Money in Marriage
Hi, has anyone got an advice? My husband and me are not best with money. Basically, all my husbands wage at the moment goes to bills, rent, his petrol and some loans we took out. He has some little leftover for groceries, subscriptions and stuff. All my wage is for the whole months groceries and any other spendings like new furniture, trips, clothes, etc.
I also started a new business so I get money from there (from clients) but it's not too predictable, for now it's going to groceries only.
Usually it goes that we live off my wage for half a month or a little more, I feel comfort and freedom and then my husband kind of reassures me that we can spend more because he will also have some money left and in the end I often find myself at the checkout with an empty bank account calling him to send me money or put money on the spending card and it's embarrassing and frustratibg. It happens because either A) he doesn't think about me needing money throughout the day even though the shopping is all on me. And B) sometimes things come up for example he didn't realise he didn't pay a subscription yet, or this past week his business sent invoices too late so he lacked cashflow in his business account and couldn't pay himself, so we are broke these days even though he has around £2000 profit right now that he is owed.
Sometimes I really want something and he pays for it and then later on I find out that because of that he didn't pay some bill and then when we actually need something and I thought has, he tells me about the outstanding bill.
We tried budgeting together many times and it's all so straightforward on paper but in day to day life it's confusing
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Do you have a joint bank account?
maybe have an account where all bills come out of? or an account where you can transfer money for food shopping etc so you know it’s there.
either that or cut back on spending for new furniture, trips/clothes. if you’re struggling to pay for groceries or your husband is neglecting bills to buy stuff that isn’t a necessity, it’ll just always be going in a circle
Have a joint account, if your salaries are similar put in the same amount each that then pays for all joint expenses bills, food days out et cetera. Keep money each aside for what you want to do maybe that’s Close or time with friends et cetera.
I never understand married couples in particular not even having a joint account for joint expenses. You shouldn't be having to call him to move money around, I would be embarrassed too. With banks like Monzo you can sort your salary into different 'pots" e.g. bills, loans, etc and the money for the bills (when allocated) will be paid directly from those pots. It really helps with transparency and seeing where money is actually going. I think it's worth looking into different ways of arranging your finances as a couple so you feel more like a team. It sounds like you both have a reasonable amount of money coming in, you just need to communicate and organise things better!
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