Check, please!

When we decided to get married, both Chad and I agreed that we'd prefer to just merge all our funds together and simply have a joint account. I know people have different ways of doing this - keeping two separate accounts and splitting bills, having a joint account to pay bills and keeping separate personal accounts, having joint accounts but giving "allowances" of what each spouse can spend each month for fun. Options are endless.

The joint account works just fine for us. There are only a few problems. The first is when trying to surprise each other with gifts. You either have to pay cash, or tell the other "Hey, I bought a gift for you on the credit card. Don't look at the statement or you'll see where it's from."

Gosh. That can be awfully tempting sometimes. Especially considering I'm awful with gift secrets and usually manipulate Chad into opening his gift/giving me my gift before its intended date. Sigh.

The other area that is tricky is when we go out to a dinner, movie, etc. I noticed for awhile that since waiters usually hand Chad the bill, I ended up saying "Thanks for dinner honey."

Whoa whoa whoa. Since we both have jobs, shouldn't he just as often tell me "Thanks for dinner!" Just because he signs the paper doesn't mean he is the one that paid!

So I've started to make sure I signed the check - thus prompting HIM to thank ME, or kindly reminding him, "I hope you enjoyed dinner honey. It was my $50 that paid for dinner." ;) I had decided that "his" money pays for boring stuff like car insurance and mortgage payments, while "my" money goes to fun things like vacations, presents and dinners out - you know, things that merit a "thank you!"

I don't think Chad appreciated that mindset either so now after a nice dinner out:

Me: "Thanks for dinner honey."
Chad: "No, thank you for dinner!"

Can you even believe he puts up with me?!