm hoping for

[Trethsparr]

We'll have a joint savings and a joint checking once we're married.

[samglam209]

Money is such a source of conflict. Bleh.
I think my brother and his girlfriend who live together have it seperate and pay their rent and bills seperately. It works out because they have another roommate so they just split 3 ways. Of course they spend money on each other though and stuff. But even though they live together it's like their dating.

I think if my SO and I moved in together I would want to do it like that. Then I wouldn't feel bad and like I'm taking "his" money.
Hopefully one joint account when we get married(Or engaged). One checking for bills and such and one savings to save for a wedding or house or whatever.
And having individual accounts too for our own expenses. My thing is how much do you contribute to the joint account? What if one person makes more than the other? Is it still the same amount or do they contribute more?

[dynomitegurl]

My personal opinion on the accounts is once we were married it would be 'our' money. I work and he has savings that he has brought over. and we tell one another what we want to buy...just last night he asked if it was okay to buy another hard drive.....but I do the same. We pay my student loan from 'our' money. And like stated below....to me at least...it shouldn't matter how much each person puts in...it still all goes to the same household and the same necessities so *shrugs* who cares who puts more in. That being said, we didn't have joint checking and saving acct. until we got married. but we had discussed it before what we planned to do

[Mizpah]

When we were dating, and living together, he had his account from WI, and I set up an account in NC.
When we got married, he kept his account since that is where his vehicle loan and such was, and I added him to my account.
We moved to WV, so we closed the NC account, and now just have his account and my workplace's paycard (stupid, stupid. I much prefer paper checks), but since we are now in the process of moving to WI his account will become our joint and we will finally have just one account.
Complicated, huh? lol.

[stacyrose]

We will have separate accounts, one joint (after we get married) and possibly a joint savings.

[chwdg10]

Most likely we'll each have our own and then one joint account to take care of bills, etc.

[Trethsparr]

We'll most likely just consolidate our separate accounts to a joint savings and checking, then budget us each an individual "blow fund" for our personal/impulse purchases.

[xopookie]

I'm not 100% sure what exactly we will do. I suppose that we'll definitely have a joint account for all of our everyday expenses, but I suspect we each might have our own accounts -- albeit much smaller in size for our own personal uses. This brings another important issue to discuss to the forefront.

On a related note, my SO and I currently have a shared account. We each put $20 in it every two weeks on pay day. Its sole purpose -- at the moment -- is for vacations and other fun activities. We used a couple of hundred dollars out of it last March to go to Disneyland, and we used some money out of it this summer when we were both in New York together for several weeks. We're planning a road trip next May after I graduate and move back to celebrate that will also be financed from this account.

This is a great way to have guilt free fun. Since we both already put the money in, we don't have to worry about coming up with it when we want to do something fun together. I'm not sure how or if this will work when we're finally together, but we'll figure that out and in the mean time we can have fun together guilt free.

^That's pretty smart have something like a vacation account together. But no, he definitely takes control of the finances! (But I make sure he uses the coupons around the house and further his bargain hunting ) I'm definitely going to get a seperate account. I'm selfish and stingy with my money. I trust no one with my money! LOL ( TRUE STORY) hahha