Setting up the budget for couples
I’ve received the following comment in one form or another a few times, “This system works really well for a single guy, but that wouldn’t work for my family.”
I beg to differ. This month’s money magazine features an article titled “Spouses Gone Wild! Why Solo Play Is Okay.” It discusses couples taking seperate vacations and recommends couples use seperate checking accounts to pay for it.
A quote from Ruth Hayden says…
“I need to have the ability to pick up a cup of coffee without it impacting you, [and] You need the ability to pick up a cup of coffee without it impacting me.”
You can setup the stackbacks budget system for couples by just using two living expense accounts instead of one. Use 1 joint planned account where both of your paychecks are directly deposited. Then dole out allounces to both parties and let them each decide how they want to spend their money.
The shared planned account lets you automate all your bill pays without having to worry about upcoming payments. This also removes any nuissance of splitting things like mortgages and car payments if you were to only maintain seperate checking accounts. Your seperate living expense accounts are then truely money both of you can spend without any worry about the what the other is spending money on.
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January 18th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Note that in some countries it is illegal to have the employer put your partner’s money into your account when you are not married.
(Germany is one of those)
January 18th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Good to know!
January 19th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Myself and my husband use a similar system but in a different way. We both get our paychecks paid into our own checking account, we then both pay a specified amount (based on our set costs), this then leaves our checking accounts with our allowance in.
To make things even more complivated we actual have seperate accounts for holiday (which we both pay into), mortgage (we pay about £100 more into the account than our mortageg costs to allow for interest rate rises and/or house expenses e.g the boiler breaks).
It means that we have about 5 accounts between us, but stops any arguments about money and ensures we both have a releavnt amount of freedom with our money. Not sure hwo we’ll work it if kids come along and we drop to a single income, but we can deal with that then
January 19th, 2006 at 10:12 am
The only problem I see if for Groceries. Do you expect a couple to buy seperate groceries. Or does the person who does the grocery shopping get extra money in their account to buy for both?
January 22nd, 2006 at 11:16 am
Hi Margorah,
I considered a system very similar to that, and finally settled on my current budget. The only big difference is the flow of the money.
-Greg
January 22nd, 2006 at 11:17 am
Hi Guy,
I would just add more money as a living expense to whomever buys the groceries. That person needs more money to cover their “living expenses” if they include buying groceries.
-Greg
January 23rd, 2006 at 3:22 pm
Good ideas all.
My wife and I use it like this:
Our primary account (for Planned Expenses) is controlled by me. I pay out an allowance to our Living Expenses account, controlled by her.
Out of the Living Expenses account, she pays me an allowance for: a) gas b) lunch/etc.
Since I am a regular 8-5 commuter, I only need money for gas/lunch. If I need any more, I run it through her first.
Works for us, and this system works great!
Formalized idea: Based on what people have written above, if you live in a country where it is illegal to deposit a paycheck in someone else’s account (Germany) that you are not married to, and based on what Margorah said, you can EASILY setup StackBacks to work in REVERSE mode:
Setup 3 checking accounts. You’re paycheck goes into account A. Your partner’s into account B. You each pay an allowance for Planed Expenses into account C which you use to pay bills out of.
With this, you would have to be careful to allow enough to cover all your fluctuating costs (gas, electricity, etc). What will you do if you come up short, and you do not have the money in either Accounts A or B?