Getting away with...

[RaRa]

When we got together we decided to pay the household bills together and whatever else was left out of our salaries was our own to do whatever we wanted with. It's been 12 years now and it works pretty well as I can buy bike stuff and he can get water cooled PC towers or other equally exciting techie things without any guilt or arguments about money.

 

[Luddite Joe]

It's simple really.
I don't tell the wife aout my cycling gear as long as she doesn't tell me about her shoes !!!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I have always been honest about how much I spend, but when I worked for myself and had my own business account I didn't have to justify anything but now that I have a salary that goes into a joint account things get a LOT harder.

 

[Arch]

Lucky people!

I can't help but noticing that the "my earnings, my spendings" attitude is usually adopted by the male population (apologies if I'm stereotyping here..)!

Well, you are in my case. I reckon as long as the bills are paid, and a bit of a buffer maintained against unexpected outlay, and maybe saving for a holiday/home improvement etc, (by whatever division a couple agree on, I'd tend towards splitting in proportion to earnings), then whatever each person has left is theirs to play with.

Of course, if one partner gives up work to look after children, then some other system needs to come into play for housekeeping, and letting that partner have some money to spend as they wish - given that they will often work very hard in their 'non-job', harder perhaps than the breadwinner.

Deceit is rarely a healthy option....

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Actually having our household income drop by 70% a year ago has simplified things somewhat, there is no money!

 

[Sandra6]

We both spend what we want on what we want - once the bills have been paid and the children fed.
I'm more likely to spend a little and often while Mr6 will wait and make a bigger purchase.
If I buy an accessory for my bike I will generally buy one for him - but if he buys himself a bike I will have a bigger job convincing him to buy me one too.

 

[jonny jeez]

It's simple. We are both adults. There is no hiding or concealment. That does not make for a happy marriage.
What she earns she can spend on what she likes.
What I earn I can spend on what I like.
We have a household account which we both pay into monthly which covers all the bills.

Almost exactley the same for me, except for the joint account thing which has never been something we ever got around to.

Its a real pain as, to now swap all then DD's and Standing orders to revert to a new joint account, would be a full time job and as such, all the day to day expenses get a little fogged up between each of our accounts.

But,we keep it simple, if something is "justified" then we buy it, but we can never spend too much without thinking something like "we could all go away for a week for that!"

Another interesting question is, what level of expense justifies debate. In my household I used [4 years ago...pre recession] to happily spend up to say £500 without discussion it, nowadays its more like £50.00.

 

[Davidc]

It's simple. We are both adults. There is no hiding or concealment. That does not make for a happy marriage.
What she earns she can spend on what she likes.
What I earn I can spend on what I like.
We have a household account which we both pay into monthly which covers all the bills.

That's the most sensible reply so far.

If a couple don't have the ability to do some things independently, including spending some of the uncommitted income, there's trouble somewhere ahead. We all need to be individuals as well as partners/ wives/ husbands/ parents/ etc. and being able to buy accessories or parts or clothing for a bike is part of that.

That said, clearly spending a very large amount might need discussion, and in some circumstances restraint may be called for.

 

[Black Sheep]

we did originally say that £20 a month was for each of us to spend on what we like, hobbies, whatever.

this seems to have dropped into disuse recently with job changes, house buying / fixing and me job hunting.

often just sitting down and saying "i'd really like..........." and looking at finances etc seems to do the trick - possibly helps that I seem to always add £20-£30 to whatever we budget for birthdays / christmas / anniversary etc when I go shopping for her!

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

It's simple really.
I don't tell the wife aout my cycling gear as long as she doesn't tell me about her shoes !!!

Well, my OH would be more than happy to tell him about my shoes, as long as they don't take a cleat...

 

[DCLane]

I spend, but the total's on my signature - along with the 'balancer'. So there's no way I'll go mad.

I did work out though I've got about £5k's worth of bike gear and I'm only in a negative of about £1800.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I told my folks that I was getting a Carlton bike frame from a certain member on here to do up as a winter/general dogsbody bike, and I hope I can still get it, but in the meantime, I have bought a vintage Humber, so I think that if that comes first then that'll be the 'Carlton' frame and if I get the real Carlton, then I'll just say I got it for next to nothing. Ideally I will get them into the garage without anyone noticing, but the garage has just had a clear out (I had to rescue a few tyres which weren't mine from being chucked), and unfortunately my family do tend to notice things....

Actually, I'll need to get the Humber restored, so I can imagine I'll have to come clean sooner or later anyway.

 

[G2EWS]

I told my folks that I was getting a Carlton bike frame from a certain member on here, and I hope I can still get it, but in the meantime, I have bought a vintage Humber, so I think that if that comes first then that'll be the 'Carlton' frame and if I get the real Carlton, then I'll just say I got it for next to nothing. Ideally I will get them into the garage without anyone noticing, but the garage has just had a clear out (I had to rescue a few tyres which weren't mine from being chucked), and unfortunately my family do tend to notice things....

Actually, I'll need to get the Humber restored, so I can imagine I'll have to come clean sooner or later anyway.

Are we talking about the car a Humber!!

Because if you are, I don't think you will be able to hide that unless you have a really big garage!!

Regards

Chris

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

No no, a bike, the make that was taken over by Raleigh in 1932.

 

[G2EWS]

No no, a bike, the make that was taken over by Raleigh in 1932.

Ha ha, there you go I am showing my biking ignorance! But I do know the Humber car!!

Regards

Chris