| Since I was already off work yesterday because Pumpkinhead was sick and had to go to the doctor’s office, Mr. V and I decided to hit the bank and take yet another step in our relationship. We opened up a joint account. I think this is a good thing. Mr. V is really good at tracking all of his expenses in Quicken. I’m really good at making sure the bills get paid. And, in the wise words of Michelle Singletary:
Landover, Md.: The old saints have said that when you marry you should have a joint account for household and family expenses; and each spouse should have their own for personal use; and have a 2nd personal account with a little secret stash of Mad $ or whatever for yourself. Does that still fit for today’s times?
Michelle Singletary: Old saints were wrong.
I encourage joint accounts and full disclosure. If you want to keep so much separate and spend the way you want then this new saint says stay single. You want a roommate not a lifetime mate.
That said, we are still each going to have our own “mad money”. Plus Mr. V has his business account because he is a small business owner. But money was a huge issue in my marriage. Chapin had a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and even though he was convinced he carried me throughout the marriage (even though I always made twice his salary), he would usually refuse to help or know what was happening and then freak out about once a year over how I was handling things (usually when he wanted to buy a big ticket item and it wasn’t in our budget).
Anyway, no, there’s no ring but we are sharing a house and planning a future and having a joint account at least for the main household bills makes good practical sense.
That is great news because it means I can replenish the tenants’ deposit I dipped into to cover some unexpected end-of-year root canal expenses. 
I also have to check my credit report because even though we dropped my name from his credit cards and his name from mine and got confirmation from the card companies, I want to be sure that they don’t start going after me now that he’s decided he is giving up on everything but the car payment and rent because he “can’t afford it.” Sigh… Last thing I need is a credit report in the toilet.
$140 and 45 minutes later we were on our way to daycare… where I found out that “fully covered” really means “fully covered for all teacher inservice days and other school days off… except Thanksgiving and Christmas, during which you will pay out your nose for our loving care.” That was a nice little surprise. I am taking the day off and heading back to bed. I have not finished my schoolwork. I have not finished my work-work. Don’t care right now. Went to bed at 2 a.m. Must. Sleep. Immediately.
