Anyway, what you described is something that Lindzee and I do with cash. We call it our “mad money”. We give each other a certain amount of money with which we can do whatever we want without having to justify the purchase. The fact that you use separate bank accounts to hold this money away from your normal living expenses is fine. Some people do that and others just stash the cash away somewhere. You have obviously gone through your budget together at some point, and you are communicating that this $100 is for each of you to do whatever you want with it. That is what it is all about, so I think you are doing things perfectly.

What I am strongly against is when YOUR payacheck goes into YOUR account and HIS paycheck goes into HIS account. Then he says, “Okay, here’s some money for the bills, and you say, “okay, here’s some money for the bills”. There is much less communication going on in this situation. His paycheck is your money and your paycheck is his money. The problem that I have is when money filters into your separate accounts first and then goes to a joint account. The fact that you keep separate accounts for “mad money” is perfectly fine.