Do you and your H budget together?

10YearsTogether

We keep everything separate, which is fine and we like it like that.  But we do acknowledge that we eat out WAY too much.  Since we both buy groceries and randomnly "take turns" paying when we eat out, it's kind of hard to track just how much we're really spending on this stuff.

So I suggested to him that we keep our receipts for everything we buy for the month, but especially:

- eating out together

- eating out for lunch

- groceries purchased

- non-necessity purchases (books, clothes, etc.)

I just want to see where it's going.

We also said we'd try to stay below $300 for the month on eating out.  Not sure if that's realistic though.

Just thought I'd throw this out there and see what you guys do.

 

JD 2 B

everything is separate, but we have complete access to each others online accounts. We do the same random back and forth for dinners, but are too lazy to track it. Most expenses go through our AmEx accounts and they divide the categories out on the bill.

themarshmalo

Our accounts are separate, but we do have one shared checking account we both have a debit card for. We each put a set amount into that account per month and that's our "fun" money. Once we're out of funds, we're out.

10YearsTogether

I know that I REALLY need to tighten the belt on my eating out spending.  It's kind of crappy, but I told H that if he wants to eat out (he's usually the one that wants to go out), he can pay for it.

Mrs50%

Yes we budget together. Does it often work out as planned? Unfortunately not.

That being said, we are also tightening the budget on eating out. We've set a solid amount for fun money and suppousedly when it's out it's out. We'll see how it goes. lol.

kimarino13

We have a joint account.  It makes tracking this stuff easy.

Staying below $300 a month is impossible for us these days, especially when a f'ing Starbucks latte is $3.50 and I can't be bothered to cook!  

ppbcup

DH and I keep everything separate but we have one joint account that mortgage and utilities comes out of. 

I am determined to stick to a budget this year and am committed to not buying anything extra.  I made a pretty Excel spreadsheet and everything!  DH said he is going to follow my lead and do the same for his expenses so we will both be on track. 

 Budgeting is depressing but has to be done!

augs06

Our accounts are joint, it's just easier for us.

Do you use mint.com?  If you want to track 'together' purchases, have you thought of creating a shared login and link it to the accounts that you and H use for these purchases?  That way you don't have to keep receipts and it will do the work for you.  IDK how much of each others finances you care to share but this won't commingle the actual monies.

CupcakeGirl08

We have a joint savings and checking accounts cause it's just easier for us.  I second Mint.com it has some pretty cool features.  It allows you to see what you are spending in areas like entertainment, bills, Misc. expenses and it allows you to set budgets for them. 

dapotato

we tracked all expenses together for a year when we first got married although we had separate checking accounts.  we had a designated spot for all receipts, and i'd enter them maybe 2-3 times a month into a good spreadsheet i found.  that really helped us figure out what was really doable or not and figure out a realistic monthly budget.

since i'm income-less now and busy with school, we haven't been as on top of it and haven't been tracking our spending as closely. we promised each other we'd sit down together soon and take a look again.

kirkette

Yes.

happywife123

We don't.  We have our own separate accounts and we too take turns paying.  We eat out WAY too much.  I'm thrilled we're not the only ones, ha ha!  That's all I have.

PockyLove

We really should :X

Nessdogg

We combined everything a year ago when we started to look at homes to see what we could truly afford without giving up all of our luxuries. But we did cut down on going out to eat. It got to be a bit ridiculous we were averaging $500-$1000 a month. We still have a checking & savings through his credit union, ING accounts for extra savings and extra retirement. Then we use a main checking & savings acct through my bank for all of our bills (his, mine and household). We leave a certain amount for the rest of the month and the rest is split between our credit union and ING accounts. I have been using an excel worksheet that splits up all of our bills, groceries, restaurants, retail purchases etc. Also our main bank account splits all of our payments and purchases into separate categories.

agnesackneback

We have joint everything and have had it that way for maybe 7 years?  Just easier when it comes to budgeting. 

But then again, we don't really budget in the MM sense.  Just keep track of what we're spending and if we're spending waaaay more than usual I show H and we try to slow down on spending.  Oh yeah, we use mint.  So that helps with the keeping track part.

We are eating at home, now.  That's cut a lot of spending.  In the past 2 and a half weeks, we've spent $150 on groceries and $30 on eating out.  I don't think we'll be needing groceries for another week. But I want to make a trip to Growers Direct. 

ssinca

uh, no.  then again, we've really cut back on spending since moving here - it's pretty easy to do when the "fanciest" restaurant closest to us is chili's.  and it's about 10 miles away. 

mrsmj2008

We have joint accounts and use to budget back when we first bought our condo but once we were more settled and we werent blowing all our money on stuff for the new place, we havent been good about budgeting.  Our biggest issues are eating out together and my lunches. I'm awful about packing lunches and I'm trying to make it a new years resolution to be better about it.

weemz

We don't really budget.  Don't tell MM.

What I do know, however, is that we save over half our income.  We could live just fine off one of our incomes.