good evening Maidens living in Reiwa.
This time, I would like to talk about serious money for people who are living together as a couple nationwide, and for you who are planning to live together from now on. To put it bluntly , I would like to talk about the question, "How should I manage my money?"
I understand. I completely understand.
Thinking about money is scary. If possible, I would like to ignore such topics brilliantly, drink milk tea, do yoga, and watch popular dramas on Netflix.
However. But it is.
There is also a scary word that the cut of gold is the cut of the edge. Neglecting it can lead to a sad ending. That's why I think it's important not to run away from money because it's an era like this.
To put it the other way around, isn't it possible to maintain a relationship just by thinking seriously about money? That love will last. When you think about it, it might not even be worth it. Let's think about it for a moment, timidly.
How do you pay your monthly fixed expenses? Ideas to split spending
Here we share some ideas for splitting your monthly expenses. Of course there are as many ways as there are couples. There is no correct answer. I would appreciate it if you could refer to even one of them.
The fixed cost mentioned here is
・Rent, common service fee
・Electricity, gas, water, internet charges
That's what I mean.
To be more specific, there are management union fees, Netflix fees, NHK fee collection, neighborhood association fees, renewal fees, fees paid to the rent guarantee company, and so on. However, for the time being, I will roughly refer to "money that is required every month".
Calculate the amount of money spent and split the bill each month
The first is to split the bill in half.
There may be the Edokko style of counting roughly, "64,000 yen is fine!", or the Naoki Hanzawa style of calculating to the nearest yen with a calculator in hand.
The important thing is who will do the calculations. Unexpectedly, it's a troublesome task to line up and calculate bills every month.
This can be a monthly shift system, or it can be a collaborative effort. It would be fun to make it into an event.
I want you to think about it once, if either of you decides to take over . It will be a decent amount of work, so if the person who didn't calculate it pays more money or pays for housework and meals on that day, you may be able to prevent trouble.
Roughly split the bill and pay a fixed amount each month
When everything is troublesome, it may be better to go roughly.
First, we calculated the fixed costs and agreed that if we each paid 70,000 yen each, we would be able to cover it .
In that case, you will have some money left over each month. How about putting that money in a "shared wallet" and using it for daily necessities and dating expenses?
I would say this is a pretty easy way to do it. By the way, electricity and gas bills change depending on the usage rate of air conditioners and baths, so you may want to adjust the amount for each season.
Share the rent with yourself and the other person with the cost of XX
Here's how to split your payments. If you try to divide roughly half and half, will it be divided into two, "rent and other fixed expenses"?
As a merit, there is no money transfer between two people, so it is comfortable . Honestly, I don't want to talk about money again and again.
The downside is that it is not exactly split in half . In most cases, the person who pays the rent will pay more. If you look only at the financial side, it becomes unfair.
It is necessary to recover the difference, such as whether to pay the difference (after all, you will have to exchange money) or to make up for it with work such as housework.
Consolidate into either credit card or cashless payment
Here are some ideas for payment.
It means that all expenses will be combined into a withdrawal from either credit card or cashless payment. It will make it easier for you to keep track of your fixed monthly expenses.
From there, the partner will be billed for half the price. It can be said that this is also a Reiwa money hack that saves the trouble of calculating.
Oh, unexpectedly, points are accumulated, so it is a miso that there is also an advantage for the paying side .
create a joint account
It would also be easier to open a common bank account. Each person puts in the same amount and withdraws from there every month. This will be a fair.
Regarding this, the style will be divided depending on whether you transfer a fixed amount to the joint account before monthly payment or transfer a large amount at the beginning.
The former requires more time and effort, and the latter requires a large amount of money. I would like to discuss and decide the best way.
Is it fair to just split it in half?
Let me go a little deeper.
I just introduced an idea to divide fixed costs in half. However, I think that being fair is different from being neatly split . At least there should be different kinds of fairness.
・Method to calculate so that each half is exactly equal ・
Calculation method to decide according to income ・Calculation method to decide according to
room usage and area
・Calculation method to decide distribution according to division of housework
There are other distribution methods as well.
It doesn't mean which one is correct. However, if you are going to live together—the ideal should be to live in peace for a long time—I want it to be fair and acceptable to both parties.
Again, there are many fairnesses.
What is a fair for two people? Because I'm looking for it. This may also be a bit of a Reiwa-like way of thinking.
Cohabitation is a team game. let's share roles
In the first place, money management is something that is divided into good and bad .
each human being. Some people can smile just because their bank account numbers are swelling, while others are strong-style people who don't have overnight money.
Then, in the case of cohabitation, is it okay to leave the management of money to someone who is good at it?
In conclusion, I think it's basically OK.
Fixed costs (the money we are dealing with this time) are money that must be managed. Someone in control should do it.
You might think of cohabitation as a team game. Not everyone needs to be able to do everything. Because there are strengths and weaknesses. A good performance is possible because each role is divided—this is the real pleasure of being a team.
If you are not good at managing money, try to make your cohabitation a "wonderful life" by doing housework, driving a car, making coffee, making your partner laugh to death, and other things. I think it's good .
Let's talk without running away because it's an important story with an important person
This may be the important thing here.
We shared various payment ideas. How do you decide how to do that without getting into a fight with your partner? There is no ex or child if it becomes a fight in the discussion for cohabitation.
I will tell you something very important here.
For us, "talking about money is very stressful." Because you have to think realistically about income, future, reality, benefits and disadvantages. You may become emotional because you are afraid to talk about money.
You must have had the experience of having a scary look on your face, saying, "You're talking about money...". Even at the beginning of this column, I think she started talking after carefully declining the offer.
But we shouldn't run away from thinking about money.
Well, everyone is scared.
If possible, I don't want to think about money, but I think it's necessary to have the courage to be with the person you love for the rest of your life.
I hope that your cohabitation will be a happy one.