I’m going to take a break from the King Party saga and talk about a fun story.
B/F and I have been dating 5 years. He has, as many of you now know, two teenage sons. Our plan is to move in together once the youngest graduates from high school in two years. Although we are not talking about marriage, (we have both been married before) we do talk about being in a lifetime committed relationship.
Anyway, we recently took the first step at a joint money venture. Here’s how it happened:
About two months ago, we had a Craigslist weekend. We bought motorcycle chaps for $50 (they go for $200+ at the store new), and lacrosse equipment for youngest son for $130 (all the equipment would have cost us $800 at the store). We were very pleased with our clever purchases.
So, I started thinking….”what can we sell on Craigslist?” And, I started looking around his house. I found an outdoor fire pit that he’s had for probably 10 years and has never used it in the 5 years I have been with him. I looked it up online and found that they sell for $190 new. I created an account on Craigslist (took all of 60 seconds) and posted the item for $30. It was gone within 24 hours. Gone from our house, and 30 Bucks in our pockets. I was thinking: “Yahooo! This is fun! What else can we sell??” B/F warned me to quit looking so covetously at his household goods! LOL!
Now then, what to do with the $30? It was money for his property, but I initiated and managed the process and deal. Is it his, or is it mine? The answer, of course, is that it’s OURS. So, I suggested that he and I open a joint MM account, deposit the $30 and fund it out of our bi-weekly paychecks. We talked some more and agreed on $100 each per paycheck to be automatically deposited. This will net us a nice savings account in a year from now of $5,200+.
We talked about what the account would be used for, and the logical first answer was “vacation fund.” But, my frugal brain was saying “if we don’t touch it for two years, it will be $12k+ (with additional special deposits and interest) and THAT is now starting to sound like REAL money! Money we could use on our first home together.
Even though my B/F makes about double what I do in income, I am insisting that this account MUST be equal. If he puts in $100, I put in $100. I don’t know why, but this point is very important to me on our first financial co-mingling.
So, kinda fun, eh? Can you dream about what to do with $5,200 or $12,000?? I can dream about saving and saving and saving and saving.
Signed,
Cha-Ching! 7
First Step at Co-mingling Money with My B/F
March 25th, 2008 at 02:13 am
March 25th, 2008 at 03:01 am 1206414097
March 25th, 2008 at 03:25 am 1206415534
March 25th, 2008 at 12:04 pm 1206446657
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March 25th, 2008 at 02:36 pm 1206455811
As for what to do with the savings, why not split it - part to a travel fund and part to a house downpayment fund?