Jaime Salpeter doesn’t need anyone to remind her she’s dropping big bucks on shopping sprees – she’s an accountant.
“I’m definitely the big spender of the family,” said Jaime, 25, between bites of a cheese platter she was sharing with fiancé Jason Epstein at Central Park’s Boathouse restaurant.
The couple, who have lived together for eight months and own a place on the Upper East Side, have plans to marry in June 2005.
But before the wedding ring is exchanged, they are getting intimate with their finances.
In addition to keeping individual bank accounts, the couple has opened a joint checking account for money they use to pay off the mortgage and miscellaneous house bills – a total of about $2,700 a month.
“I put over 50 percent of my salary into the joint account,” said Jaime, who makes a career out of balancing budgets.
Jason, a database administrator, contributes around 25 percent of his salary into the same account and covers roughly 70 percent of the overall expenses.
Yet, when the nasty bill collectors are satisfied, it’s the bride-to-be who admits she’s much more of an impulse spender.
“I’ll spend around $300 a month on clothes shopping,” Jaime said. “I like shoes a lot.”
Jason says he spends less than $100 a month on apparel, and only gets new clothes when it’s absolutely necessary – or when his fiancée thinks it’s time for a new pair of jeans.
“I’ll do the shopping for him,” Jaime said. “He likes it that way.”
She also spends close to $100 a month on manicures and pedicures, $40 a week on magazines – US Weekly is a favorite – and up to $200 getting her hair colored and trimmed.
By comparison, Jason has a $5-a-month subscription to The Post, gets $12 haircuts every two weeks and occasionally drops $30 on DVDs.
The couple splits the cost of groceries, cab fares and dinners right down the middle.
Despite their different spending patterns, they say money has never come between them.
“If I see on her credit-card bill that she’s bought something she can’t afford, I’ll tell her it’s silly,” he said. “But it’s the going out to eat and drinking with friends that’s our biggest expense – and we both do that.”