Finances

[MysticCat]

I've described this some in another thread, but here's a little more detail.

For checking, we have two joint accounts -- one for household and family expenses and pretty much most things, and one solely for charity. The later is a matter of discipline for us, taking money off the top of paychecks and other income for charitable purposes.

We also each keep a separate checking account. I use mine for lunch on workdays; Y membership; CD, book, or other "just 'cause I want it" purchases; and presents for her. She uses hers for similar things-she-wants and presents for me.

I have by far the larger paycheck -- about 90% of my monthly take-home (after retirement, 401(k) and deposits into savings) goes into our household account -- the rest goes into the charity account and into my personal account.

Her distribution between accounts can vary from month to month, because her income tends to vary more from month to month. For that reason, we've always relied solely on my income for loans (mortgage, car loans, etc.) and for budgeting regularly monthly expenses.

We maintain a joint savings account (usually just the minimum is in there because the interest rate isn't great) and a joint money market account, which we use as the main "savings" account. We also each have an individual savings accounts, mainly so we can have the individual checking accounts -- there rarely is much money in mine beyond the minimum unless I'm saving up for a present for her or I've gotten gift money for Christmas or birthday.