Hello everyone. This is my first post here. My wife (24F) and I (28M) have started to have a disagreement on our finances.
I have an accounting job making 80k and she is a teacher making 50k. Last year we decided to break down our finances and contribute to bills based off the percent of income we bring in. For example, I cover ~60% of our bills from my check while hers covers the rest. We have a separate checking account to cover all necessities.
We then each put 30% of what’s left after bills are paid into a joint savings. The remainder is left for us to spend how we please.
This was agreed upon a year ago as she has a bad habit of spending if she sees money in her account. We used to have one joint checking for all spending.
Last night she realized that I get more money than her to spend. I thought that was understood and became very upset. She says her reasoning was because she spends her money on groceries and house things, so she hardly ever has money for herself and it’s not fair (groceries are budgeted for our bills account).
She wants all remaining money to be split 50/50. I’m not a huge fan for a few reasons.
1. She’ll spend every cent if it’s in her account
2. I pay for everything when we go out (restaurants and entertainment aren’t budgeted for as they aren’t necessities). I don’t mind because I do have more money in “my” account.
3. While it is our money, I hate seeing it spent on baskets and a 12th mirror for our house or things “I could find a use for that.”
She said “I thought what’s mine is yours and vice versa applied to our marriage. But apparently not money.” That part was irritating. I even took a side gig coaching for extra cash.
We’re by no means poor, but payments on our new house and her recently purchased car are expensive. I’m just not sure how to proceed.
tl;dr
wife wants more spending money and it’s causing issues