[speaker001:] so uh how do you go about doing household finances
[speaker002:] pretty loosely I don't have a I've never have a
[speaker001:] yeah me too
[speaker002:] had a tremendously organized budget I've you know kind of know how much the monthly bills are by you know looking at the previous month and I know about what the minimum payments are so I just kind of put it down on paper and and estimate but as far as actually having a real tight uh organized budget that you stay within I've I've just always kind of freelanced as far as that goes
[speaker001:] boy me too it's uh fly by the seat of my pants uh in the old days when my wife and I both worked we we probably a little bit more organized with it because we would divide up the bills she had her own checking account and she would take responsibility for paying so many bills and I had my own and I would take responsibility for so many and and generally entertainment expense so uh everything seemed to work out pretty smoothly but uh that was for about the first uh eighteen years of our marriage then she dropped out of the work force and uh we we have two children both under four so uh
[speaker002:] oh wow
[speaker001:] I I've taken total responsibility but I guess I haven't taken
[speaker002:] you've got two now under four
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] wow
[speaker001:] they'll be yeah they'll be uh four and two in April respectively
[speaker002:] I've got a senior in high school who's just just getting out in May
[speaker001:] we're probably the same age
[speaker002:] yeah I'm forty four
[speaker001:] forty two yeah most most of my friends have uh children uh you who are having children it seems like
[speaker002:] and
[speaker001:] but uh we
[speaker002:] we actually ran one checkbook with I mean one account with two checkbooks off the same account for a long for a long time
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but that's real dangerous when one is supposed to make a deposit and doesn't or or writes an extra couple of checks and either forgets to tell the other one about it or something you know so we finally switched to
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] the two method too it seemed to work better
[speaker001:] yeah I think when uh uh when we were both running separate checking accounts I think there was uh more of a sense of respectful responsibility uh it almost demanded coordination in splitting up bills and stuff
[speaker002:] oh sure
[speaker001:] now it's my paycheck I put it in and I pay the bills and uh uh it doesn't I'm not being critical but my wife kind of has the sense that the checkbook is just a blank check you know and it's unlimited funds not that she goes out and spends it unlimitedly but it's almost that attitude
[speaker002:] you still got checks you still got money right
[speaker001:] yeah right yeah that's yeah that's kind of how it comes out
[speaker002:] well we been we each have our own business and so especially once that got established it was easier for her to run her deal and me to run mine and uh not really
[speaker001:] uh  um
[speaker002:] mix the two and uh the you know bills that are if we're both paying on a certain thing like the a school tuition then one or of the other of us writes the other one a check for their portion and then one person mails it all you know to the to the bank or whoever
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] if it's something we're doing that way if it's uh if it's something that one or the other of us is handling in its entirety then then we just pay it like you do
[speaker001:] yeah well how how do you manage control uh or limit your spending or or you know do you uh in our in our case it's more of a a philosophy like you know for the next few months we're really going to watch it and we'll try try to control the big things
[speaker002:] well  uh it's kind of the way it is it's it's never been uh like my brother is organized to the n-th degree he and I are exactly opposite he's two years younger than I am and he budgets every penny he knows where every little thing is and he's a real tight wad with uh the money and I've always been a little looser
[speaker001:] um-hum  well that's how we both are
[speaker002:] and we just kind of like you say if we need to watch it we watch it and and not spend any you know big amounts of money uh during a a certain period of time if we got a little excess and decide to splurge and buy something you know then that's kind of a joint
[speaker001:] yeah we we
[speaker002:] thing too so
[speaker001:] yeah we went through a period uh well we went through six years of infertility and it uh it was expensive we were writing out checks for you know eight hundred dollar prescriptions and medical procedures and all of that
[speaker002:] oh yeah those are
[speaker001:] and my wife was working at the time so it it and most of it was you know reimbursable on insurance so we had you know big cash flow and it was a little bit of a management problem but it wasn't too difficult with the two incomes and then we got to the point where we really decided we probably couldn't have children so we sort of indulged and we uh leased some expensive cars and took a vacation yeah it
[speaker002:] that'll do it everytime you immediately get pregnant if you do that
[speaker001:] well that's what exactly what happened yeah we