Do you commingle your money?

I was listening to my favourite morning show last week and they were talking about how couples manage their money.

The male host felt that all money should be commingled into one joint high interest saving account from which the bills are paid and the couple shares whatever is left over. The female host disagreed and said that a husband and wife should have an account for bills but have their own accounts for the left over money that they can do whatever they want with.

This caused quite a discussion between them and they asked their listeners to call in or comment on their Facebook page. I was driving to work so could do neither but it was interesting to hear how others felt. The majority sided with the female host.

Gord and I take it a step farther ... we have everything separate. Whatever we had before we got married (bank accounts and credit cards), we kept. We didn’t open any joint accounts nor do we have joint credit cards.

Gord moved into my place (I’d bought our condo about a year before I met him). So everything was/is in my name ... the mortgage, taxes, phone, condo fees, Internet, etc. They either come out of my bank account automatically every month or I get a bill in the mail.

When we bought our car in 2004, we put that in his name and the payments came out of his bank account (it was paid off in 2009). Because he’d had insurance for years, it is in his name and comes out of his account.

When we do something big like take a vacation or buy something together, we usually put it on my VISA because I get points towards flights.

At the end of every month, we do a tally of what we spent and track everything on an Excel spreadsheet. One column is for what Gord pays and the other column is for what I pay. Whoever owes the other money writes the other a cheque. Because the bulk of the bills are in my name, it’s usually Gord writing me a cheque.

It may sound crazy but it works for us. We never fight about money. And we don’t have to justify how we are spending our money. I think it’s great that Gord is really into fencing which can be costly with equipment and going to tournaments but I don’t think it would be fair if I had to foot half the bill. When I go nuts and spent a couple hundred dollars at a candle sale, I don’t feel bad about it because it’s my money I’m spending.

How do you manage your money? Commingle or keep it separate, or a combination? Would our way work for you?