To Merge or not to Merge… | I've Paid For This Twice Already... http://www.paidtwice.com/2007/10/18/to-merge-or-not-to-merge/#comment-4582 Brandon Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:15:58 +0000 http://www.paidtwice.com/2007/10/18/to-merge-or-not-to-merge/#comment-4582 It is kind of odd for us. We have a joint account which is basically the account for all our budgeting and needs. For the most part, we pay all our bills out of this account. My wife's income instead goes into her personal account which she uses to pay for "her" bills. I probably would not be for this arrangement (as it tends to gyp me), but there are a few advantages in this situation. My wife is still in school and is working a couple part-time jobs with only a few hours so her monthly income is probably about $150-200. This is just enough for her to pay on some credit card debt she had before our marriage and have a little spending cash for clothes, buying presents for birthdays and such, and other things of that nature. This way, I can budget my salary to meet all our life goals. The downside is that I don't know if she is being completely responsible with credit debt that she had before our marriage because of this, but I trust that she won't get into too much trouble. Anyway, it works now, and though we have talked a little about how we will handle finances when she has a full-time job, I think that we should consider tossing those plans and instead combining finances. It seems to not really have many disadvantages, and we could budget so that she could still use her check in a way that she wants to and at the same time is responsible. It is kind of odd for us. We have a joint account which is basically the account for all our budgeting and needs. For the most part, we pay all our bills out of this account. My wife’s income instead goes into her personal account which she uses to pay for “her” bills. I probably would not be for this arrangement (as it tends to gyp me), but there are a few advantages in this situation.

My wife is still in school and is working a couple part-time jobs with only a few hours so her monthly income is probably about $150-200. This is just enough for her to pay on some credit card debt she had before our marriage and have a little spending cash for clothes, buying presents for birthdays and such, and other things of that nature. This way, I can budget my salary to meet all our life goals.

The downside is that I don’t know if she is being completely responsible with credit debt that she had before our marriage because of this, but I trust that she won’t get into too much trouble.

Anyway, it works now, and though we have talked a little about how we will handle finances when she has a full-time job, I think that we should consider tossing those plans and instead combining finances. It seems to not really have many disadvantages, and we could budget so that she could still use her check in a way that she wants to and at the same time is responsible.

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