In my opinion, if you can't imagine sharing an account with someone, then you shouldn't be considering marrying them. Like someone else said, too much of a "my space" mentality is probably a big contributor to high divorce rates. If we can't be married financially, then we can't be married period.
Instead of a seperate account for recreational spending, we just take the cash out as soon as we get paid for "Blow Money". We each get an alloted amount from the paycheck to spend as we see fit. When that money is gone, you have to wait until the next paycheck. This limits our spending on crap we don't need, but gives us the freedom to buy stuff without the other person saying yay or nay. I usually take about $100 per paycheck (I get paid every 2 weeks) and she takes $350 per paycheck (she only gets paid once a month) This is what we use to buy cokes, toys for the kids, movies,fast food for lunch, etc.
This is a very sad, but true fact. When we first got married I wanted my own account. I wanted to be able to buy things without asking, not as if I was necessarily hiding it, I just wanted to be able to buy a book without his "okay" before hand. However, my terrible accounting, money saving, don't spend there skills are horrible and I'm not allowed back at two banks within our area because of my doings. Now I have no separate account, we both live out of joint and I now have to call and ask permission for certain things. That'll learn me.
