Combining households

I have met my Mr Right and we are moving in together and even - eek - having a baby. But what to do about combining our savings and current accounts? While I'm on maternity leave (most of a year) we'll just be living on his income, and after returning to work most of my salary will be eaten up by childcare costs. We're putting all of our separate savings into a house deposit. For a while our incomings and outgoings will mostly balance each other out, so should we just keep things simple and set up a joint account? That sounds so Victorian, and I don't think of my income as pin money. Or should we keep separate accounts - and retain our financial independence - but have an elaborate network of standing orders to make sure neither of us is caught short, unable to pay for emergency nappies in the wee hours.  All puns intended.

I have been through the joining of account process in the last couple of years. Our decision to combine everything took sometime to decide on and we both tried to hang onto to our separate accounts for as long as we could.The deciding factor for us was the number of times one of us would need to buy something for us both, and the other would the owe their half. It just got too confusing.

Moving accounts was relatively easy, but it takes a few months to get used to it. It really does make things a lot easier in the long run.

There is a third way!

You could always set up a joint account to cover the main household bills, then have your own separate current accounts for your personal expenditure.

That way you can budget effectively by making sure there's enough money to cover the bills each month and have your own money to play with, rather than rely on "housekeeping"!

You might also be able to set up these current accounts with the same bank thus making it quick/easy to transfer funds between them if you need to.

With regards to savings, it's a case of trust and tax!

It does make sense to have savings accounts in the name of the person who isn't paying tax. But, you've got to be able to trust them! But, if you're having a baby together, then you've got to sort of trust each other anyway haven't you.

Personally I just went straight for the joint current account. Makes life a lot simpler as you don't have to transfer money to and fro and worry that you're other half might get stuck without any money. Does take a while to get used to "sharing" the current account, but does also force you to be more careful with your money as it can be easy to forget that someone else is also spending money when you come to budget. But, if you set yourself a weekly cash allowance that you withdraw at the begining of each week, it's quite easy really.

Good luck!

 retain your independace keep your own account, by all means share a joint account specifically for household standing orders on household bills. ( do not class shopping or new items for the house as under household bills) only utilities etc. Seen many marriages fail just because one has overspent on a joint account at a time when they should have both been thrifty.