Love and Marriage...and Money?

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Brandon and I have spent a lot of time discussing what we're going to do with our finances when we get married and the more we dig into it, the more confusing things get.

Joint account? How will we keep track of cash flow if we are both drawing from the same account?
Savings? Do we each put in a percentage of our paychecks or a dollar amount?
Retirement accounts?
I like to track my purchases in my checkbook, he likes to track his online.

Oh brother! We have, however, managed to come up with a few options. So, if you are in a similar situation as I am - on the verge of two separate incomes becoming one - maybe this will help. Or, maybe it'll just confuse you more.

I've talked to a bunch of different people and distilled all of their advice down to four options...

Option A: Split Down The Middle 
Four different accounts:

• one family checking account that pays bills (mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc) and pays for groceries and other family things. In this account, you both put in a certain percentage of your take home pay that is enough to cover all expenses. If you pay for most things with credit cards, this account pays the credit card bill if it falls into the family category.
• one family savings account for a rainy day fund. In this account, you both put in some percentage of your paycheck every pay period. 
• two personal checking/savings accounts for "fun money", to pay for personal purchases (and gifts that you want to keep secret, of course). In these accounts, the remainder of money left over after bills and savings is split down the middle and deposited into each of your personal fun money accounts

Questions about this:

• Most of my purchases happen on my credit card, will I need to use two separate cards to differentiate between family stuff and personal stuff and pay the bills from separate accounts?
• What about savings for kids college or retirement or something else that is money that we don't touch?
• It's a lot to keep track of, especially since two people are drawing from one account. What if I need to take out cash, or write a check?
• If there is an income disparity, one person is obviously putting more into the pot that is split evenly between the two of you, so you both have to be okay with that.

Option B: All-in-One (...er, Two)

Two different accounts:

• one family checking account that pays bills (mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc) and pays for groceries and other family things. This account is also for fun money and personal purchases. In this account, you both put in a certain percentage of your take home pay that is enough to cover all expenses. 
• one family savings account for a rainy day fund. In this account, you both put in some percentage of your pay. 

Questions about this:

• Again, what is the best way to keep track of an account that two people could be drawing from at the same time?
• This is essentially the same as option A, but a tiny bit less confusing because there are less accounts to keep track of
• What if I want to buy Brandon a birthday gift? How do I keep it a secret?

Option C: Status Quo (because chances are your accounts are currently separate)

Several different accounts:

• separate personal checking or savings accounts that are linked. If you do it like this, you can just decide who pays what bills, but you always have the option to transfer money to other accounts if there isn't enough in one.

Questions about this:

• It could possibly cause a bit of tension because someone is always going more or less money than the other person
• You really have to decide who is going to pay certain bills, to make sure they get paid every month

Option D: More with Less

Two different accounts:

• one family checking account to pay all monthly expenses. The money in this account is one person's entire paycheck - likely the person who earns more money. None of this person's money will go into savings, maybe some of it goes into a retirement account if it is taken directly from their pay.
• one family savings account for rainy days, the future, etc. The money in this account is the other person's entire paycheck. 

Questions about this:

• It's really only an option if you can comfortably live off of one salary instead of two. You could probably do all of one person's salary and some percentage of the other's if you can't live off of one salary.
• The checking account probably needs to be a joint account that both people can access - so you still need to figure out who is in charge of paying bills and how to keep track of an account that two people are drawing from.

I have come to realize that every couple does post-marriage finances different so it really comes down to doing what works for you. I would suggest mapping out your monthly expenses as a couple and figuring out exactly how much you need to pay the bills and how much (if any) you can/want to put in savings.

Again, there is not a "one size fits all" solution for this. If you're married, how do you/did you deal with finances??