As a couple, are your finances joint or separate?

We have joint finances, but each of us has an allotted amount that goes into a little "spending account" for trivial items (Starbucks, dinner out with friends, hobbies, etc.).

One joint account here, too. In hindsight, a joint household and separate personal would have been good. But you know what they say about hindsight...

We joined accounts after we got engaged (6 months pre wedding). My husband is aware he is not good with budgeting and will overspend if the money is there. We have separte checking accounts - one for the family (I keep) and one for my husband (limits what is avaiable for him to spend - however, we don't call it his allowance!). It has worked well and keeps money fights to a minimum.

When we first got married everything was separate. We even had separate banks. We could never agree on a budget. But, we realized this was not the way God had intended it for married couples as it served to "prevent the two from truly becoming one" in God's eyes. We had to work very hard over a period of a year and a half b/c our united goal was to become better Christians and to do God's will. We got help and developed a financial spread sheet which helped us to recognize patterns in spending and savings. We could see what methods were working and what wasn't.

My husband realized I was the better saver and budgeter. He finally conceeded as we realized we're both "power and control" freaks and that didn't serve our Christian purpose either. So, we let the changes occur naturally and we finally consolidated everything and paired down to a joint account.

God truly blessed b/c we were able to pay down our debt, refinance, and do alot of wonderful things in our home that we couldn't before because we were constantly divided.

Although separate works for some people - it's usually b/c one or more parties refuse to relinquish control over spending or saving. I don't judge that, but I know very well the consequences behind that and it hurts the family or marriage in the long run - not to mention it prevents you from becoming one flesh in God's eyes and that's not living up to the true covenant of marriage.

We had everything joint, but as we are both control freaks, that did not work out all that well. We have everything separately, and we split up the bills evenly so he pays some and I pay some. It's working out much better for both of us.