askmenover30

Keep separate budgets. Keep separate checking accounts. If you live together then have a joint checking account for bills, and auto transfer your share into it on paydays. Most divorces are caused by arguments over money. You don't have to argue over money if you don't share it. There's a lot of freedom and it's really nice not having to ask to buy yourself big things. My first 2 serious relationships involved a shared checking account for everything and they were disasters. My wife and I follow the system I outlined above and we've never fought over money during our entire 20 years together, not even when we were flat broke. I make more than her, so I contribute more to the joint checking account, so that we have approximately the same amount of spending money each payday. That money is ours to do whatever we want with, and we don't need permission from each other to buy the things we want.