Do you have housekeeping money?

I opened a bank account in 1961, without any man being involved. My aunt recommended me to the bank and came with me when I opened it.

In 1968, when I married, I just changed name and details. I do not remember being asked any questions about DH. What is more, when we moved into a flat and we needed an overdraft to pay for the living room carpet. I approached my bank for an overdraft on my account and got it. DH again not involved.

I have always been the financial manager in our household so there was no question of being given housekeeping. What is more neither did mother get given housekeeping moneyhad my mother. My parents had a joint account and my mother held the only cheque book and took out money as and when she needed it, even when she wasn't working herself. My parents in law had a similar system,

We are just the same kitty.

I move a set amount into my personal acount every month .I use it for housekeeping small household items,cutrtains ,bedding etc and all the present buying birthdays and christmas.
This month I have 5 birthdays a wedding anniversary and mothers day ,next month easter and 3 birthdays ,If I stick to my monthly budget I'm happy ,sometimes I need to top it up but as its my business acount I'm paying myself .I wouldn't like to have to ask for cash .OH pays all the household expenses and always has.We have quite a 1950's type marriage ,its suits us both

My Dad too, handed over his unopened pay packet every week.I don’t know if he even had pocket money.

Back in my parents day it was accepted that in low waged households the man handed over his paypacket unopened, got his pocket money (maybe 10/-) and his poor wife had to stretch what was left to cover the food shopping and other bills.

Meanwhile, in higher income households, the man managed the bills and finances giving his wife a housekeeping allowance and perhaps a small personal allowance, for clothes, hairdressing etc.

My DH is hopeless with money and has got so vague now I have gently taken over all the finances. He is still earning and puts a set amount every month into a bank account that is only in my name rather than our joint one. I actually earn more than him now and pay for all the luxuries and holidays - I think he thinks I budget for all this from my ‘housekeeping’. It keeps him happy.

My ex husband use to give a set amount each week from his pay packet to buy everything I needed and that included things like a washing a machine which I had to save up bit by bit. When we divorced we were in rented accommodation and he told me I could take everything that was mine, that I had bought. I took everything, even the light bulbs and left him with his record player and records. Husband no.2 is different, I have my own income and bank account, he has his which is a joint account that I never use. Life is much more relaxed this way.

I had a bank account in 1965! Just saying!

Dh used to say that he earned the money and I spent it! That was true in that he earned the money and I was in charge of where it went.

I opened my Nat West Bank account in November 1971. I have never changed banks.

We do operate on a ‘housekeeping’ amount each week (which is a generous £250 a week for two). It helps us budget effectively. We eat out, buy alcohol on it and if we want more out then that’s fine - but a certain amount helps us to be aware and in control.

No, always a joint account and own account - whether working or not. I did have a (sort of) budget, though, and an allowance from my father.

Yes, perfectly summed up callistemon. I do like explanations to be clear and your understanding of the issue precisely matches my own.

We've always had joint accounts and paid for everything out of them, so no, I've never had housekeeping money given to me. When I stopped work to have the DC, I found it a bit difficult to get over the feeling that all the money coming in, and to which I always had full access, was earned by DH, particularly if I wanted to buy him a birthday or Christmas present.

When we got married in 1974 I was working and DH was still a student, but we couldn't get a mortgage in my name even though I was earning enough to pay for it, just because I was a woman.

I have had my bank account since I got my first proper job in 1969 and I was paid monthly which was not the norm in those days,but it taught me how to budget my money well.
My lovely husband who is no longer with us never gave me house keeping monies we both had our own accounts always and drew out what we needed as and when,I did keep a separate account for child benefit when it became payable for the children and used that for their clothes and shoes when needed to buy them.If ever my husband received bonus's from work he always gave me half to buy myself treats or put towards my annual holiday with my DD.

You summed that up perfectly Callistemon.

I don't think the law prevented these things, rather it was that the 1975 Act stated that it was illegal for these rights not to be offered.

I think that is what I have just pointed out Calistamon so we agree. However, those who did have bank accounts were still small in number - unless I am wrong in this belief and you have statistics to show differently - and many women were still "controlled" because the law allowed that to happen prior to the 1975 act.

No, I don't have housekeeping money.

Thank you Callistemon you’ve put it very well.

Found this quote:

Women were seen as a high-risk investment by banks als little as just 50 years ago. It wasn’t until 1975 that women could open a bank account in their own name.

Single women still couldn't apply for a loan or credit card in their own name without a signature from their father, even if they earned more, as recently as the mid-Seventies."

That's a quote taken from the Telegraph, by the way. .

Sounds very similar to the way my DH’s parents operated jura2 . He called the shots. Full stop. They lived in real poverty with very few home comforts at all . Coal fire, no telephone, twin tub washing machine, black and white TV, with a set top aerial so it was permanently snowing........Everything in the house was ancient. Is used to feel so sorry for his mum . When he died we did manage to get her a few bits like a microwave/grill (her most favourite thing ever) and a colour TV with a proper aerial.

Being pedantic here, and have read the post twice which stated that:

it wasn't until 1975 and the Sex Discrimination Act that a British woman could open a bank account in her own name

Then some of us pointed out, very politely, that we did in fact hold bank accounts in our own names way before then.
I didn't require a counter signature from a male to open a current account and a savings account.
I also had car insurance in my own name, no male named on the insurance as my father didn't drive.

I don't think the law prevented these things, rather it was that the 1975 Act stated that it was illegal for these rights not to be offered.

I've a feeling that would come under the coercive control laws now Jura.

gillybob- reminds me of my dear and wonderful neighbour in the UK in our second house. She did not know how much her husband earned, about his pensions, didn't have a check book and had never seen any paperwork/accounts. She had become very good at her own clever accounting with the housekeeping money- saying she needed extra to buy clothes for the kids, then buy them from Corah's seconds shop instead of M&S so she could keep the difference for herself.
He would do all the food shopping on Saturday morning- on his own- and she had to cook for the week with what HE bought- same menu every week. Wednesday evening was steak night- for him only of course- sausages for her and the kids. It used to make me scream, but she seemed happy with it- and found it quite normal.

And both came from very middle-class backgrounds- he a manager in a textile factory. When he died very quickly and unexpectedly- she knew absolutely nothing- had never written cheque, etc. Fortunately they had a friend who was a solicitor and who helped her with everything.

No never have.
I buy the food etc and dh pays the bills it works well for us.
My mother had housekeeping and I don`t remember my father refusing her if she needed a little extra.

No-one has personally attacked you, GG. Neither I, nor Bathsheba, nor the others who have simply pointed out that they had their own bank accounts in the 60’s, after you asserted that women couldn’t have their own bank accounts till 1975.

I do wonder how carefully you read things janeainsworth and perhaps therein lies the challenge. I did not assert that women couldn’t have their own bank accounts till 1975 although you are now choosing to interpret it that way. I simply said that was when the law changed and women could not be stopped from having a bank account in their own name. A simple, unarguable fact.

Maybe your standards are different to mine but there has been rude directly personal comment. I accept that there are people who think being rude in a personal way is okay because you can't see the person you are attacking but I don't think those are GN's rules, are they?

Meant to add that DH and I have always had a joint account, although he has very little to do with money these days.