Who in your family takes care of the bills? - Page 6

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

I am the efficient one in the family and the one who believes in a place for everything and everything in its place, including the incoming bills.

We split up chores when we first got married and I've taken care of the bills and paperwork ever since. Plus, DH is absolutely NG trying to settle problems with straighting out an error a company has made. I always know when we have been overcharged and I always get it fixed.

I pay the bills, DH puts copies of his checks in my chekcbook and adds it all up and cecks it with the bank statement. Works for us.

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

DH and I have been married 37 years this year....I have always paid the bills at home but we are also self employed (our entire marriage) and he paid the bills at the office when the business was new and we were not overly busy.

Over the years as the business grew I took over bill paying at the office, so he could focus more on things pertaining to the business, but I could easily hand it back to him as sadly, business is not what it used to be.

I like paying the bills and keeping things in order, I know exactly where everything is in case something comes into question...

LyndaGee · ‎03-11-2010

Me! I'm the organized member of the family.

september · ‎03-09-2010

I take care of everything, including the tax organizer that we turn over to our accountants every year.

shoekitty · ‎03-10-2010

I always took care of the bills, the household, everything but go to work with him and do his job, LOL! He took care of the house. Fixing stuff, and the yard. The 6 years ago we got a gardener, and then we started to hire out to do work at the home. Two years ago I slowly started having him do the bills. He is an aero space engineer`, and is a little ...shall be say OCD about a job when he is in charge. He does the best job, and I am thrilled! He keeps everything in a binder, by year. Each bill has a clear plastic sleeve. He has a notebook with details of every conversation, the names of agents, dates, etc Binders are organized by appliances, machines, cars, household bills, medical, etc.When I want to see instructions on the oven or an appliance we bought 20 years, there it is ...in alphabetical order, in the binder. Then periodically he goes through and cleans out folders, shreds, etc. His checkbook is a work of art.

I still get taxes ready, hand him the folder and we go together. I went to CPA alone for 15 years. It is nice to have that job off my back!

chihuahuamom · ‎06-25-2015

Thank you Cakers. He has Alzheimers and is in a memory care facility. Even though I always took care of our financial matters, I have still learned a lot since he got sick four years ago. I went through a conservatorship, house sale, bank decisions and set-ups, etc. Some mistakes along the way, but I am much smarter than before. I am ready now. though. to slow down and focus on my DH's health.

P.S. It's so important for women to know how to deal with financial things these days with things so complicated. I never dreamed my DH would get this awful disease, and I would be left to cope with everything. If I had never even written a check, what would I do?

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

@chihuahuamom wrote:
I am guessing many of the women do. I have always done the financial part of our marriage, and I do enjoy it. Because of my DH's unexpected illness and his early retirement, I have gotten very very specific with our budget (had to). I guess that is what prompted this question-I just finished bills for this second part of the month. I account for almost every penny.

I KNOW from working for over 30 years with only men? Heck, most of them couldn't tell you what a loaf of bread costs, much less their monthly utility bills, or even their mortgage payment. I agree with you it is primarily the ladies.

For me, I have pretty much taken care of my money and bills starting at a very young age. Right now most of our regular monthly bills come out of my checking account. I set them all on Auto-Pay Withdraw.

My wife takes care of the grocery/pet/vet/gas for vehicles and those types of things. With the Auto-Pay it makes paying monthly or quarterly bills much easier for me than in past years and decades.

I think this type of math/money in/money out, should be mandatory classes in high schools or even junior high(or whatever name they are calling it now). And some wonder why so many don't have a clue about bills?

Were it up to me I would make those classes mandatory along with every other facet of being independent and able to take care of yourself when you reach adulthood, which is age 18.

That is my overly long speel on/money-in/money-out, and understanding how to keep the boat above the water.

hckynut(john)

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@Karnerblue wrote:
I guess I am the odd one out. He has his account and his money is his. I pay my own bills. I have never had access to his account(s). I have no idea how much he earns. He does not share that information. It's been that way for 25 years.

If you file a joint tax return every year, the information is right there. It wouldn't hurt to have the conversation about what you should do in the case of unexpected disability or death. Hey, it happens all the time and being completely in the dark is NOT a good thing. You have stated that he can be "mean", but you're in a very vulnerable position. It wouldn't hurt to try to shift things .... even a little.

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
I do. DH doesn't even know how to write a check. If something happened to me, he would be the lost one. He grew up with his parents driving around all over the city paying bills in person. If it were up to him, he'd still be trying to do that.

I pay absolutely everything I can on-line and all of the bills are sent to me on-line. The only bill we get mailed to us is for the alarm company monitoring because they are a small, local company and don't do on-line billing nor do they accept credit/debit card payments so I have to send them a check.

I know it's true, but I can't believe anyone ever did that!