<prompt> Human: I have just started the process of combining finances with my fiancé. We are getting married in Sept and just opened a joint checking account which we plan to use as our only checking account. We are keeping our separate credit cards but we pay them off each month with our joint account.My question is, how do we start making a budget that combines both of our expenses? I have been using Mint on my own for a while but Im unsure about how to use it as a couple. Id rather not link our CCs to Mint because there are some purchases that we dont want the other to see for example, the cost of my engagement ring or any presents we buy during the holidays. Any advice?  <response>: My husband and I did this two years ago actually also got married in September! Youve got two main avenues to combine finances. Proportional, and All In. Im a strong believer in shared everything. We make different amounts, but help each other in so many ways. Marriage to me means everything is joint. Weve also each taken turns being unemployed, and making more money than the other spouse. Or one spouses income allowed the other to take more risks, etc. Marriage is really mini-communism. But then again were liberal pinkos, not a flat tax RonPaulians. YMMV.So, for our all-in combined finances we have 6 bank accounts. Joint Checking, Joint savings. Husband checking, husband savings. Wife checking wife savings.For each pay check, we have 100 go into our personal checking accounts. The balance goes into Joint Checking.The personal money is fun money and secret gift money. Since we also dont tend to spend all of it, some of it moves into Personal Savings, and things like vacations get saved and paid from this fund.For you, right now, those would be your credit cards, but you should probably aim to move to a save then spend mode with your personal accounts. From the joint account, we pay all bills, groceries, medical expenses, etc. No one gets a claim to any joint money. We both roughly need to agree how it is spent. Is a new TV a joint expense? What if one spouse thinks the current TV is fine? Youve got to decide that between the two of you.We have a joint mint account. We just share the password, really wish Mint had put more thought into couples. We track all joint expenses in that Mint account. You can hide accounts from mint, so when Mint finds all 6 bank accounts from both of your account logins, you just hide your personal checking ones. I keep personal savings tracked in mint just to see how much cash we have on hand, and if weve reached that vacation savings goal. So, after you get combined, Id track for a month or two before sitting down and budgeting with a fine toothed comb. Maybe youll realize that he thinks a daily 5 latte is a joint expense, but you think that should be a personal expense, etc. 