> Every Dollar's Job · Household & Sharing

# Run the Monthly Review Together

## The Problem

Access solved the plumbing. It also created a new way to make a mess: the same coffee filed under two different tags, cash spending nobody logged because each of you assumed the other had, and a monthly review that turns into "did you already enter that?"

Sharing is the easy half. The household needs a division of labour and a standing appointment.

## One Importer, Two Reviewers

Give each role a job and stop renegotiating it every month.

- **The owner imports and reconciles.** Only the owner can add statements or edit account settings, so the owner is already the only person who can close a month properly. Keep CSV and OFX imports there too. Re-importing the same file is safe — every transaction carries an idempotency key — but one importer means one person knows which files have been pulled.
- **The Full Access partner enters and categorizes.** Cash spending, splits, and fixing the tags the matchers got wrong. This is the work that genuinely needs two pairs of hands.
- **The View Only partner reviews and flags.** They cannot change anything, which makes them a useful second reader rather than a second cook.
- **Nobody re-shares.** Not a rule you have to enforce — the app does not permit it.

Write down who does what. A household budget fails on ambiguity long before it fails on arithmetic.

## One Picture, Two People

Once an account is shared, the person it was shared with can fold it into their own totals:

- **Balances** has an **Include shared accounts** checkbox. It is on by default, so shared accounts count toward the balances list and the total.
- **Budgets → Averages** has an **Include shared budgets** checkbox, also on by default, so averages are drawn from shared accounts too.

Turn either off to see only what is yours. That toggle is the entire answer to "are we looking at the household, or at me?" — and it is why one page serves both questions without a second login.

## Try It: See the Household Picture

Run this from the *receiving* side. You need someone to have shared an account with you — if you and your partner each did the last lesson's Try It in the other's direction, you both have one.

1. **Navigate:** Shared With Me
2. **Verify:** the shared account is listed with its access level badge and a line reading "Shared by" the owner's email address
3. **Click:** "View" on that account
4. **Verify:** the account's transactions are listed
5. **Navigate:** Balances
6. **Verify:** "Include shared accounts" is checked and the shared account appears in the list
7. **Click:** "Include shared accounts"
8. **Verify:** the shared account drops out of the list and the total changes by that account's balance

![Rolling a shared account into the household picture](/videos/learn/every-dollars-job/module-11/run-the-monthly-review-together/see-the-household-picture.webm)

## The Review: Thirty Minutes, Once a Month

Same agenda every time, both of you at the table.

1. **Reconcile.** The owner enters the closing statement for each account and clears the differences (Module 9). Nothing below this line is trustworthy until this is done.
2. **Read last month.** Open the Insights pages together (Module 8): where the money went, whether you came out ahead, which way net worth moved.
3. **Settle the overspends.** Every line that went over is a decision, not a verdict. Decide together whether the budget was wrong or the spending was, and say which one out loud.
4. **Set next month to zero.** Adjust the lines you just argued about until income minus everything equals zero (Module 5).
5. **Name the one thing.** Pick a single change for next month. One. A household can absorb one change a month; it cannot absorb five.

It fits in thirty minutes precisely because the importing, categorizing, and reconciling already happened during the month — which is what the division of labour above is for.

## Try It: Leave a Shared Account

Access is not permanent for the recipient either. If you no longer need an account someone shared with you, take yourself out of it.

1. **Navigate:** Shared With Me
2. **Click:** "Leave" on the account you no longer need
3. **Click:** "OK" in the confirmation dialog
4. **Verify:** a message reading "You left" and that account's name appears, and the account is gone from Shared With Me

![Leaving a shared account](/videos/learn/every-dollars-job/module-11/run-the-monthly-review-together/leave-a-shared-account.webm)

The owner is emailed when you leave, budgets you built stay yours, and they can invite you back.

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**Key Takeaway:** Sharing an account does not divide the work — you do. One importer and reconciler, one categorizer, a standing thirty-minute review, and one change a month. The Include shared accounts toggle is how each of you switches between the household's numbers and your own.

## Check Your Understanding

1. Why does the account owner do the importing and reconciling?
   **Answer:** Only the owner can add statements or edit account settings, so only the owner can close a month. Imports are idempotent, so a repeat import is safe, but keeping them with one person means one person knows which files have been pulled.

2. Your partner shared their checking account with you. What does turning off "Include shared accounts" on Balances change?
   **Answer:** Their account drops out of your balances list and your total, leaving only accounts you own. It changes your view only — nothing about the share or their data changes.

3. Where does an overspent budget line get settled?
   **Answer:** In the review, out loud, as a joint decision: either the line was wrong and you raise it, or the spending was and you cut it. Then you rebalance the rest of next month back to zero.

4. You leave an account someone shared with you. What happens to the budget you built that included it?
   **Answer:** It stays yours; it just no longer includes that account. The owner is notified that you left, and can invite you back later.

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[Share an Account With Your Partner](https://budget.gnar.li/learn/every-dollars-job/module-11/share-an-account.md)
[Back to Course](https://budget.gnar.li/learn/every-dollars-job.md)