Aren't allowances for kids?

Money seems to be an issue in a lot of marriages. In fact, it leads to many divorces each year. Money hasn't been a huge issue for the hubbs & I, but it comes up from time to time. Some of our married friends have separate accounts and then they can do whatever they want with their money, some have joint accounts.

We have joint accounts. We check with each other before spending money on large purchases (sometimes even small purchases). I like our system and I like that we communicate about these things. But Adam tends to spend more money than I do, and I often get a little annoyed about it. For example, the hubbs spent $100 on Playstation stuff, after I spent a ton of time arguing with Sony to fix the machine for him. He was excited to have his gaming system working again, but I was annoyed that he went out and spent that much money in a matter of a couple days and told him he could wait on the conceal & carry class he's been wanting to take & purchasing a gun for the class.

A few of our married friends have suggested that we go to an "allowance" system, so that the hubbs doesn't feel guilty about spending money. But, I didn't want to hassle with keeping track of it all since we use our credit card for everything. So after the fifteenth time it was suggested, we're finally trying it.

We each get $20 a week to spend on whatever we choose, but we decided that gas doesn't count, and if we're doing things together (i.e. going to a movie or out to dinner together) it won't come out of either of our allowances.

Since we just started this system, and there was a gun show this past weekend, the hubbs asked if it would be okay to "pre-spend" his allowance for the next couple weeks at the gun show. Even though I had previously told him he should wait, we decided that it would be okay, since we just started this system. And we figured hunting would be okay also to "pre-spend." I believe, at this point I have spent $19 of my allowance, and it was for two different donations that I made to school.

I'm not sure yet about our new system, since at this point it seems like he's still spending money like he was before, but we'll see how it works out over the long-run. Which, after all, is what we're in for in marriage...