What's Fair? - Bills

[Veronica]

Im living with Zach and have been for the last 4 months. Up until now, we agreed that I would pay the utilites (exc electric cuz it was so high) until I rented my house out. I now have an extra 850 dollars a month and I asked him what he wanted me to do (pay half of his morgage and the rest of bills or what) He told me to just pay utlities and thats it. His morgage is around 800 dollars .. The utilities equal up to about MAYBe 600 dollars and I get groceries (well tecnically we both do).. Anyways, I dont really know if what we are doing is fair or not. I cant tell. I dont want to be 'using' him. We talked about getting a joint account. I went and opened the account and he has yet to add his name. BTW, this account is only for bills, I will still have my seperate account.

What else should I do?

 

[pjbleek]

the wife and I have one joint account and that is exclusively for the mortgage payment and and equity line.....you should map out a plan as to what or who is paying what and a commitment for payment(s) don't feel like you are treading....I know my wife is the breadwinner and I do contribute since going back to school it isn't as much, but every little bit helps!)

 

[Mystic]

sound like its fair already V...i wouldn't frett too much on it.

 

[RedRyder]

If Zach is happy with the way things are going with splitting expenses and you are too.... there isn't much else to think about really.

Use your extra money to buy things for the house.

 

[Veronica]

I guess they are pretty much fair. He bought my tires last week, so I paid the electric bill for last month and this month to make up for it.

In our joint account, Im gonna have my paycheck sent there.. However my child support from Joe will go to my seperate account. Therefore, I can make sure I use it on the boys. Im happy how this is going on.

 

[AUFred]

As long as he is happy with the arrangement I would not stress over it. If you end up married then there will be a lot more common money and less his & hers monies.

 

[RedRyder]

That's definitely a wonderful plan about the child support!

 

[Veronica]

I know, I just dont want to be in the same position as before with me being left with hardly anything. So it worries me.

 

[sophie]

As long as you're both happy, then it's all good, right?

When I was living with Soleil's dad, we used to calculate what the bills were. Then, we'd base our share on what percentage of our total each income was. So if my income was 60% of our combined income, I'd pay 60% of each bill, so that we were each paying an equal amount based on our income. It was unnecessarily complex though, to be honest.

 

[RedRyder]

No one can blame you for being cautious. Since you both work, each of you should be able to put an amount aside to save or spend as you see fit.

Even if one of you didn't work outside of the home, the other should be able to have a 'me' fund.

 

[Veronica]

Yea, I wanted to have my account where I could save and not worry about much. I hope it works out well.

I was making more than him until he got on at the base, now he makes almost 10 dollars more than me an hour!! Crazy jump! So technically he makes more.. but if you include my child support, we make about the same.

 

[HottyToddyChick]

I agree with Sophie. That's how I plan on doing it before marriage. And then, after, all our money, except maybe 10% of each paycheck, goes into a joint account. That 10% goes into a separate account each to have spending money for whatever you want without having to discuss it with the other person.

 

[Dana]

My mom and her man were together i think 12 years before they ever considered getting joint bank accounts. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Veronica]

He wanted joint accounts, I told him no.. then I decided it was fine for bills and bills only.. I just dont want to be a leach.

 

[Dana]

He wanted joint accounts, I told him no.. then I decided it was fine for bills and bills only.. I just dont want to be a leach.

Well, if you got joint bank accounts it's more about being a couple and sharing responsibility in his mind, I would think.

 

[Veronica]

well we are doing that without the joint account. lol I pay my bills, he pays his.. Hell, when he lived with me, all he paid was the electric bill OR cable.. Depending on which was more. He got off easy. lol And he lived with me for 5 months lol