I wouldn't marry him until he paid off his debt, now I'm in charge of our money

When Sarah Reeve got engaged she gave fiance Lee an ultimatum: he had to pay off his debt before she would marry him.

"I was paying my mortgage and bills whereas he was giving his mum some rent," Sarah says of their situations when they met in their early 20s.

So they set a wedding date for two years ahead which gave Lee the time to pay off the £2,000 bank loan - £4,000 in today's money, external - he had taken out to buy a car.

Once Lee's debt was cleared, the couple paid everything into a joint account and Sarah took charge of bills, saving and budgeting.

"He said 'you can sort it all out and take charge with money because I'm rubbish with it,'" she says.

Sarah's experience reflects a wider trend of more than four fifths of women being actively involved in managing daily finances like day-to-day spending and household budgeting, according to St James's Place's Women and Wealth Report.

Sarah earns £24,000 working part-time in insurance and Lee worked in maintenance at the same factory for 27 years, earning about £26,000, before being made redundant four years ago.

The couple, who have been together for 25 years and have two daughters, aged 19 and 21, have always thought of money as shared.

"It's very much our money rather than mine or yours which is really nice especially as I took four years off work when we had children," says Sarah.

After getting out of debt, Sarah says she and Lee have never overstretched themselves and have made regular overpayments on their mortgage.

"That really helps as if we've had a bad month, at least you know and can find the reason."

Family Action, a charity that offers financial support to families, says that when money is tight the first step "is getting a clear picture of what's going on as this helps you understand your current position so you can make the best decisions possible together going forward".