Current Events > Okay math nerds, please help me out with a financial dispute with my wife.

(+) Yeah! (+)

We both have personal bank accounts and a single joint account where we deposit 80% of our income every pay day, which is roughly the same amount.

She paid for a bunch of fancy cookies on the joint account, and wants to give a quarter of them to her friend. I offered to pay for the ones that aren't going to her friend. The total was $40. She's going to deposit $10 into the joint account to cover her friend. Would I deposit $30 into the joint account even though the original purchase is 50% my money, which means I already paid $20 (50%)? Or would I pay $10 to cover the $30?

I'm admittedly terrible at math but she seems to see the joint account as somehow no one's money and doesn't count.
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Y'all are over complicating things. My wife and I just split joint purchases 50/50

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MC_BatCommander posted...

Y'all are over complicating things. My wife and I just split joint purchases 50/50

this.

I oversimplify it. My wife is stay at home. The bank accounts is just our money

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Just use one joint account. You're married and trying to figure out if you should "pay" $30 or $10

Combine everything and agree on a budget, how much to save each month, etc

What do you mean? If she paid them from the joint account shouldnt she pay you $10 for the 25% going to her friend? Whyd you offer to pay anything beyond the 50% you already paid at the onset?

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If your wife's cookie purchase results in a math problem, you might want to examine your financial system.

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marthsheretoo posted...

If your wife's cookie purchase results in a math problem, you might want to examine your financial system.

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This isn't a maths problem, this is a "how do you guys want to operate your joint account" problem.

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In this scenario that you laid out, you should be expected to pay $30 into the joint account. You each 'paid' $20 out of the joint account already, so they in a way cancel each other out. Because you offered to pay for 75%, you need to pay her back for the portion of the joint money that was hers.

This is a pretty convoluted way of doing finances.

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Just split it, dude. People have divorced over less.

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marthsheretoo posted...

If your wife's cookie purchase results in a math problem, you might want to examine your financial system.

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Oof, that's a tough one. I think you need to start by taking the partial derivative, but I'm not sure where you go from there.

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Imagine trying to nickel and dime your spouse over cookies

pay the 10$.
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Joint account definitely counts so you should owe $10

Or go buy yourself a video game with the joint money and when she comes at you tell her "no one's money"
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Just split it. Dont make a word problem out of it.

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Hi lho

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Ignoring the ridiculousness of the setup in real-world terms, and looking at this purely as a math problem, you should pay $30 back into the joint account.

Breakdown:

1. You have taken $40 out of the joint account to buy the cookies. Don't think of this like having each already paid $20. It's more like you have borrowed that money and now you each need to pay it back.
2. You agree cover 75% of the price, and your wife 25%. These values should be coming out of your individual accounts.
3. Your wife puts $10 back into the joint account, covering the loss that she has offered to repay.
4. At this point, the join account is $30 short, all of which you have agreed to cover from your own money.
5. You pay $30 back into the joint account, covering the loss you offered to pay.

In the end, the join account was charged a total of $40 for the initial purchase, and then a total of $40 was deposited back, leaving it square. $30 has come out of your personal account and $10 has come out of your wife's personal account, matching the amounts you've each agreed upon.

EDIT: Alternatively, you can look at the initial purchase as if each of you has paid $20 for the cookies. In this case, your wife has over-paid by $10 and you have under-paid by $10. Give your wife's personal account $10 out of your own personal account to fix this.

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Cleo_II posted...

Imagine trying to nickel and dime your spouse over cookies

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Setting up your dxdy variables isn't worth it over cookies.

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I found in my past marriage and relationships etc. That it was slightly easier to deposit all wages and income into one account, all bills and savings come out of that account then we would take out a set and equal amount each per month for messing about and wasting on shite we didn't need but just wanted, 200 each was a decent amount to have to piss up a wall in a month.

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