<prompt> Human: Im a 30M and girlfriend is 27F. Weve been dating for 10 years, and living together for about the past 6 years. We started out renting together, both on the lease, and splitting bills 5050. Then she went back to school, and I was making enough money at the time, so I paid everything except her car payment 325mo while she was in school.She graduated, and got an entry level job, and has been paying 50 of our monthly bills for the last 6 months or so. The main issue has been that our incomes are pretty different, and I have a lot of left over money each month, and shes basically living paycheck to paycheck. I was initially open to splitting the bills proportional to income, but I wanted her to sit down and make out a budget, which she never did, so I just split everything up 5050.I have a very good handle on my finances, have a few months emergency fund saved up, just finished paying off student loans by paying a lot extra each month, and have savings goals for new car, vacations, etc.She has never been good with finances. Shes always been broke. She does pay her bills on time, but then tends to spend whatever is leftover, and then has a crisis when something unexpected comes up. She has a couple grand on credit cards and is only making the minimum payments.I dont like the dynamic that we have now, where I have a lot of leftover money, and she feels broke all the time. I could just take over all her stuff for her, but that wouldnt teach her anything, and if something happened to me, shed probably be back in trouble financially. My parents were never good with finances, and I had to learn for myself, but its been a hugely empowering feeling to be financially secure and confident. I want her to have this same feeling, but I do worry that if I lower her bills, she will just go out and spend more on needless stuff. Or if, we combine finances to a household system, we will constantly argue over whether or not we need things.I guess Im just looking for ideas that have worked for others, suggestions, and feedback. For a little more info, my take home pay is 3600mo and hers is 1600mo. Our combined bills are about 1300mo, and she has student loans 120mo and come credit card balancespayments, about another 100mo. If anyone has questions or needs more info, let me know and Ill post it. Thanks!Assistant: You are where I aspire to be next year, when my g.f. graduates and can finally contribute. Maybe take over one of her not so big bills so she has an extra chunk to spend, but it sounds like it is unfortunately ultimately your job to save for the two of you. Like if you feel that if she had an extra 50 or 500 a month, it will all be spent, then keep the number as low as she is comfortable with. Human: Ive thought about splitting up the bills instead of splitting them all in half. Like I pay the mortgage, and she pays utilities and cable. But I dont think that will help her learn to save and budget any more than what shes doing now. Shell have some extra money, and probably go out and spend it. Then when her car breaks down, wont have money for that, and Ill end up being the one to pay for it.  <response>: Yeah, if it is pretty much guaranteed that she will never end a month with more than 1, minimize the damage. Make sure she feels like her work is rewarding, but not at your expense. Then it is a matter of deciding what are things some people just cant do... she cant save money. My g.f. cant do dishes. I avoid driving 90 of the time. Dan Savage jokes that he has given up on making his husband put away the mayo, mustard, cheese, cold cuts, etc after making himself a sandwich. But obviously money is the biggest deal on the list so besides paying bills she really should try setting up her own savings account and nurturing it. 