It sounds like you are using the joint/individual account method of shared finances already, but here’s what my spouse and I do:
Individual/Joint Account method for shared finances:
- Checking: my checking, her checking, and joint checking
- Savings: joint savings
- Credit cards: my cc, her cc, and joint cc
Then there’s the decision each couple has to make: does the income default to joint money, and you each get an allowance for discretionary spend, or does income default to our individual accounts, and you pool only what is required for joint expenses. We chose the latter, so our paychecks go into the individual checking.
Regular shared bills are paid from joint checking and gives you a sense of how much you each need to transfer on a monthly basis into joint checking. Irregular shared spending, such as for restaurants and home supplies, is paid with the joint cc. That allows us to see on the cc statement how much we spent that month on shared expenses and how much we each need to transfer into joint checking to cover it. Everything else is paid with our individual cc’s and checking.
Joint Savings is for our emergency fund joint savings goals like home improvement.
We determined our split ratio based on our income ratio, rather than a straight 50/50.
How to use Tiller to monitor shared expenses will depend on which of the methods you use below, and I am a big fan of Transaction Tracker.
One method to budget for shared expenses without a community template or foundation modifications is to add two categories for shared expenses, like his-Rent, her-Rent. See this Tiller article How to Set Up Tiller When You Share Expenses.
Existing templates that help you budget for shared expenses include:
Budget Plan
Category Schedule
Note that a community member will be sharing a new template soon. Information here.
Maybe others can share their method of using tags for shared finances.