Systems for handling family finances
Has anyone developed great systems for handling family finances where more than one parent is responsible for family activities that involve significant sums? Case in point: I handle the finances, taxes, FSAs. My partner is handling communications with kids' ortho. Which means all communications and bills are going to him, 75% of which get forwarded to my gmail pit, 30% of which disappear into the morass. An obvious solution is to treat my gmail like (or better) than my work account in terms of organization, but that's not realistic (I've tried creating separate gmail accounts for impersonal communications. Just ended up meaning I had to check 2 accounts when looking for anything I needed.) It's only a (major) issue 2-4 times/year -- we don't need a formal accounting system. But we need something better. (And if you are now or decide to invent something like this, let me know!)
Kate
Parent Replies
What about a shared doc/excel sheet? That’s what I use. You can use the Google Sheets, which is basically Excel but doesn’t have all the SUPER fancy functions. But you basically number SUM…I have Google Sheets on my phone and log stuff there throughout the week/month.
I suggest that you ask the ortho office to send all communication to both you and your husband, or to send the bills to you. In Gmail, you can create filters. Create a filter for bills, and check them regularly.