I pay my wife to do my laundry

Very appropriate day to post this.<p>In my house, I do most of the cooking, the dishes and the laundry. (The latter is because, being one of these work-at-home laptop-bound types, I'm at home a lot.) My girlfriend tends to vacuum and tidy more. But none of this is because we've established an internal market in our home and relationship. Between the two of us, we do what's right for each other, and it just works out.<p>This applies just as well to startup co-founders as it does to marriages. You want to find someone whose best interests you want to act in, and who will act in yours. Life's too short to be negotiating about who's going to wash the dishes, or who's going to pick up the mail. When you're emotionally invested in a person, an organization, a project or a cause, you'll do the right thing for it. And that's the kind of person you want to be in any kind of relationship with.

Important man: I am the head of my household! I make all the important decisions such as our family's position on the world's important political, economic, and cultural issues.<p>My wife makes all the little decisions. Like where we'll live, how we'll spend our money, what we'll eat, and where our kids go to school.

&#62; Because I like to dine out more than Kris does, for instance, I pay for most of our restaurant meals. In return, she pays for most of the groceries.<p>I do something similar with my housemates. They usually buy the meat, because I don't like to pay for good stuff. I usually buy the milk and vegetables. It's not an explicit agreement, that's just how it happened.<p>It actually works out the same as if I was paying more for meat than I want to. But I'm happier than I would be in that situation.

This seems foolish from a purely financial standpoint. Often times interest rates are tiered and you can get significantly higher rates with the more money you have in a single account.<p>They should combine them. They could keep pretending they have separate accounts and just write checks for what they owe, just have it come out of a single savings account.

My wife and I have joint finances (she's a stay at home mom), but we each have an allowance. We each get money each month that is 100% ours. We don't need to consult with each other about how it's spent. She can burn it for all I care. It gives us enough freedom to make purchases we don't agree on (unspent money rolls over, so one can save up if needed). Meanwhile, we are both very involved in all other financial decision, with all disagreements settled in favor of the more conservative party.

The title is a bit too much in my opinion. I regularly come across couples where expenses are taken note of, and the wife has to pay back the half of it in case she doesn't have money. (Not necessarily the women owes money, but men tend to be more money-centric in my observations.)<p>And when I say half, I really mean it. If a bread cost $1.4 3 weeks ago (in Middle Europe at least, converted to USD), she is in debt of $0.7. This situation is supposed to be rare, but who knows.<p>I also heard another story, where the husband earned some decent amount of cash, the wife was at home with the child getting national aid only. The man told her to get back to work or he won't pay the bills.<p>I don't know where this twisted way of thinking comes from, but it's really depressing. And there are more and more people who wouldn't enter marriage without a written contract.<p>I just can't understand.

Seems strange and impersonal, but I know JD a bit and he's a great guy, so I imagine that this is one of those stories that sounds more dramatic than it really is.

This is where companies like Laundry Locker in SF really help out.

Must not be Asian. My friends give their wives all their money.