My wife manages the accounts in our household. In fact, she manages them for my business too. I'm finding it hard to take out any money without throwing up a red flag. (There is plenty of money, so that's not the issue)

Does anyone have any tips for hiding cash withdrawals or ways to circumvent the "bookkeeper spouse"?

Thanks!

Each of you have your own personal account and credit card that the other has no access. Aggree on an amount to be deposited on a set schedule. The funds in these accounts can be used for buying each gifts birthday christmas ect. Also for uses you don't need to explain or the other person doesn't approve or agree on. Example Your wife love to buy prada shoes every week as long as she pays from her account you can't say a thing. You take up online gambling/sports betting or something else she will disagree with (wink wink) if you need extra cover.

Tell her you want to start giving, say, $400 per month back to the community. But you want to spread it around and donate anonymously, so you will be withdrawing said amount monthly. She will probably want you to get receipts for tax write off, so you will have to tell her some things are just more important in life than write offs.

No way Jose! Ur asking for trouble telling her that BS! That in itself will throw up red flags. She'll be all over that. Plus, what kind of person has separate accounts when ur married! I've seen that happen many times. Woman DO NOT like it! Separate bank accounts just causes resentments and suspicion. If she does agree to something like that, it will hurt her. IMHO, don't do it.  
I just stash 20's away here and there. Sometimes I can do more than others. Takes a while but it works

because she had benifits for her children.  My account is nominally a joint account but in reality she doesn't use it.  
You each do need "spending money"...  though a separate account wil be a hard sell.  

What I did was to double my pocket cash that everybody needs.  I withdraw the same amount every pay period, whether I spent it or not.  I do carry a reasonable amount of cash & have a $50 limit for the sock drawer. I keep excess in a hiding place...  besides what she knows about (doesn't every guy?) in my sock drawer.  When I have enough, I can book a date.  Tieing withdrawals to times you go "off the grid" is dangerous.  

I suggest you need hobbies, and other misc expenses that don't need accounting.  As we move towards a cashless society this wil be an increasing problem.  Do you ever get cash in?  My bank gave rewards checks for a couple of years & since they were unexpected I cashed them.  I don't like to do cash back in stores because the fees are so high.  

If you buy lunch/dinner out, do you cash tip?  

With a bookkeeper spouse, do not make CC purchases anywhere you ae not supposed to be.  Buy yourgas at your home station before traveling.

No solution is going to be perfect, but somehow you have to find legit reasons to withdraw cash (Like for lunches, some hobby you have (not THIS hobby!), and the like, and start to withdraw money for these purposes, but then cut back on lunch, etc., and siphon that money off for the hobby.  This was my MO during my divorce.

The other, riskier, way is to approach some of your customers and ask that they pay in cash to you, and keep any records of the business from the wife.  Not sure what business you are in, but if that can work, and you can trust the customer not to blab, that would work out well.  (It could get you in trouble with the IRS if they ever learned about it.

Giving out bad advice is expected here, but to encourage some newbie to turn a misdemeanor into a felony is just plain stupid advice.

I am sure you have never appeared in front of the IRS to defend expenses.  Just because you gave some fake name to your Square account certainly doesn't make it an "ordinary and necessary" business deduction.  

Let the attorney's (who also have earned their CPA) and CPA's render tax advice please.

Why would YOU encourage a newbie to not only commit tax fraud, but to also encourage him to engage in frauds extending to his customers?

As well, that moronic line of thinking can easily go to the dissipation of the Marital Estate.

Are you still working as an intern at Jackson Hewitt?

And apparently not an accountant, either. LOL

It had to do with an agency out of Texas that took credit cards, the agency was subsequently busted and when the books were audited the paper trail led back to guys charging hookers to their expense accounts and other guys doing exactly what she suggested, claiming hookers as legitimate and deductible business expenses landing a couple of guys in prison for tax fraud.

This is the Newbie board where there are no dumb questions, there are most definitely some dumb, not to mention dangerous answers though. Is it too much to ask for that if you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about, resist the urge to give out bad and dangerous advice to the newer members who might actually believe and act on said advice with disastrous consequences.

