I suggest you don't do this unless you both suffer from OCD.
It will lead to disharmony and discord because no matter how hard you try there is never true "equality" in any relationship. Instead, live, love, enjoy and support each other. Do things together and don't worry about who's wallet it comes from. Do something every day to show your partner how much you appreciate the fact they are in your life, and don't expect them to pay half.
At the end of your life where the money came from won't be important, but if you make it important now it will kill the relationship.
If you insist on doing this, then stick to the major fixed expenses like rent/mortgage and insurance. And then, prepare to be flexible on these targets because life will intervene and there will be times when you or your partner will not be able to meet them, and trying to reduce these events to a spreadsheet or financial program will only make bad situations more toxic.
Sure, your partner needs to contribute to the other, variable expenses. And you need to talk about it if you don't feel they are doing their part. This will be a continuing and recurring process. But if you start trying to reduce those things to a fixed mathematical construct then you will find yourself on the road to frustration.
I will give you just one example: Grocery budget. Sure, you can set a figure and stipulate that each partner pays 50% (or a percentage based upon respective incomes...but on that path lies madness). But what if you eat 7 eggs out of the dozen? Or your partner drinks three glasses of wine to your one? Do you then go back and recalculate the value of "contributing equally"? What if your tracking of these things has greater granularity than your partner's?
If you insist on reducing every household expenditure to a set distribution pattern your partnership becomes a business. Is that what you want out of a personal relationship?
RBM On 05/04/2018 02:13 AM, Gio Bacareza wrote:
Hi, My partner and I are moving in together and we'd like to share expenses like groceries, rent, etc. So we'd like to track expenses as well as our appropriate contributions to make sure that we both are contributing equally to house expenses. How should I set up the contribution? Under what main account type should it be? Any recommendations?
_______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
