Some items may be separately owned, some pooled 50-50, and some shared in proportion to how much money each contributed toward the purchase price or how much labor each put into upkeep. Expenses during the relationship. Even if you substitute margarine for butter, or vin ordinaire for Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, you must adopt a plan. We can't help you choose what you buy, but we have some suggestions of how to share expenses. Share and share alike.
Many couples have only one checking account.
They both deposit their paychecks into it and pay all household bills out of it. They figure it all evens out in the end. Several couples do this. Anytime one partner buys something for the house or pays a bill, he writes his name on the receipt and throws it into a jar. Every few months, they empty out the receipt jar and total up how much each has spent.