Clawing our way to financial independence

The topic of combined finances was the first topic of discussion at wpfinance last week.

Mr W and I recently switched to a credit union, where, because of no service fees, we can each maintain seperate personal accounts AND a joint account. The personal accounts are only for a small amount if spending money each month, everything else goes through the joint account. We share debts and bill payments equally.

However, I am the money manager. I try and know how much we have at all times (or at least have a general picture). I tell Mr W how much we have, so he is more or less in the picture, but he rarely looks himself. The trouble occasionally arises if I say 'no' to him buying something because we don't have enough money. His response has been in the past was to be frustrated that we don't have enough money so he can buy whatever he wants, because he doesn't want a lot. My response to him is to get mad, and we end up arguing. Not so good.

Yesterday, he wanted something, and I wasn't making positive noises about getting it, so we left the store. He turned to me and said "I just want to be able to make the choice, just like you do, to buy something if I feel it is necessary." Wow, whole different outlook! He wants to make informed choices, rather than not knowing where the money is, and spending anyway. And granted, the item was relatively necessary for work, and it is to keep us safe (it is a knife in case one of us is attacked by a bear, and this week we are working in grizzly bear country).

This is a step forward for us sharing the financial responsibility, and means I need to let go some control, while he needs to check the bank account balance once in awhile.