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Home > First Step at Co-mingling Money with My B/F

First Step at Co-mingling Money with My B/F

March 25th, 2008 at 02:13 am

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


5 Responses to “First Step at Co-mingling Money with My B/F”

  1. reflectionite Says:
    1206414097

    i agree with the exact amount issue, when bf and i buy our house i want the deposit amount to be equal. we have talked about using one income for mortgage repayments and one for living expenses, but in the end, because we could not agree on certain expenses (alcohol, rock posters etc for him, magazines for me) we decided it would be easier if, for atleast our first home, that we split everything down the middle first time round and see how it goes. this means if he wants to buy up big on imported beer, he can do it with his own money and no one feels bad!

  2. boomeyers Says:
    1206415534

    Wow! That amount of money would be a dream!

  3. Broken Arrow Says:
    1206446657

    Oh yeah, I wish I had that kind of money just hanging around. I can finally max that silly Roth and even start up a taxable investment account or beef up savings.

  4. Ima saver Says:
    1206454189

    A house down payment sounds good!!

  5. skydivingchic Says:
    1206455811

    DBF and I split everything down the middle as well - mortgage, HOA, groceries, utilites, etc. The only thing that has both our names on it is the mortgage and we each write a check for half the amount each month. This system has worked well for us for over 7 years now. We each maintain our own finances, so I don't have to answer to anyone but myself for my trips to Starbucks or the nail salon and he doesn't have to ask to buy that new motorcycle. We are both too independant to let someone else take partial control of our finances. And I strongly believe that it is extremely important for me to pull my own weight financially and be able to make it on my own if necessary.

    As for what to do with the savings, why not split it - part to a travel fund and part to a house downpayment fund?

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