Country Life In The City

How do you manage your spending? Do you have separate or joint current accounts? Do you keep money standing by to deal with those extra costs or purchases in a savings account, or just rack up the credit card? Even worse, do you hide spending from your other half?

Here’s a couple of examples:-

Good heavens! When my 6-yr-old bought himself a Lego helicopter & his it in the yard, I took it as a sign of real relational problems. I can’t imagine spouses hiding purchases!
My partner and I already know we have different spending habits. I ask “what’s it worth to me?” and only buy at that price. He asks “what does it cost?” and works and saves to get there. When we rang up a $1000 phone bill on his acct, he said “you’re worth it” but I got on the phone with verizon during my first days back in the USA & had it adjusted to half that.
I can’t imagine marrying someone and not having a good idea of their financial position. Less than a year after getting together with him, I learned that he has debt he’s paying off monthly. I felt it was late for him to reveal that to me.

We have our own current accounts, credit cards etc. Each of us is responsible for making sure we are spending and saving responsibly. We also have expenses we are responsible for – I pay all of the child related expenses, my other half pays the home related ones. The expenses are proportionate to our incomes.
We don’t normally buy personal big ticket items but if we want to we make sure we are able to afford it.
In times such as moving into a new house etc when there a bunch of expenses, I will pay for some, other half will pay for others and we have it covered. If we put anything on our credit cards each of us is responsible for paying it off. We usually pay off credit cards and don’t carry balances. We have had this separate system for years now and it has worked for us. My parents also have such a sytem and it has worked for them as well.

I think they key is to have similar and realistic lifestyle goals.
Often young couples get in trouble because they often have no idea how much the lifestyle they aspire to really costs. They make mate and career choices that aren’t able to support the lifestyle they want to live – so, they go into debt, fight and get divorced.

Is this a generational thing? My mother was shocked to hear that I share just about every purchase/price with my husband and vice versa and run certain stuff by him pre-purchase (and vice versa). We both work hard and contribute our earnings to the family, so why would I somehow be entitled to keep purchases secret?

Since the Pakistan flood waters first hit the north west, 1,400 people have lost their lives and 3 million have been displaced. It is the worst flooding for 80 years and an estimated 27,000 people remain trapped by the floodwaters and awaiting rescue.

After two days of relief, the rains resumed, halting many of the relief efforts as roads and highways were rendered unusable by flooding or being washed out.

The major concern now is the potential spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera as conditions deteriorate further. The World Food Programme estimates that 1.8 million people are in need of food relief after their homes have been destroyed or who are unable to return to work because of the devastation.

The rains have come at the start of the monsoon season and more torrential downpours are likely throughout the next four weeks.

Several aid agencies are helping the army and government workers in the relief efforts such as UNICEF, Save the Children and Oxfam. All agencies can receive donations online, Oxfam’s Pakistan Flood Relief Appeal can be found by following the link.