Family’s Budget: Individual or Common One?

When the family is not created and getting married seems to be a distant future, we think that the household‘s budget is easy to operate and plan. If you want to travel – you travel, if you want to buy something fancy – your entire salary can be spent on the most fashionable clothing. However, once we start talking about a relationship between two people, financial issues appear as well.

Each family‘s budget issues are dealt with differently. For example, on the one hand, it seems that the family is one working organism, so naturally separate funds seem uncomfortable and unnecessary. However, the individual budgets are also very common, because you don‘t have to talk with your spouse and ask for permission to buy the next pair of shoes.

So, what are these two budgets pluses and minus?

Joint budget

The classic side view of the common budget makes us think that this budget is the most fairness because in the family the most important priorities are love, trust, and respect for each other. However, the joint budget raises a number of issues in the family, which can appear due to different education, attitude to life and worlds.

Involuntary we compare, who has more “weight” in this budget, and we begin to demonstrate our supremacy and so on. This is especially noticeable when two family members earn entirely different size of salaries, and one of these people are not comfortable with that.

For example, those whose earnings are higher can start to get angry with the one who earns less because that person does not work enough to bring to the family, forgetting that the latter may have all home domestic concerns. It’s like saying, “I’m working, my part is here, and why I have to pay for you?”

Or another option – when one of the person in a couple has an expensive hobby, the another one does not agree to spend their money to meet its needs. In this case, there is a need to understand each other and know what each other want. Such needs are invisible factors which can either higher quality of the relationships or lower it.

The common budget allows spouses to manage finances together, embrace various common budget saving techniques (for example using coupons and promo codes – both online and offline) at the same time – be equal with one another. Man and his wife together decide where to spend the money, everyone has the right to express their views. Moreover, there are some shopping where want it or not, but you have to spend together – food, items for children, household products, taxes, car costs, and so on.

In short – the joint budget must be managed by both, and here you won’t do well without planning. The common budget also lets to stay financially stronger for longer.

Individual budgets

Such budget is usually characterized by families with spouses trying to be independent of each other. How much freedom and independence there is in the family, is decided by participants of a story. Managing your own money at first glance seems very convenient because the second half does not control where you are spending your money, and you don’t really need to discuss it. But on the other hand, there is a need to discuss the things that are common to both – food, taxes and everything else concerning common household.

Most importantly, separate budgets should not become the cause of conflict; there should not be a lack of support for each other and trust. For example, if you want to have your own savings, it can cause your significant another’s feeling that you do not trust him or even do not believe in relationships. Otherwise, why is this necessary?

However, such approach is not necessarily true, because other might consider such move as smart and wise. Relationships sometimes break up, the company goes bankrupt, and there are no jobs. Won’t that be good to have a little bit savings on your own?

If you want to have separate budgets, it is necessary to consider the different situations and how you deal with them. For example, it is worth considering having a semi-common and semi-individual budget planning. For example, food, fees, travel, entertainment and everything else that is needed for the family can be purchased together. You estimate the approximate amount you spend on these matters, and then every month you know how much you will need to throw into a joint budget pot.

For example, you create a special envelope or a jar dedicated to travel and incidental expenses and share half the cost of food and public utility charges, as well as loans (if any). Or one pays, for one thing, the other one – for another. And then it comes to your needs and hobbies (studies, clubs, clothing and so on) each spends their money on that without another spouse’s agreement and consideration. This way everyone can deal with their money as they like, but also contribute to the family budget.