TEXT OF STORY

Tess Vigeland: Here’s one to light up the phones and our Facebook page: How should couples handle their money? You could pool your income or keep things completely separate. Divvy up the mortgage, the grocery bill, the babysitter money. Here’s what some of our colleagues at Marketplace do.

Devin Robins: My husband and I have completely separate finances.

Paddy Hirsch: We have a single account.

Mitchell Hartman: We deal with our finances together.

Stephen Hoffman: We do have our own separate accounts.

Matt Berger: My wife and I share a bank account.

Hoffman: But the accounts are empty.

Robins: When we go out to eat, it usually works without us even saying it.

Hirsch: When I’m playing, it’s usually in an area where I don’t need any money, like I’ll go up into the mountains or I’ll go surfing or something.

Robins: I will pay, if he paid last time.

Hirsch: So whenever I’m going to be spending money, she’s pretty much always there.

Robins: Sometimes he forgets; a lot of the times he forgets.

Hartman: The truth is, I’m the bill payer.

Robins: And so I will remind him when it’s his turn.

Hartman: I’ve taken control.

Berger: She likes skin products, and I’m a hobby/furniture maker, so I buy lots of power tools.

Hoffman: So now, maybe afterwards, I can have 100 bucks a month of my own to spend what I want, which would be comic books.

Hoffman laughs