It’s an exciting time of your life. You’ve had your years of freedom and independence, now you’ve made the decision to get married or live with your partner. It’s an exciting time of your life. It is also a big step, and it will likely change your finances.
Will living with your partner cost you more money? Cashfloat, direct lender payday loans, finds out.
We will look at budgeting for couples who are setting up home together, and explain the different ways of organising your finances. We will also highlight the most common pitfalls to watch out for.
Article highlights
- (Spoiler alert) Living together and paying joint bills can save money
- How to save from joint expenses in case of emergencies
Be upfront and honest with each other
It’s crucial that you talk about finances before you rent a place or take out a mortgage together. The nature of these financial agreements means you’ll be legally liable for the total amount if they are unable to pay.
You should have an idea of what kind of person your partner is. You need to know what their attitude to money is, and this includes their spending habits. If a certain recklessness felt like a quirk in their nature before, it will feel more serious when you share a home together.
Being up-front at the very beginning will prevent arguments and unpleasant surprises further down the line. This might require compromise and a willingness to understand the other person’s attitude to money. If it is necessary, you may need to change your own approach. An element of trust is also essential. If that doesn’t exist, you should question whether moving in together is the right thing to do.
Later on, keep on talking regularly and openly about money, and don’t keep secrets from one another about how much you spent on something. Lying about money can undermine the trust you feel in each other.
Get your finances organised
There are many ways you can organise your finances together. They all have their pros and cons and none of them is the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way. It’s a question of what works best for you and your partner bearing in mind your character, attitudes to money and your personal circumstances. Let’s look at the different possibilities.
Maintaining separate accounts
Setting up joint accounts
Operating both separate and joint accounts
You may decide to retain separate bank accounts and split all bills as they come in. This division could be on a 50-50 basis straight down the middle. You could work it out in proportion to your relative income, especially if one of you is earning significantly more than the other.
You may make the decision to share both your current and savings accounts. This works especially well if you have similar spending habits, behaviour and habits. To prevent possible arguments, you may want to agree on a spending limit for individual purchases. In other words, if one of you wishes to spend over this limit, the decision should be discussed jointly beforehand. This will prevent possible feelings of resentment about the unfairness of one of you spending more than the other.
As a compromise between the two methods described above, you might choose to open a joint bank account to cover your household bills and deposit a set amount into it every month by direct debit. This would ensure that you both pay your priority bills on time. However, you’d retain your own separate account which you can use for your individual personal expenses.
What if my partner has a poor credit rating?
If your partner has a lower credit score, the fact that you’re sharing an address with them won’t affect your own credit rating. However, as soon as you take out a financial product together such as open a joint bank account, it will have an impact on you. If this is the case, you may want to wait until they’ve improved their credit score before you take this step.
Top tip! Keep all your paperwork in the same place. In order to make it easier for you both to understand your financial situation at a glance, you should ensure that you keep all relevant paperwork such as bills and bank statements in the same place. Whether this is a drawer, cupboard or in a document case, it doesn’t matter as long as it is organised. Both of you should know where the documents are and be able to find them without hassle.
How to create a household budget together
Before you put a budget in place, you should have an idea of how much your expenses are, both as a couple and as an individual. You might need at least three months to get a clearer picture. For instance, how much utility bills are on average, and how they vary according to the season.
Keep track of your spending for at least 30 days. This can be done by jotting down everything you buy and keeping the receipts. Not only will this method give you an overview of your spending habits but it’ll also shock you into changing some of your bad habits and give you ideas on how to economise. For instance, if your daily takeaway coffee ends up costing you £60 a month, you might choose to cut down and free that cash for more worthwhile purchases.
Living with another person generally reduces or shares the cost of rent, a mortgage, and household bills. You’ll be able to make savings on every aspect of your budget (except for the council tax, because there will be no single person discount anymore). However, this doesn’t mean that you should increase your personal spending to make up for it. Instead, you should use this opportunity to do two things:
- Pay off any debts you’ve accumulated on credit cards
- Put some money aside for your future.
When paying off your debts, you can do one of two things. You can concentrate on small amounts so that you feel a sense of achievement as the debts reduce in number. Secondly, you can choose to reduce the debts with the highest interest rate. This way you’ll save money on interest costs.
We recommend allocating a monthly sum of money for saving. If you put by whatever you have left in your current account at the end of the month, you’ll never manage to save much. Instead, you ought to transfer a specific amount by direct debit as soon as you get paid. This will give you the incentive to economise since you won’t have that amount available to spend. Otherwise you might have to rely on taking out short term loans.
Moving in together will give you the chance to think about where you see yourself in five or ten years time. Whether you plan to buy a property or have a child, all of these long-term goals need you to make a serious commitment to saving. You won’t be able to save until you have a budget in place.
Set a realistic household budget
Once you’ve kept records for at least three months, you’re ready to set down a more reliable and realistic budget. Start with your priority bills, which are rent or mortgage payments, utility bills including council tax, phone and internet bills, your supermarket bills and any insurance policies you may have.
Other categories include clothing, and transport and commuting costs, including the expenses associated with a vehicle or commuting costs. Then your entertainment and leisure costs, such as gym and club memberships, streaming services and books.
The general guideline for how much you spend is the 50-20-30 Rule. In other words, 50% for priority debts and living expenses, 20% for savings and 30% for your personal expenditure. You may find that your budget differs slightly according to circumstances, but it’s a good rule to keep in mind.
Common pitfalls
Budgeting isn’t an exact science, it needs patience. You should allow time for a general reappraisal at least every three months. As your personal and financial circumstances change, your budget may need to adapt as well. Discussing this as a couple will prevent arguments and stop any serious problems developing. If you see it isn’t working, make changes rather than abandoning the budget.
The other reason why people’s budgets don’t work out is that people don’t put money aside for an emergency. Ideally, you should have at least 3-6 months’ salary put away in case of the unexpected. Together you must decide what an emergency is and decide jointly when to break into this fund. Urgent repairs to the car would be classified an emergency. Set limits beforehand to avoid quarrels, and the need to take out instant decision payday loans.
One common pitfall that people often make is that they forget how much popular celebrations like Christmas cost. A piece of financial advice for couples would be to include it in your budget as a separate category so you can pay for it gradually over the year. You might agree extra expenses come out of your savings account.
When starting your shared life together, an honest and open dialogue about money, and a well-organised budget to prevent arguments. The alternative is conflicting attitudes, which might undermine your entire relationship and could even lead to separation.
A budget can save you money; not only will you examine your own spending habits but provision for a rainy day will mean you won’t resort to high-interest quick loan when faced with an emergency. As a result, you’ll be in a healthier financial situation and be able to achieve your goals for a shared future together. .
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