Practical Tips for Sharing Money

My husband and I share our money. Like we have joint accounts. Like we don't have our own accounts. Period. What's ours is ours. But how, as two separate people, do we practically make living as one with our budget work? Here's how:

1) We have roles. Currently, I have the roles of paying the bills and managing the budget. This does not mean my husband is subservient to me or that I decide how to spend our money. It just means that I keep track of things. This role differentiation prevents conflict about whose job it is to balance the budget day by day. It is my responsibility, so receipts for spending go to me and I take care of them.

2) We have periodic budget meetings. This wise idea came from my mom. We should have these monthly, but do not always. The premise of the budget meeting is to take stock of our finances each month so that both of us know where we stand. We both have access to our bank account balance, but I keep the books, and while my husband can look at them any time, he chooses to trust me and get updated at our budget meetings. It frees up brain space for him to do other things, to carry out other roles that are currently assigned to him.

3) We have an allowance that is part of our budget. Communicating about money is good. Communicating about every last cent spent can get tedious. Sometimes we do not want to communicate about what we spend money on, so as to surprise the other one. Enter marriage protection insurance. We got this idea from first year marriage books and liked it, so we instituted it for ourselves (Devries & Wolgemuth, 2012). The allowance is a category of our budget for discretionary spending for each of us. Each of us gets a set amount of money to spend every month, no questions asked. We can choose to take the money in case, or use the cards and then share the receipts. 

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Do these practices prevent all money stress? No. We still have plenty of it. These tips do help us be more unified with spending, though. They keep us honest. They keep the one budget system working, and that's what we want, to be one, in money, and in marriage.

Reference:

Devries, S., & Wolgemuth, B. (2012). What every bride needs to know: The most importance year in a woman's life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.