Mon-ay

[dragonlady7]

Just uncovered a small dragon-hoard of change, squirreled away during some fatter time when I was cleaning house and came upon the spot where Dave had been dumping his pockets at night.
Made $20 by sorting it into piles and putting pre-counted amounts into envelopes.
I also have $15 in pennies rolled that I can't do a thing with; I'm not going to just try to spend them like that, but I can't deposit them at any banks because banks won't do what they're freaking supposed to unless you have an account there.
I think I might go and open a joint bank account at some local bank with Dave tomorrow, so I can deposit all this cash and use it to pay bills. (The tip money has finally begun to accumulate at a faster rate than the necessities have been costing.)

What'dy'all think-- does it work out for couples to have a joint account into which they put monies for the payment of joint bills? Dave and I haven't bothered thusfar, but... I know at this point it's moot, as Dave has no money to put into it, but if I'm going to have to get an account anyway, maybe it'd be worth it to have his name on there?
I'm figuring on keeping my other account, of course, and any savings I have will go in there, but...

Might it be worthwhile to try the joint one? Or will it lead to accounting nightmares? I'm figuring I ought to keep track of who puts how much in, just to keep things fair (or at least accounted-for), but it strikes me as more convenient to have it be something Dave could put money into and take money out of as well.

And it's not like you have to have any legal commitment to someone to open a joint checking account. As Dave's buddy Chris-the-almost-lawyer put it, "you could open a joint checking account with your dog, if you promised to be legally responsible for the dog's actions." Pretty much.

I dunno, it's just a thought at this point. i should probably go do some research online to see who to open the acct with. I don't want one of those stupid ones with monthly fees and minimum balances. I just want a place to take my cash and transform it into something I can write checks with. But in future it could remain handy.

I dunno. Tired of thinking of money. But at least by now I have some to think about.
Sorta.

If I had one more quarter I'd have enough quarters for a roll.

Comments

[kittyc1978.livejournal.com]

Jer amd I are budget ers. So, A joint account is perfect for us, so long as the joint part is the depositing part and not the spending part. I deposit a certain ammount of my paycheck into the account and He does the same. We get and allowance plus what ever is over the certain ammount we put in toward bills. He makes more money than I do, so he puts more in. This way we have the money we need for the bills and what ever we do with the extra and our allowance is our own business. IF the bills are bigger and we need more money we split the difference from our "Extra" That way we don't get into our savings when things like higher utility bill or what ever comes up. Does this help?

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Kinda. I sort of don't get what you mean.

So, there's a flat amount you put in every month. Each of you puts in a certain percentage of your income. This amount is calculated to be enough to pay the bills. What's left over is used as spending money.
The rest of your income is in each of your savings accounts and is kept separate and isn't spent.

Am I right?


Well, I have nothing so neat as an option just now, as I'm the only one with income. We're also not nearly so organized. But. Since I've had trouble in the past with Dave simply not telling me how much money was in his account until his balance had dipped so low he couldn't pay bills due later in the week (nice surprise, hon), perhaps it would be better to have a joint account, so I'd know whether we could pay our bills or not?

I don't know, I just know I need another account so I can deposit cash, and I'm debating whether having his name on there too would be convenient or not.
We're not budgeters. We've lived together successfully by dint of simply alternating who pays what bills, and it's been fair enough, without fussing too much over math... But there's less money now so the math is probably more important.
Shrug.

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

Well, one of my banks won't let me deposit Trevor's paychecks there unless he's on the account, because they say that otherwise they don't know whether I stole them, even if they're signed and he's right there with me. It drives me crazy.

But the other bank deposits his checks even if I deposit them via ATM in the middle of the night, which you'd think would be more suspicious.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

It all depends on the bank's policies. Banks are crazy.

So is his name on one of the accounts?

I was talking to Fiona and her boyfriend just doesn't have an account. He cashes his paychecks, takes what he needs for spending money, and then gives her the rest to deposit, and she pays all the bills-- mostly with his money at this point because he earns far more than she does. But she's the one with the checkbook.

I know my parents have separate accounts. They have several different accounts. And at one point, Dad opened a joint account with my sister Fiona, who needed an ATM card for a trip she was taking, but wasn't old enough for a solo account. Then Dad's primary bank got bought out and the account started to be more difficult to use, so he started depositing his paychecks into the acct he shared with Fiona, and then Mom couldn't pay the bills because she wasn't in that account and so couldn't sign the checks!
(What strikes me as funny is that after all this time she can't make a reasonable fake of Dad's signature. His is really not very complicated.)

I'm just thinking that I have to open the account anyway, so why don't I just stick his name on there to make things easier?
But I have utterly failed thusfar to come up with any kind of budgeting plan. So i dunno. I'd discuss it with him, but at this hour he's in his underwear wandering blearily around the house with his hair sticking out in all directions and his eyes pointing in two different directions, so now's not a great time to discuss money.

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

No, his name is not on the account. We do sorta what Fiona and bf do -- every month he must give me $500 (his half of the bills). He gives it to me either in cash, from his own account, or by handing me a payckeck and me giving him what's left over. I have all the bills taken automatically from my account. Lately he's been complaining about how he never has any money cuz he has to give it all to me, so I've been campaigning to have him do all the bills, and I'll give him my money.

[jennnlee.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess a lot of it depends on the relationship. When Morgan and I first met, we had separate bank accounts, which ended up being a giant pain when it came to getting the bills paid. (We were roommates sharing an apartment before we became A Couple.) We lamented often that it would be a lot easier to have a joint account.

So when we moved to Florida we opened a joint account. By this point, we were engaged. We share all our assets and always have, because to us that's what a relationship like this means. We're building a home and a life together, so there's no real point in keeping track of how much each puts in. He might have the larger paycheck, but I do more around the house, and who can put a monetary value on that?

Yours and Dave's relationship seems to be a lot more separate though, so I'm not sure if that would work for you or not. You may want to keep track of who deposits what, and who spends what. That I think would be fairly easy to do with a ledger, and just maybe color-code it; your activity in blue, and his in green. Or something.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Yeah... Our relationship is largely just undefined. We just don't keep track of things, haven't discussed where our destination is, haven't really set down in words what any of it means. The accounting was generally along the lines of, "I paid it last month so it's your turn this month," or something roughly similar. The rest of it's about the same. We're together because we're happier in each other's company than not; we pay the bills as fairly as we can but not according to any system in particular; we don't really talk about it because it all just makes sense according to its own logic. On the one hand, it's nice and practical and unfussy. On the other hand, sometimes a girl wishes for more specifics.

So far I'm just writing it all down in my calendar software, so I know how much I'm earning, when the bills are due, and the like.

But I figured, even if we don't use a joint account it can't hurt to have his name on it. At least I know I can trust him with my money, whatever else our relationship may or may not be.

[jennnlee.livejournal.com]

I guess that's what works for you, but I think I'd be a little nervous in such an undefined relationship. But do keep track of everything, and you'll probably be fine.