A budget for couples is one list of the costs you share, how each cost is split, and how much each of you puts in every month, with each person's own money budgeted separately. The simplest way to start: pick how you'll hold your money (joint, separate, or a bit of both), write every shared cost on one list, decide whether each is split by income or 50/50, and add up what each of you owes for the month. The template below does that in about twenty minutes, and the worked example shows one month filled in for a couple with different incomes.
Three ways couples set up a budget
How you hold your money shapes the budget. Most couples use one of these setups.
Fully joint
Both paychecks go into joint accounts, and everything is paid from them. You keep one budget for the household. It's the least tracking, and it works best when you both already think of all money as shared. Couples who go this way often still give each person a personal spending line, so a new jacket doesn't need a conversation.
Fully separate
Each of you keeps your own accounts and pays some of the shared bills. Once a month you add up who paid what and even it out. You keep two budgets plus a shared list. It suits couples who are early on, or who like keeping their own money apart.
Yours, mine and ours
You open one joint account for shared costs, and each of you keeps your own account for everything else. On payday, each of you moves your share into the joint account, and shared bills come out of it. The template below is built around this setup. Fully joint couples can skip the split, and fully separate couples can use the totals to settle up.
A budget template for couples
Copy this into a shared note and fill in the blanks. Write down next to each line how it's split, so neither of you has to remember later. If you haven't picked how to split yet, our post on splitting expenses by income or 50/50 walks through the math.
Your take-home pay
- Partner A take-home pay: $____
- Partner B take-home pay: $____
- Combined take-home pay: $____
- Partner A's share by income: ____% (A's pay divided by combined pay)
- Partner B's share by income: ____%
Shared fixed costs
- Rent or mortgage: $____ (split by income)
- Utilities and internet: $____ (split by income)
- Renter's or home insurance: $____ (split by income)
- Shared car payment, insurance and gas: $____ (split by income)
- Childcare: $____ (split by income)
Shared everyday costs
- Groceries and household supplies: $____ (split 50/50)
- Eating out and takeout together: $____ (split 50/50)
- Shared subscriptions: $____ (split 50/50)
- Pets: $____ (split 50/50)
- Gifts you give together: $____ (split 50/50)
Shared goals
- Emergency fund: $____ (split by income)
- Trip or big purchase fund: $____ (split by income)
Totals for the month
- Total shared costs: $____
- Partner A puts in: $____
- Partner B puts in: $____
Each person's own budget
- Take-home pay: $____
- Minus your share of shared costs: $____
- Left for your own money: $____
- Your own bills (phone, commute, loans): $____
- Personal spending: $____
- Your own savings: $____
Cross off any line you don't have. A cost that comes a few times a year, like car repairs, can go in as a monthly amount set aside.
A worked example: one month with different incomes
Say Partner A takes home $5,400 a month and Partner B takes home $3,600. Together that's $9,000, so A's share by income is 60% and B's is 40%. They use yours, mine and ours.
Shared fixed costs and goals, split 60/40:
- Rent: $2,000. A puts in $1,200, B puts in $800.
- Utilities and internet: $180. A puts in $108, B puts in $72.
- Renter's insurance: $20. A puts in $12, B puts in $8.
- Trip fund: $300. A puts in $180, B puts in $120.
That's $2,500 of costs split by income: $1,500 from A and $1,000 from B.
Shared everyday costs, split 50/50:
- Groceries: $600. $300 each.
- Eating out together: $250. $125 each.
- Streaming: $40. $20 each.
That's $890, or $445 each.
Totals for the month:
- Total shared costs: $3,390
- Partner A puts in: $1,500 + $445 = $1,945
- Partner B puts in: $1,000 + $445 = $1,445
Check it: $1,945 + $1,445 = $3,390. Shared costs take about 36% of A's pay and about 40% of B's.
On payday, A moves $1,945 into the joint account and B moves $1,445. After that, A has $3,455 left for their own budget and B has $2,155. What each of you does with your own money is yours to decide, and the shared budget doesn't need to know.
When one partner pays for most shared costs
This happens a lot. Rent might come out of one person's account because their name is on the lease, or one of you puts groceries on a card you both like. That's fine, as long as the budget still says what each person's share is.
Using the same month, say there's no joint account. Partner A pays rent, utilities, insurance, streaming, the trip fund and most groceries: $2,990 in all. Partner B pays the rest of the groceries and the dinners out: $400.
- Partner A's share is $1,945. They paid $2,990, so they're owed $1,045.
- Partner B's share is $1,445. They paid $400, so they owe $1,045.
One $1,045 transfer at the end of the month and you're even. If B would rather not send one large payment, B can send a fixed amount on each payday instead and settle the difference at the end of the month.
Two things keep this from getting messy:
- Keep one shared list of what each of you paid, updated the day it's paid. A note on your phones works, and so does Splitwise.
- In your own budget, count only your share as spending. A's card shows $2,990, but A's shared spending this month is $1,945. The $1,045 from B isn't income: it's B's share of bills A already paid.
Sometimes one partner pays more on purpose, say because they earn a lot more and want to. That's a choice you can make together. Write it down as a line in the template ("Partner A covers rent in full") so it's a decision rather than a habit nobody agreed to.
How to run the budget each month
At the end of each month, spend fifteen minutes together comparing what you spent to the template, settle up if you need to, and change any line that was far off. Most couples need two or three months before the grocery and eating-out lines look like real life.
When to revisit your couples budget
Look at the whole template again when:
- Either of you gets a raise, changes jobs or has a gap between jobs, since the income shares change.
- Rent changes, you move, or you take on a shared car or a pet.
- A goal is reached or a new one starts, like saving for a wedding or a move.
- One of you keeps feeling squeezed, even if the math says the split is fair.
Otherwise, a full review once or twice a year is enough. If you're splitting rent by income and want to check the numbers for your own place, the rent split calculator does it in a minute.
If you'd like to see shared spending without keeping the list by hand, Monio's household view adds up the accounts each of you chooses to share, with each account set to Everything, Totals only or Private, and leaves out money moved between you so a settle-up isn't counted as spending or income. It works in the US and Canada for $7.99 a month or $80 a year, plus $5 a month to add a partner.
Questions
How do you make a budget as a couple?
Pick how you'll hold your money (joint, separate, or a bit of both), write every shared cost on one list, decide whether each is split by income or 50/50, and add up what each of you owes for the month. Each person's own money is budgeted separately.
What should a budget template for couples include?
Each partner's take-home pay and share by income, shared fixed costs like rent and utilities, shared everyday costs like groceries and eating out, shared goals, the monthly total each person puts in, and each person's own budget.
What if one partner pays for most of the shared costs?
That's fine as long as the budget still says what each person's share is. Compare what each of you paid with your share, and one transfer at the end of the month evens it out. In your own budget, count only your share as spending.
How often should couples review their budget?
Spend fifteen minutes together at the end of each month comparing what you spent to the template. Look at the whole template again when an income, rent or goal changes, and otherwise a full review once or twice a year is enough.