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From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Managing Money
Message-ID: <218@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Sep-83 09:45:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.218
Posted: Thu Sep 15 09:45:20 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 15-Sep-83 14:25:27 EDT
Lines: 28

On managing money:
Joint checking accounts are all very well philosophically,
but I find they have a great flaw: it is nearly impossible
to keep track of your balance!  My husband and I tried one
when we were first married, and neither of us ever knew where
we were financially.  I don't think this is just our idiosyncracy;
I remember great emotional crises when my parents (also a two-career
couple) tried to balance THEIR joint account.
 
We have a system which works well for us: each of us has a
separate account (which the other partner co-signed and co-owns)
and our paychecks are deposited to our own accounts.  We've
divided up our monthly bills by ability to pay; if either
of us is caught short, the other writes him/her a check.
(I.e. electric bills are always mine, gas is always his, etc.).
Surpluses go into our joint savings account.
As a result :
1.  All of our money is legally jointly-owned, but
2.  Each of us has  private property for day-to-day
purposes.
(Note: service charges on accounts are not a factor, as our
bank waives them if you keep a certain amount of cash in savings)
Good luck!
 
Incidentally, we find that money isn't really an issue anymore
(after 2+ years of marriage).  Part of the reason is that each
of us knows when not to push the other; as a result, disagreements
rarely turn into quarrels.