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Mrs. Elephant, Dallas, TX Age and Occupation: 27, Financial Operations Analyst Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, IT Student/Store Manager Engagement Date: March 29, 2009 Wedding Date: April 2011 Venue: The Tribute Golf Club About Me: I'm a Philly native creating roots deep in the heart of Texas. I might be a little obsessed capturing those Kodak moments of anything and everything (mainly on vacations). I've become more of a gamer thanks to Mr. Elephant, who I met online and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. We are planning a wedding based on our favorite colors, blue and green, with a travel theme for 150 of our closest friends and family. Hopefully our long (2-year) engagement won't kill me!
About Mrs. Elephant

Mo Money, Mo Problems?

November 4th, 2010 @ 3:27 pm by Mrs. Elephant

I don’t know about you, but I would like to test out that theory that more money results in more problems. Scratch that—just give me the money and skip the problems. :)

I love numbers! Math was my favorite class in school and lead to my finance degree. No matter what my living situation was out of college (with a roommate or on my own) I was always the one to do the bills. When Mr. E moved in he was more than happy to allow me to continue to deal with all of that.

In the beginning Mr. E had an account with another bank, and did not have any checks so he would always take out money for his half of the bills and I would deposit it into mine. This routine got pretty old pretty fast, with the all the trips to the bank, so I suggested that he get an account at my bank so we could transfer money online. Well as luck would have it, my bank purchased his, so new bank account it was! At this point we had the big talk on how we wanted to set up our finances.

I don’t know why, but I wasn’t ready to have everything together.

And wouldn’t you know, neither was Mr. E. We decided to set up a “yours, mine and ours” deal where we each have our own checking and savings accounts and together we share another checking account. At first that shared checking account’s sole purpose was for bill transfers. Once we were engaged it became the wedding fund that we would deposit into every month. After the wedding we plan on using this joint account as our main account, depositing most of our paychecks into it and paying all of our bills. We still like the idea of having our own separate “petty cash” accounts so we can surprise each other with gifts, or make those Coach purse & video game purchases without worrying. I love that we were able to come up with a plan that worked for both of us, and in the end we will slowly transition into “our” money.

What are your plans when it comes to combining finances? Are there any other number lovers out there? Seriously, give me a spreadsheet and numbers at work and I’m a happy camper.

Tags: budget, dallas |
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20 Responses to “Mo Money, Mo Problems?”

1.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Starfish (message)  1,926 posts, Buzzing bee

A girl after my own heart! I am in my glory when it comes to spreadsheets. I actually enjoyed the budgeting process of the wedding. Mr. S and I always thought we’d go joint, but with our “your, mine and ours accounts” things are going perfect. We’ve had it this way for a few years. I’ve heard it’s good to have a second name on your account in case anything happens, so we are considering adding each other to our own accounts, but we’ve been kind of lazy about it.

 
2.
future.mrs.v
Member
future.mrs.v (message)  358 posts, Helper bee

“… or make those Coach purse & video game purchases without worrying.” omg, you totally just described mr.v and me, haha! and yes, i love numbers too! :D

 
3.
Member
R.Elliott (message)  1,011 posts, Bumble bee

I love spreadsheets!! Ever since we moved in together in the summer of 2009 we’ve had our own separate checking/savings account and one joint checking/savings. We put our joint savings in a money market account that’s low risk but gives us a little more return on our investment.

He’s the finance major, not I. But I love tracking my own personal expenses. He’s in charge of the big ones.

 
4.
Miss 1Cent
Member
Miss 1Cent (message)  168 posts, Blushing bee

We lived together for 2 years before combining funds (and getting engaged). I too wasn’t ready yet for the whole sharing thing haha. We combined savings b/c my account had the best interest rate, but other than that we have seperate checkings & one joint checking strictly for rent/bills. Saves us from so many fights I think. When we have kids I think we’ll combine 100%.

