For anyone who is interested in my Dad's foolproof system for marital harmony to do with money, here it is, for what its worth.
Both partners sit down and, based on annual expenditure, work out how much it costs to live for a year.
Open a joint bank account purely for this, so it pays all bills, food, services, house insurance, mortgage, car insurance etc either for the one joint car or both cars if you need one each. There will need to be a bit of negotiation on this but it isn't too difficult in the end.
So you will come to an annual figure, divide this by twelve, this is what needs to be paid into it per month.
Take both your incomes and as they will be different work out the ratio of one to the other, then pay into the joint account in this ratio from each of the partner's sole account.
This way each pays the bills in ratio to what they earn, the rest becomes pocket money. so the highest earner pays the most but also has the most pocket money.
You can also set up a savings account and again pay in an agreed amount, each month, again in the same proportions.
We did this and it works a dream if unexpected expenses crop up.
We have found this method works like a dream.
BUT it does tend to work best where each partner has a reasonable income. If the balance of incomes between both partners is wildly different it cannot work as the one who earns the least will constantly feel cheated.
For most of our working lives Wifey earned twice what I earned, but bizarrely now my pension is better than all of hers. But we still stick to it and it still works.
It even worked when my ex and I divided the spoils of our divorce in proportion to what we had done for the 7 years of our marriage. And yes we did keep books, again summat taught me by my Dad the accountant!
I leave this with you while I run and get my steel helmet!
And Dan in your shoes I would have done exactly what you did!