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A Few Money Surprises

October 20th, 2007 at 04:32 am

My wife and I have been maintaining separate checking accounts for about two years. We divided up the bills so that we have approximately the same amount of spending money. We chose to keep our accounts separate to maintain some degree of privacy when making purchases. I do not want her to know how much I spend when I buy for her, and she feels the same when buying for me. I also like that we are not questioning each other about every little purchase.

Yesterday she informed me that her schedule has been too hectic for her to balanced her checking account . She said she would like me to manage her account. I also found out that we had a balance on a credit card that I thought was inactive of about $1400. Needless to say this temporarly knocked me off my diet and exercise program. I immediately withdraw money from savings and paid off the card giving us a free and clear starting point. Here is how I am planning to manage both accounts.

I added her as an authorized signer on my rewards credit card. I asked her to use the card for all purchases she makes. I feel that if there is no activity in her checking account for a period of time, I will be able to quickly balance it. I also feel that this will give her privacy as I will only look at the total balance when paying the bill. She also agreed to inform me if she makes any ATM withdrawals.

Because I have such an interest in saving and investing, I feel better to know our total household picture of income and outgo. I chose to keep both checking accounts open because our paychecks are direct deposited into our separate accounts and I find it a pain to change this. I have set up all the bills she was paying on automatic bank draft. I also set up a monthly payment to her Roth IRA, I believe I will have the account balanced in a short period of time and at the same time relive my wife from the obligation of maintaining the account

4 Responses to “A Few Money Surprises”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    1192887736

    I am curious, how long have you been married. We have always combined everything, with just one checking account and I give my husband an allowance every week.

  2. dasquest Says:
    1192936869

    We have been married a little over two years. This is the second marriage for both of us. In my first marriage, I took a hands off approach to our financial situation. I found out in the divorce that our debts were much larger thant I realized. That was one of the reasons that I decided to always be fully aware of my financial situation.

  3. terri77 Says:
    1193065009

    If you have more time to manage the accounts and are willing to do it, then I think this will work out well. You should probably be aware of what's going on with her account anyway.

  4. dasquest Says:
    1193098855

    I agree, I actually like working on finances. I feel like I can keep expenses under control.

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