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Then you are simply speculating because you don't really know.  That's really dangerous on this board for obvious reasons.

Fire her.

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Suggesting that someone commit felony tax fraud, not so much.

Speculate all you want about things that won't send you to prison.

no questions, for lunches and other misc expenses. I can eat on $25 a week, so it builds up pretty fast. I make sure I buy her, wife not hooker, surprise gifts etc to keep in balance. She does some of the same..

Just giving him options, that's all

because both of us travel on business. Not a big deal.

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I hope the responders have more info than I can give you.

LLAP,
Swim

that makes your schedule variable...  has variable costs...  allows some flex as far as cash.  It could be anythihng but it must be real & approprite to YOU.  It could be a boat, a kayak, golf, hiking, bicycling, gym membership (would not do for me! LOL!), wood working, model buildng...  you'll need to go in search of speciality tools & equipment.  Try to pick at least some where she'll lose interest...  though you can not exclude her if she decodes to tag along.  Maybe more than 1 activity...    
Besides the cash, you need the flexible schedule.  
And you do need to increase your pocket cash some...  I know folks who rely on ATMs & in an emergency, you can't count on finding one or it working...  like the time I slid my bosses pickup onto the tapered end of a guardrail...  without damage...  in a rain storm and I needed cash to get the wheels back on the ground.

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But I have to say, it's when I listen to conversations like this one that I'm so thankful I never tied the noose, I mean knot.

I'm really sorry, OP, I know that's not at all helpful. Just my own reaction to the thread.

Lots of good stuff here...I think I'm going to end up with a combination of cash hobby (other than this hobby) expenses and stashing 20s when I can.

Thanks to all!

Good idea! And....... If my SO ever raises questions or we ever need money or cash for any reason, I don't ever hesitate to say "I've got us a little cash tucked away in case we ever need it honey"  And one thing I don't do is tuck a large sum away and go spend it right away.  

And for the record, I've done this(stashed cash away) way before I got in the hobby.  

#justsayin

Before I was ever involved in the hobby, I had a $200/week cash stipend for cigarettes & lunch. I'd accumulate a grand or so before I thought it was possible by eating lunches I'd made for myself, and apparently not smoking as much as she thought. I'd occasionally spring a really expensive date on her (helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, that sort of thing), and occasionally indulge myself in some material thing. One day, our best friend announced that she was pregnant & I gathered together the cash I had accumulated & put it in a white envelope when I went to the garage for a smoke. When I got back upstairs, my (now-ex) wife asked me if there was anything we could do for her. I produced the envelope and said, "you need this for more important things than I would have used it for". My wife was astonished (to be fair, so was i, as she was thinking exactly what I was thinking AGAIN), and plenty of grunty gratitude ensued after our guest left.

But that has nothing to do with your question. Cigarettes cost $8-9 a pack these days, way more than when my budget was set. A half-decent smoking habit costs 150-200 bucks a week. $300/week seems like a real reasonable amount for weekly discretionary expenses. So brown bag it discreetly (I didn't have to but my ex wasn't paying attention), and pretend to have a financial burden that you don't actually suffer from, and you'll have yourself a hobby budget. All it takes is pretending that you like & need cigarettes.

You'll have to be deciplined...  because of your situation.  Know going in that you can't shortcut this.  It might take you 2 or 3 weeks or what ever to accumulate the cash.  So be it.  You want to be in it for the long haul...   You can not afford to throw up a red flag just to score some pussy.

This advice is solid.  I am in the same boat as OP, though probably not the same extreme.  All I can do is save up here and there until I have enough for the provider and services I want.  The key is to not get desperate, because that's when you do irrational things.  My two best bets for getting out cash under the radar are (1) do the grocery shopping and then take out an extra $20 or $30 per week, then "lose" the receipt before I get home (not that I am being watched that closely), and (2) telling my SO in advance that some of us at the office are taking so-and-so out to lunch for a birthday gift, or chipping in to buy so-and-so a gift, and then taking out the money to pocket.  Works every time.