 
5.
Charcole2011
Member
Charcole2011 (message)  298 posts, Helper bee

we are planning to take the same approach, although I think we are waiting until the wedding to create the joint account, even though we’ve lived together for 2 years. not really sure why, to be honest, haha. I do like the idea of having a joint account for the wedding fund, so perhaps I’ll bring that up - seems like an easy way to slowly transition to that joint account. I also loved the “Coach purse and video game comment” - so us as well!! =)

 
6.
chrispygal
Member
chrispygal (message)  1,198 posts, Bumble bee

We haven’t really made a decision on the money thing. We freely give money back and forth and all the wedding savings is in my account even though he’s giving me 50% of it. I like the idea of a joint account, but still keeping some separate money that way different spending habits don’t cause fights. We’ve just been lazy about doing anything so far, that’s all.

 
7.
Tralala
Member
Tralala (message)  113 posts, Blushing bee

We talked about this as part of our premarital counseling. One of the questions was “Who will pay bills?” FI is very good with numbers and much more, um, frugal than I am… but there was a silence when I asked him. I said “Well, I’m the accounting major, how ’bout I do them?”And he breathed a sigh of relief.

We’ll have a main account for most things, plus small side accounts in case there’s fraudulent activity that locks our main account (and for presents). I’ll do the bills (which are simple, and mostly online anyway), and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

 
8.
tocarat
Member
tocarat (message)  324 posts, Helper bee

We have the same set up as you and it works great. I’m a numbers person also, being a financial advisor. Which also means, Im the one that pays the bills and all the good stuff :)

 
9.
bRooklynRocks
Member
bRooklynRocks (message)  3,769 posts, Honey bee

You lost me at math :(

 
10.
feministbride
Member
feministbride (message)  283 posts, Helper bee

I’m with you lady. I’m a huge proponent of the “yours, mine, ours” philosophy when it comes to marital finances. I can’t imagine a time when we will ever have ONLY joint accounts!

 
11.
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Bee
Mrs. Trail Mix (message)  6,329 posts, Bee Keeper

This is super-smart, we did something similar! Definetly the best of both worlds…

 
12.
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Bee
Mrs. Glasses (message)  2,741 posts, Sugar bee

We definitely did something similar to this, although with both of us being unemployed at the moment, we don’t have any petty cash we can spend and so we only have one joint checking account. I think it really is the fairest way to go!

 
13.
clane616
Member
clane616 (message)  674 posts, Busy bee

We will definitely be a “yours, mine, ours” couple. We live together right now but won’t put the other name on accounts until after the wedding. His savings account is being used for our wedding savings because I’m less likely to touch it if I can’t access it :-)

 
14.
MissCarolyn
Member
MissCarolyn (message)  65 posts, Worker bee

This is exactly how our system works and I love it! It’s so nice to have my own checking account and not have to justify every little purchase…

Although the funny thing is that I’m the numbers person with a math degree, yet my FH does the bills and bank transfers. I like to think it’s because when I get home from work, the last I want to do is play with more numbers!

 
15.
Miss Elephant
Bee
Miss Elephant (message)  6,182 posts, Bee Keeper

@Tralala: The part on fraud activity is something I never thought of, but is so smart!

 
16.
Miss Giraffe
Bee
Miss Giraffe (message)  4,219 posts, Honey bee

Shut up, elephant! This was totally the title of a post I have planned! Ahhhh!

Anyway, we plan on having a large savings combined and each having a smaller checking account.

 
17.
Miss Elephant
Bee
Miss Elephant (message)  6,182 posts, Bee Keeper

@Miss Giraffe: Great minds think alike?? :)

 
18.
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Mrs. Elephant
Mrs. Elephant

Mrs. Elephant, Dallas, TX Age and Occupation: 27, Financial Operations Analyst Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, IT Student/Store Manager Engagement Date: March 29, 2009 Wedding Date: April 2011 Venue: The Tribute Golf Club About Me: I'm a Philly native creating roots deep in the heart of Texas. I might be a little obsessed capturing those Kodak moments of anything and everything (mainly on vacations). I've become more of a gamer thanks to Mr. Elephant, who I met online and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. We are planning a wedding based on our favorite colors, blue and green, with a travel theme for 150 of our closest friends and family. Hopefully our long (2-year) engagement won't kill me!

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