My husband and I keep our finances separate and believe it’s one of the reasons our marriage has stayed strong over the years

We make big financial decisions together

When it comes to small purchases, like clothing, household items, or groceries, we both spend however much we’re comfortable spending. But when it comes to bigger purchases, usually anything over $500, we have a rule that we both have to agree before making the decision.

For example, we’re planning to move to a new apartment and need a few big-ticket furniture items like a new couch, mattress, and dresser. While we might not be able to agree on a budget for these items since I want to spend very little and my husband prioritizes quality, we have to be on the same page about an item before making the purchase. I liked a couch that was $650, and my husband liked one that was $3,250. We did some research and found one we both agreed on from a design, comfort, and price perspective for $975.

We created a shared account when we had a baby

Our split financial plan worked well until we had a baby last year. As our shared costs grew, we decided it would be easier if we had one checking account and credit card that we used only for shared costs related to the baby.

To make this easier and avoid having it be a point of contention in our relationship, we calculated how much these costs are each month and decided to each send half that amount to the checking account on the first of the month. It’s usually enough to cover the credit card bill, and any extra cash remains in that account as overflow money for future months when we might spend more.

We’ll stick to this strategy for the foreseeable future

It might seem like putting all of our money into the same account and having joint credit cards would be easier, but it wouldn’t work for us. Since I’m hyper-focused on saving, I know that analyzing every transaction my husband made would make me anxious and angry at him.

Splitting shared costs and managing our finances separately while staying transparent about our money has allowed us to avoid arguing about this topic and has kept our relationship on a strong path.