[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

We don't technically have a joint account but we do have an account we use as one. I have two bank accounts, we use my main bank account like a joint account, then I have another account and she has her own account. We get paid into our own accounts etc, individual bills (phones, individual subscriptions like PSN) come from that account. I think you have to have SOME individual money to avoid disputes on how to spend, I guess. Like I don't want to have to justify spending £60 on a game, my wife has a £70/month phone and I would never spend that on a phone etc... also, for things like birthday and christmas, easier to keep things a surprise (e.g. my wife spent £400 on a VR headset last Christmas - I would definitely have noticed that coming out of the "joint" account )

But then we each pay into the other account for "joint" bills (house, council tax, utilities, fuel, subs we all use like Netflix/Spotify et al) and we also just transfer money to that as and when we need it for things like everyday shopping. When we go out for meals, since it's rare, usually whoever suggested it transfers the funds, but we sort of just keep topping up that account based on whoever happens to have cash that isn't earmarked for any specific use .

TBH though we could probably be more organised and we're not the most sensible with our disposable income. We had a kid straight out of Uni and our only income was me as a little bookies cashier on minimum wage so "disposable income" was like £10 here, £15 there... £50 would have required some serious thought before spending... basically all of our money was taken up by bills and supermarket... but as our income increases exponentially we still seem to be in that mindset. Pay the bills, do the food shopping, spend what's left... except now that's thousands in disposable income every month and I have no ****ing idea where we spend it. I get to the end of the month and think "we can't have spent all that" then look back over the bank statements like "Oh yeah... oh yeah I forgot about that... oh and there was that day we went to Dobbies...". We should really have a savings account but instead we "treat ourselves" like we used to, except it's every damn day not once a month .

We have a similarish set up, we have a joint account for bills, savings etc and we each have our own accounts because you need to have a bit of spending independence I think (i know that it's a bit different if only one of you is working though) So technically we each have our own money as well as joint money but in reality it's still all ours, neither of us would ever be stuck for any reason