A couple's five numbers
If you don't know how much the other one makes, you're not really a couple: you're roommates. And no, you don't have to show everything. You need five numbers. Blue's and Orange's are filled in; swap in yours.
What each of you takes home
What lands in your account each month, after taxes.
Between the two of you: $3,500 a month
The fixed household costs
Rent or mortgage, electricity, water, internet, groceries… what the home costs each month.
Each of you puts in the same share of what you take home: whoever earns more puts in more.
60% of the home
40% of the home
The payments each of you already had
A car loan, another loan, support payments… What each of you was already paying before you were a couple. It goes on its own: it doesn't change how the home is split.
What each of you has left free
What you take home, minus your share of the home, minus what you already had.
$2,100 − $900 for the home
$1,400 − $600 for the home − $200 existing
Not $800: $600
A savings goal with a date
How much you want to put together and how soon. With a date, the goal turns into a number per month.
a month. After saving, $867 left free
a month. After saving, $433 left free
- Once a month. Twenty minutes, not one more.
- One sheet of paper with these five boxes: what each of you takes home, the household costs, existing payments, what's left free and the savings.
- Compare it with last month. Nothing more.
Roommates split bills. A couple shares the five numbers.
Ballpark figures.
Want us to email you your plan?
It comes with your numbers and a link back here, with everything just as you left it.