Money Question (I'm not working..I'm bumping)

EratMama · October 2011

I am soooo not feeling it today. Sorry for being a post-wh@re.

L and I are talking money and trying to refocus this weekend. We are pretty much on the same page with goals, etc. The trouble has been one checking account and two debit cards. How do those of you with joint checking accounts keep everything balanced and accounted for? Want to share your tricks?

Thanks!

ctbride08 · October 2011

We have a joint checking account with 2 debit cards and i'm "in charge" of all the balancing, bill paying, ect. I check the account online every day and balance it in quicken once a week.

What helps to avoid surprises is that our spending is fairly routine (i know the types of things A usually uses her debit for, when, and how much) and if she wants/needs to buy anything outside of the usual, she checks in with me about it first.

madisonpeas · October 2011

We are pretty much like CT. I am the keeper/balancer of the check book. I also keep an excel spreadsheet up to date. And by up to date I mean up to hour. I am a budget nerd like that.

cookiemonster03 · October 2011

well, we theoretically use mint.com, but its kind of a non-issue since we can both access the online account. We're kind of crappy at budgets though.

lethalmermaid · October 2011

We have two joint acounts and I balance/manage both. One we pay bills from and one is groceries, gas and fun money. It's easier to keep track of the smaller amount of money with two debit cards and we never have to worry about "accidents" resulting in a bill not being paid. Grocery shopping we do together (or at least the list) gas is pretty set each week for each of us, so really there's not a whole lot of thinking that goes into it after you set a budget for those things.

kendylann · October 2011

The key to our success is that even though we have one joint checking account with two debit cards, we don't purchase anything directly out of that account. We both have individual credit cards that we use for all of our day-to-day spending (gas, work lunches, shopping, etc.). I manage our joint checking and use it to pay household bills, including paying both of our credit cards off in full each month. Not only does this protect our account against accidental overdrafts, but we don't have to worry about reporting every purchase to each other, and we earn tons of perks on our credit cards just by using them for purchases we'd be making anyway. I haven't paid my own money to shop at Gap, Old Navy or Children's Place in years. Stick out tongue

2mommiesinoh · October 2011

So I am replying without reading any other posts so forgive me if I repeat. This may sounds harsh but only one of us gets a debit card: me. DW has a bad habit of spending on the card and forgetting to tell me, losing the receipt, or rounding down when it should actually be rounded up (ie I spent 9 instead of 10.01.). So we have a list of bills and when they get paid and I tick them off (we start a new one every few months). They are paid according to a schedule of paychecks I have planned for the three months in advance that is stored with the list, groceries, gas, and special family functions (birthdays, etc) are budgeted in as well.. I give Ann money (usually the same amount) every week to do whatever with. I have about the same for myself. That way she is spending cash and I never worry about the bank account. When the cash is gone it is gone, she has reached her spending limit.

Kershnic · October 2011

What Kendyl said. We have an excessive number of accounts that we keep track of with mint.com and an Excel spreadsheet, but virtually all of our purchases go on credit. We only buy what we can afford, and pay the bills in full each month. I

credit card rewards points.

JoySeattle · October 2011

We have a joint savings and seperate checking accounts, so this may not be a good addition to your question and the rest of the responses, but I'll share anyway. We also buy on credit (a joint card) and then pay it off each month. This has resulted in a nice frequent flier miles balance on our credit card that we plan to use toward a big trip at some point. Currently, C pays the mortgage and I pay everything else (car, household bills, etc) from our individual checking accounts. We're not theoretically opposed to a joint checking account, but this system has worked well for us for the past 5+ years since we've lived together and we haven't felt the need to change it.

ashnamanda · October 2011

We each have our own checking accounts, that our paychecks are direct deposited into. Then we have 1 joint checking account. We split all bills & each put our half into the joint account. Neither of us have debit cards for the joint account, only checks that we use to pay the bills. We find it to be easier this way. Some think we are strange for keeping things seperate, but for us its like the old saying "if it isnt broken dont fix it"! We know to many couples who argue over money....we dont! lol

betsykerry1 · October 2011

K does the check book balancing. We both have debit cards but are really good about communicating what the money "situation" is. She balances (the old fashioned way, on paper) once a week, usually on sunday... So, come the beginning of the work week, we both know how much money there is for gas, groceries, and discretionary spending. We get paid once a week -- her every other week and me every other week, and both make about the same amount of money, so the balance stays about the same from week to week. K sets aside savings every week and we jointly discuss every purchase that isn't "normal" (e.g. gas, groceries etc). I'm talking about EVERYTHING... I don't buy a new maternity shirt without clearing it, and she doesn't buy anything for herself either... it lets us both have some freedom and neither one of us cramp the other's style... We have a folder with the bills in it... we write the amount due and the date it's due on the front and file it in order of due date. Any credit card bills are paid automatically online along with the mortgage... everything else gets paid in weekly "chunks" of bills. in the end, we don't "bounce" checks or miss paying bills and both have 800+ credit scores.

Money Question (I'm not working..I'm bumping)

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