budgeting

I finally have our budget worked out after having months and months of stress about whether or not we can pay all of our bills. 


Ultimately it works out to where both my husband and I have a joint checking account where all the bills will come out of and we also have three joint savings accounts; one for trip money, one for Tristan's college savings and one as our "emergency fund" as my hubby calls it. And we will both also have our own checking accounts where our "allowance" will go each paycheck.


So our bills, which include rent, groceries, cable, internet, utilities,etc. (but not personal things like makeup, haircuts, shopping trips, etc.) will be paid directly from our joint checking account (i.e. checks or debit card) with each others knowledge of what bills are paid and which are still due, mainly so we don't think we're "helping" by paying the bills without each other knowing because in the past we ended up paying one bill twice and it would completely mess up our budget.


Then after the bills, on the 15th since my hubby is Military and that is his biggest paycheck, we put about 10% into our "emergency fund" then put 5% in both Tristan's savings and our trip savings account. 


After both the bills are paid and the savings accounts are in order, we then split up the remaining portion and transfer it into our separate checking accounts (where we can pay for our own things) and that way, we are responsible for the amount of money we spend versus how it was before we made our budget where we would just go out and buy stuff and then wonder why there was no money in the checking account.


I'm really hoping this budget goes according to plan so that all of our bills will be paid, we will start saving money (finally!) and we both can spend whatever we want. It's fair for both of us to be responsible for our own wants and it would help us learn how to live within our means as both a couple and independently.