Looking for input and advice from those who've come before.
My husband and I have been married for three years, together for five. In that time, we moved in together, bought a place, got a dog, and now we're pregnant.
For the most part, our incomes have been relatively equal, so we put X amount into a joint account to cover our primary shared expenses (mortgage, internet, Netflix, etc.) We rotate the other shared expenses (utilities vs property tax, groceries, etc.) We're not super diligent about who has paid for what, but it feels fairly equal. For one year, he went back to school, and during that time I paid for the mortgage and all our shared expenses.
Cueing up to now, assuming the baby is okay (a previous loss has made me temper any planning), I'll go on mat leave in September. That means my income will be reduced by 66%. I'm Canadian, so I'll be off for 12-18 months likely.
What would you recommend we do?
Option A - we go to the model we used when my husband was in school, and he pays for all our shared expenses, and I pay for my daily life.
Option B - we pool our income.
Option A is easy, and would probably work out fine. My concerns are that because I'll be home, I might be more likely to take on daily shared expenses like groceries, etc, and I don't want to spend more than I should out of the minimal amount I'll be bringing in. Ideally I'd like to keep saving some of that. I'm also not sure the impact a child will have on our finances, or the best way to plan/pay for that.
What did you do, and how did it work out?