I have been reading that so many here have set up allowances for themselves and their SOs. Our budget doesn't really do that. Sounds like a great idea. But I'm the kind of person who needs to account for all my purchases or I totally lose perspective. So my budget contains a category for just about everything. I have included all my vices and all of Hubby's. I have a tiny chocolate category, hobbies, books, clothes, etc. Hubby has his vices and the basketball games. He gets his share of books, music, clothing. We don't spend in all categories every month so the extra goes into savings. And the amounts budgeted are fairly small. Just being able to keep track and see where we were spending the money. It has greatly reduced the stress and also increased our savings. We don't spend as much as we used to because we account for all of it. It seemed to work for us. But what did Hubby REALLY think? I may have overestimated his comfort with this. I decided to try to pin down his thoughts on it. I asked him what he thought of my knowing his every move. He can always access mine, because I insert comments beside the money amounts I spend. But I am usually the only one reading the sheets. He may not like feeling scrutinized. I was thinking of redoing the whole thing and giving him the amounts that belong to him and letting him run with it. No leaving receipts for me to log. He surprised me. He likes the way we are doing it now. He doesn't mind me knowing what's going on. I guess he likes that HE doesn't have to keep track of where his portion is going. I do take care of a lot of things for him--medicine ordered and picked up, meals for lunches, money ready for haircuts, etc. He isn't a real spendy person anyway. Actually this way, I hope he gets to spend more of his hard earned money than me going hog wild and he's only getting what's left. I'm more accountable. He does have to hide gifts from me until I receive them. Those are the only things he charges. This may not work for many. I can see us doing this both ways. I can see that it wouldn't work for say--my parents. For some reason we have fallen into a pattern that works for us. But I am so glad I clarified that what was working okay for me is working okay for him. So onward we go....