~*~*~ QOTD 2/15/2012 ~*~*~

Good Morning Loves!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and special Valentine’s Day yesterday.

A few weeks ago, a friend confided in me that her husband didn’t know how much credit card debit she was in. She was scared to tell him, because he wanted to refinance their house. This conversation puzzled me. I always thought that once you got married, you combined everything and created a household budget. Maybe I'm wrong??

My question of the day:

1.) Will you and FH be combining your finances? Will you have a joint checking account?

Or if you don’t want to answer question #1. Here is #2:

2.) Are you a saver or a spender?

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1.) Currently, I handle our household budget. Due to my insane OCD, I keep a pretty intense excel spreadsheet of our household budget, savings, bills and spending. FH and I know about all of each other’s accounts and their balances. Once a week I balance our checkbooks and about once month, FH and I review our budget together. Once we get married, we are planning to have a joint checking account for all of our household bills. Right now our banks account are linked, but not joint.

2.) I used to be a spender…until we got engaged. I was such a shopper. I used to go shopping every paycheck – clothes, shoes, stuff for the house, etc. I didn’t care I just wanted to shop. Now, I am trying to save every penny we make. Once the wedding is over, I think I will be a better at saving. FH is a huge saver! He is also a bargain shopper. He always searches the deal websites and won’t pay for anything at retail price. This is always great around the holidays because he finds the best deals for us!!

Morning!

1. Currently we have a joint checking account that we put the money that we got for our engagement. Then we each have our own personal checking and savings accounts. After the wedding I'm not sure what we'll do. I guess we can worry about it when the time comes.

2. I never saved anything until about a year and a half ago when I finally got a job that paid me a regular salary. I've always worked in the garment district or somewhere related to retail. It's pretty impossible not to waste all your money on clothes when you're surrounded by it 24/7. FH is a saver, but I've def learned a few things from him and can happily say my shopping addiction has been (somewhat) cured.

1.) Will you and FH be combining your finances? Will you have a joint checking account?


While FH and I have our own checking and savings accounts at our own separate banks, we both recently added each other to our accounts. We have access to each other's accounts and will use them whenever we need. We share household expenses, such as groceries. We take turns every week for who buys. We will continue to combine finances. For the most part now, we pay for our own individual bills, such as car payments, insurance, phone, etc. but if one of us needs money we help each other out of course.

2.) Are you a saver or a spender?

FH is more of the saver. The only time he spends money is on me But seriously, he's a simple man. I wouldn't say I am a spender, but I definitely spend more compared to him.

We have a jOint checking now!!!
and I spend spend spend.. I stopped since xmas but i still spend money lol!! he def dont buy anything or spend money on anything

1. I'm not completely sure what we will do after we get married. We currently do not have any joint accounts. Although we do not live together somehow I have become responsible for setting up online accounts to pay some of his bills (cable and internet) with his own money of course...lol. So I can imagine when we get married I will be responsible for the finances. We might get a joint savings account and use our current checking accounts to pay our bills. We were suppose to open a joint savings account but I have not done it yet. I need to get that done ASAP.

2. I definitely used to be a big spender but since planning for this wedding I have converted to being a saver. I have not bought anything (meaning clothes and especially shoes) since around Christmas time. I will try not to buy anything this year and until the wedding unless it is something I really need and I am getting it at a ridiculously low price. My money has to go towards the wedding and saving, saving, saving for after the wedding. And I am in the process of paying off all credit cards which hopefully I can do with my tax return. After paying them off I will be so happy and then I can save even more money.

1) We've had a joint account since we hit our 2 year mark but we're using it more and more now! We each have our own savings & checking as well.. so we get our whole paycheck deposited into our joint checking and a small portion transferred into our personal accounts so we can spend it on stuff for each other as well as save us for something ourselves (like FH's obsession with sneakers!) We also get a portion transferred to an ING account so it's impossible to touch on the weekends & a portion into a locked account at the bank! I am also suppppper OCD with a budget spreadsheet!!! We have a bit of debt (car loans, credit cards, etc) so I have it down to where our pennies are going in order to pay it all off by the end of the year!

2) I would say I'm def more the 'saver'.. but I still don't mind spending on certain things.. like shoes! LOL

We have a joint savings and checking and seperate accounts too. The joint is for everything except personal use. Its for wedding stuff, bills, vacations...and just savings.

We have seperate personal accounts we use for everyday use and gifts. It's like our allowance and it works out great.

