MY money and HER money ..... got a question !!

Now that we are both retired and on relatively fixed incomes, we have agreed upon who pays what bills each month. Yeah, I still have to help her out sometimes, but I THINK I FINALLY HAVE CONVINCED HER THAT CREDIT CARD BUYING IS STUPID UNLESS YOU PAY THE BALANCE OFF EVERY MONTH!!!

We really get along very well most of the time, but finances almost broke us up early in our marriage. What we do works OK for us.

My wife won't let me buy all the Tractors I want either! Been with her 19 years on Monday the 17th of November. She has made me put most of our money into our place instead. It is paid off and I have only 1 real Tractor and 1 Lawn Tractor for mowing the place. Glad she did not let me buy what ever I wanted or we would not have our home to live in paid for. She sure is a smart Lady! By the way she does not go to the Malls, Beauty Shops or blow any money on make/up and she looks great to me! Mark H.

For the 1st 8 years of marrage we owed more every month than we made. Lots of little fights about who get what when.
The lord has blessed our last 8 years and we make more than we spend. Not alot more but more.
Alot less fightin going on now.
One thing we did do though was my wife gets $200 a check taken out and that goes into a savings account only she has access to.
She told me the other day she has $15000 in it now. I said 15 what???
Oh well atleast it keeps her off my butt.

The ups & downs of a farm expense/paycheck can be kind of shocking. I don't even raise an eyebrow when the fan goes out on the combine & spend an extra $1000 that day. The $250 water heater was quite a surprise for her.....

So, we have kept things seperate and call it his & hers, but really it is all ours & we have no problem sharing. Hard to change over 30 years of thinking tho. ;)

Both of us are pretty conservative in such things.

Works for us.

--->Paul

We do meet your criteria though. Both of us were late 20's/early 30's when we got married. Both of us had professional reputations and careers. As a courtesy we usually tell the other one before we go spend big $$ on something unusual (I dont tell her necessarily when I order fertilizer but I do tell her before I go buy a tractor or a dozen cows).

Have to admit, we've had some arguments about $$ in the past, as I usually took care of all the finances, even though she's almost always worked. Sometimes, money was spent, w/out my knowing (you know, with 2 teenaged girls (the same age), there's always something), and the account would get way lower than I like to see it. Managed to always scrape by.

This year, she started her own business, with it's own accounts and things are much better. I still handle (most of) the household bills, but she kicks in on some, and that really gives me some much needed breathing room. We each can buy what we see as "necessary" and now she is free to save back whatever she believes is going to be needed for extras coming up...senior pictures, prom dresses, year books (ALL TIMES 2!) I've been able to buy a new rifle and some other toys I've done without for several years, and not feel guilty. She's bought a lot of stuff for the house and the business.

She's busy every day, and financially, we're pretty good right now. That business has been a godsend for us...