I am the provider and my wife is the caretaker. That is the arrangement today because we are both in agreement that her value is much greater in the care for our daughter. She is a great mom who is the primary reason I have such a capable and competent little girl. She used to work and can make a afir amount of money but there is always time to work but little time to raise my last one...our only one together.
We have three budgets. I budget our household expenses including groceries, utilities, gas and gymnastics and the likes. This goes direct deposit into her account. There is a slight buffer in the budget but as life is there is never enough. If she is thrifty she can save and splurge. If she runs short because of an unexpected expense I transfer her some money...there are always unexpected expenses.
My account is for our car payment, mortgage, my gas allowance as well as support for my two older ones who live out of state.
We have a third account for savings that I try to skim off of my budget whenever possible. The opportunity for OT at work usually allows for this from time to time.
I do have a 401k at work for 10% (the company matches 50% up to the first 6%) so at this time with child support, a little one in gymnastics there is no direct deposit for savings yet.
But quite honestly, at my age and in my experience, I will ALWAYS have debt of some sort, there will never be enough money so ENJOY your self (responsibly and within reason) because the right time never seems to come but the days do pass rather quickly. I am just now beginning to DO the things I want to do instead of waiting for the right time. The right time is when you decide it is. Life is over when it decides it is. There is no do over