For years, the advice for couples using LazeeFish was: "share one login." It worked, but it wasn't great. No privacy, no separate sessions, no way for each partner to have envelopes the other couldn't see.
That changed. LazeeFish now has true household support — each partner gets their own account, each has their own session, and you choose per-envelope how much visibility your partner has. Here's how to set it up.
What you'll end up with
When you're done, you and your partner will each have a separate login, but you'll share the same household. Your shared envelopes — Groceries, Rent, Dining Out, Emergency Fund — update in real time for both of you. Your private envelopes are invisible to each other.
Bank accounts stay separate too: each partner connects their own banks, but transactions flow into the same shared envelopes. One source of truth, two logins, zero shared passwords.
Step-by-step setup
Create your account
If you haven't already, go to lazeefish.com/signup. Takes about 60 seconds — email, password, done. No credit card.
Invite your partner
Go to Settings → Household. Click "Invite a partner." You'll get a unique invite link — copy it and send it to your partner however you like (text, email, AirDrop).
Your partner follows the link, creates their own free account (takes 60 seconds), and they're immediately added to your household. No approval steps, no waiting.
Connect both your banks
Each partner connects their own bank accounts via Plaid. You can connect checking, savings, credit cards, and joint accounts — all from the same UI.
All transactions from both partners' accounts flow into the same envelope view. No manual entry. No duplication.
Create your envelopes and set visibility
Create an envelope for each spending category. When you create or edit an envelope, you'll see three visibility options:
- Shared — both partners can add transactions and see the balance. Use this for Groceries, Rent, Utilities, Dining Out, any joint category.
- Read-only — your partner can see the balance but can't change anything. Good for accounts one partner manages.
- Private — completely invisible to your partner. They can't see the name, balance, or any transactions. Good for gifts, personal spending, or anything that's just yours.
The default is Shared. Change it to Private on any envelope where you want full autonomy.
Set monthly allocations together
Open the Monthly Budget page and agree on how much goes into each shared envelope each month. This is the one conversation to have together — 15 minutes once a month. After that, the app handles the tracking automatically.
The envelope visibility model — why it matters
The single most important structural element of a successful couples budget is the personal spending envelope. Each partner should have a "fun money" envelope that's theirs alone — sized equally, marked Private, and spent without justification to the other person.
This isn't secrecy. It's autonomy. When both partners have a fixed, equal amount they can spend on whatever they want without discussion, the "why did you buy that?" conversations stop. The envelope method makes this explicit and self-policing.
The practical setup most couples land on:
- Shared — Rent, Groceries, Utilities, Dining Out, Entertainment, Joint Savings
- Private (each partner) — Personal fun money, Gifts envelope
What about auto-categorization?
Auto-categorization rules work per household. When you set "Whole Foods → Groceries," that rule applies to transactions from both partners' bank accounts. You only need to set each rule once.
Each partner can also add their own rules for their own merchants. Rules don't overwrite each other — they're additive.
Leaving the household
Either partner can leave the household at any time from Settings → Household. Private envelopes are deleted on removal (since they were only visible to the leaving partner). Shared data stays with the household.
Both partners keep their individual accounts — they're just no longer linked to the same household.
Frequently asked questions
Does my partner need to pay?
No. Both accounts are covered by the same free plan. LazeeFish charges nothing per user. YNAB charges $109/year for joint access; Monarch charges $99.99/year. LazeeFish: free.
Can I have envelopes my partner can't see?
Yes — that's what Private envelopes are for. Mark any envelope as Private and it's completely invisible to your partner. They can't see the balance, the name, or any transactions.
What if we have very different incomes?
Two common approaches: proportional contribution (each pays the same percentage of income into shared envelopes) or equal contribution (each pays the same dollar amount). The personal fun-money envelopes can be sized equally regardless of income — equal autonomy money tends to reduce resentment better than income-proportional personal spending.
Ready to set it up? The whole process takes about 5 minutes. Create your free account →