I am a saver. I don't really like clothes shopping so FH is lucky. LOL If I go to a store I am in and out because I know what I am looking for. I even did it with Wedding dresses..in and out. I coudlnt be bothered with trying on over 50 dresses because I loved them all. Yes my dress made me a cry but a few of them did. I really did not try on one dress that I hated! I use coupons for food...I actually extreme coupon but now I am used to it so the couponing that used to take me like 5 hours now takes me 30 minutes to one hour per month. I buy so much in one trip that we go shopping once a month now and thats it. Takes a lot of stress out of weekly or daily shopping. I hated that!

1.) Will you and FH be combining your finances? Will you have a joint checking account?

As of now we have separate checking accounts, but we do have a joint ING account that we are using for the wedding. After we are married I'm sure we will get a joint account. While we are saving for the wedding FH is paying for all the bills and pretty much my whole paycheck goes into savings for the wedding.


2.) Are you a saver or a spender?
I am definitely a spender! I've been really good since having to save for the wedding.

1. We have a joint savings account that we set up after our engagement party. We deposit a set amount of money in it each month to build up the account. No money leaves that account though. We're just saving for life basically haha. We also have our own separate savings & checking accounts.

2. I would say I'm a little bit of both-a spender and a saver. Really need to focus on being more of a saver though... hahaha.

1. FH and I started a joint account 3 years ago. We wiped it out when we bought the house. We haven't opened a new one, but we share the finances pretty much equally. He pays most of the house stuff, I pay the wedding stuff. He's good about the money bc I have student loans and daily bridge tolls to pay

2. I am sooo the spender. He saves

We are def. getting a joint account b/c it will be better but i am going to keep my account so at least we will have money in another place too...but i get points for using it ...but im the spender oh yea ...i mean i do save but i love buying stuff LOL...its my friends fault LOL...Jk

Okay...so it seems that we are all on the same page about joint accounts and finances. Good! I thought I was just being old fashion about combining this stuff.

Right now we both have separate accounts but we split the bills. Once we get married we will be opening a joint account.

I'm a spender and he's a saver but I've calmed down since planning the wedding.

My plan is to have our own and then one joint. Don't know how FH feels about this though...

1. FH and I have our own bank accounts right now, but we also set up a joint account once we got engaged. We have our job take money out of each of our checks every week to go into that account.

2. I am definitely the spender and FH is the saver. Since being with him tho, I have learned to save more and more.

We have a joint savings and checking account and then we each have our own. Right now the joint was is all going towards the wedding. Once we move in together and get married I am sure we will be using the joint one more often. Although we will both keep our own for things we want.
FH is def. more of the spender. I probably spend more when I go out with him.

We set up a joint account after we got engaged for saving for the wedding. We both have our own and I kinda like it that way for now. Maybe after the wedding and we are looking to buy a house, we will put everything together but for now, this works.

I can not tell you the last time I bought myself clothes or shoes since we got engaged. I am trying to save but I feel like im getting no where and I have no idea where my money is going because like I said, I havent been shopping in forever. I dont go out as often, either. i guess its just everyday expenses like gas, bills, food. Maybe if i do the speadsheet like some of you are doing, I can figure it out. haha. If anyone wants to send me their template for the speadsheet, I would love it!

We don't have a joint or combined account. I handle all the finances and he just gives me checks every month, but we're looking for a house soon so we probably should link ourselves up!

I am a saver! I hateeeee spending money. My friends have made fun of me since we were in middle school because I'll hold on to money instead of go on sprees like normal girls lol. FH is really good with money and is a big saver - he's having a bit of shock though because until recently his parents paid for basically all his stuff: insurance, gas, expenses, etc. Crazy!

1.) Will you and FH be combining your finances? Will you have a joint checking account?

We currently have seperate accounts. We will be open a joint account closer to the wedding. We haven't had time to go to the bank together yet. I'm too busy looking at wedding stuff. Lol

2.) Are you a saver or a spender?
I used to be a spender when it came to clothes. However, I would only splurge on sale days. Now I am frugal with money.

1.) Will you and FH be combining your finances? Will you have a joint checking account?

We already hav a joint checking account. Since we bought the house, it's much easier to have the one account to pay bills out of. We do have seperate savings accounts though, although, there's never too much in there. Any odd jobs we work (He bartends, I proctor), go into the savings accounts. That way when it comes to Christmas and Birthdays we don't have to worry about the other knowing how much we spent.

Interesting question today, and it's been coming up with a lot of people lately. People actually look at me funny when I say we have a joint bank account. I guess not as many people combine their finances like they used too...

2.) Are you a saver or a spender?

I am the saver, absolutely. I'm trying to be those Extreme couponing people when it comes to shopping at the grocery store or drug store, and I think sites like groupon are the best things ever! I love a bargin. Plus- like most of you ladies said, since getting engaged, we have to save for the big day!!