I pay my wife to do my laundry • Hacker News Board

Re: I pay my wife to do my laundry

#31

Post by radu_floricica » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 5:19 PM UTC

georgecmu wrote: post #27

radu_floricica wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd gladly pay the loss of interest rate for the added convenience of not having an excel spreadsheet which needs to be updated at every purchase.

Mint will update that spreadsheet for you.

You still have to decide who's expense each item is. I've had common accounts with my business partner for 7 years... trust me, it's bad. We're lucky we don't really care about exactly how much each of us made, because we don't know. Since changing banks a year ago and getting separate accounts things have been heavenly. We just opened a separate account to store VAT (european sales tax) and didn't even blink at the expense.

Re: I pay my wife to do my laundry

#32

Post by phamilton » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 8:19 PM UTC

My wife and I have joint finances (she's a stay at home mom), but we each have an allowance. We each get money each month that is 100% ours. We don't need to consult with each other about how it's spent. She can burn it for all I care. It gives us enough freedom to make purchases we don't agree on (unspent money rolls over, so one can save up if needed). Meanwhile, we are both very involved in all other financial decision, with all disagreements settled in favor of the more conservative party.

Re: I pay my wife to do my laundry

#33

Post by bryanlarsen » Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 3:01 PM UTC

nandemo wrote: post #12

petercooper wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They must be very trusting (or have typically financially literate wives). If I were to do this, it'd confirm the worst: I'd gone insane.. :-)

In Japan that's the default. Wife takes care of the budget and gives a monthly "allowance" to the husband. I don't know what you mean by financially literate, but they don't have to know much about investments or interest rates. Their job is to set a budget and stick to it every month. Most people will avoid getting deep into debt except for large purchases such as a house or a car, and savings account's interest rat…

When I was in Japan, it was common for the married guys to buy the single guys lunch. The single guys would then repay the married guys in beer later. Lunch came off the paycheque automatically before the wife got the money, whereas beer came out of the allowance.