My wife and I have always had a joint account, we each know what comes in and regularly discuss our outgoings and things we might need to buy in the future. Plus, how best to tackle any financial commitments we have. Working as a team means we have no secrets, we try our best not to impulse buy and my wife’s main indulgence which is days out with the kids I do my best to keep a tight rein on. But neither of us smoke and we don’t spend much on alcohol. Additionally, we don’t spend excessively on clothes, just what we need to get by. It help’s when your both of the same mindset, it means we are not in conflict about our finances.

Hidden Debt

Reading this blog post on the Ferratum website about opening the conversation about finances I find it quite alarming that 42% of those surveyed have hidden debt that their partner, friends or family don’t know about. If anything my wife is an over sharer. I don’t need to worry about it with her she would tell the postman how much (or little) is in the bank account. When we got together over 10 years ago she sat me down and literally went through my bank accounts with a fine-tooth comb. She was determined we would start life as a couple in the best financial situation we could. She wouldn’t to know exactly what we were dealing with.

Cancel Anything You Don’t Need

It was a good thing she did look too, for some reason I had two mobile phones. What a crazy waste of money with two contracts to pay out for. Still to this day I don’t know why I did that. Also, I had been paying for Sky maintenance on a Sky account I cancelled well over a year before, what a complete waste of money! That was soon rectified too.

She had been given redundancy money from her last job and had money from her bit of a house after splitting with an ex. She kindly paid off all my debts. All because she wanted us to start out fresh and have a good handle on our monthly outgoings. For that to happen she chose to get rid of any debt.

Work As A Team

I guess that’s why I don’t give her too hard a time when she goes out for lunch with her friends. Let’s be honest all those years ago she did bail me out. I have made up for it many times over now, I have worked hard and been promoted at work. Now I can earn a decent enough wage to give her a good life. When you’re a couple you’re a team and you should never hide that side of you from your partner. All you are doing is digging yourself into a bigger hole.

Come clean and discuss your problems, get any additional help you need and start to chip away at the debt. You will feel so much better for it. Some of my earlier posts much be helpful if you have to deal with mortgage arrears or want to find out ways you can cut back on what you spend.

It’s amazing what can be achieved when you pool your resources. It made sense that I wasn’t paying out lots in interest anymore when the wife had the money to hand! It had been sat in premium bonds. But she hadn’t made much at all in the time it was there. I think £20k in a year made about £240. However, I was paying out considerably more a year in interest and late payments.

It might not work for everyone, I always appreciated my chance to start over, a clean slate. But some people might take advantage of that and just rebuild up the debt, I guess it takes a lot of trust when you first get together with someone.