Couples and families.
Two pays, one household and a lot of small decisions about who pays for what. Or one pay stretched across a whole family.
These guides compare the common ways to split bills and set up accounts, and show the sums for parental leave and single-income homes.
Sharing money as a couple
- How do we split bills fairly when one of us earns more?
The three common ways couples split shared bills, worked through with real numbers, so you can pick the one that feels fair to both of you.
6 min read
- Joint or separate accounts? And how much fun money should we each get?
All joint, all separate, or a mix? How each setup works, what a joint account really means, and how to set fair fun money for each of you.
7 min read
- We get paid on different days. How do we run one budget?
One of you is paid weekly, the other fortnightly, or on different weeks. How to work out fair transfers and keep the joint account from running short.
6 min read
Setting up your accounts
- Can we use offset accounts as budget buckets?
How an offset account cuts home loan interest, with a worked example, and why splitting money into several offset buckets saves the same amount.
7 min read
- How much buffer should sit in our bills account?
Why a bills account can still go negative with the right transfer, and a simple way to find your lowest point and set a buffer that covers it.
6 min read
When life changes
- How do we budget when one of us goes on parental leave?
Map your income through paid leave, Parental Leave Pay and unpaid leave, re-split the bills fairly and work out how big a leave fund you need.
8 min read
- How do I budget as a single parent on one income?
How to build a fortnightly budget on one income: what to count as reliable, where child support goes, and how to plan for the lumpy bills.
7 min read
Start with the free pay check.
Type in one fortnight's pay and bills and see where it all goes. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.