Does it irritates you when your partner makes unnecessary purchases?
By biznizman01
@biznizman01 (581)
Philippines
January 13, 2009 9:11pm CST
My goal for this year is to pay off all my debt on our credit cards. My wife often times makes purchases that I deem unnecessary. I talked to her and decided that there will be no more purchases until the bills are fully paid. The excuse I always hear are "I work for the money and I deserve to buy things she wanted". Do you have a partner who can't control her/his spending?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@youngsweetheart (772)
• United States
14 Jan 09
Actually, I AM the partner who makes the unneccessary purchases.
I too want to pay off my debt - but not at the expense of never buying anything frivolous until I've done so. You can set up a responsible spending budget to allow for both faster payment of debt AND those extra purchases.
The way I look at it is - if I deny myself small things all the time, I'm much more likely to do something stupid with my money, because I'll feel repressed. Better to spend 20 bucks on a DVD every once in while than blow 300 dollars on a home theater system because I never indulge.
My suggestion? Don't cut off your partner (or yourself) from unnecessary spending all together; rather, set a budget (or allowance) monthly for those purchases. Pay all your bills on payday, rather than waiting for when they are due, and then that money comes out of your budget up front, and you have a better idea of how much "extra" money you really have - even if you pay double or triple what's due on your bills, you or your partner may have enough left for one or two unnecessary purchases without going overboard.
@biznizman01 (581)
• Philippines
14 Jan 09
Actually I set up a weekly allowance for both of us. The money we save from that allowance would be the money we would buy for the things we wanted. You see, I don't want to cut off my partner completely, but when I see that there are 0 savings, that is when I need to put my foot down and lay down the law. We have been married for 5 years and it disgust me to see our savings at such a small amount. And when I look around, there are a lot of unnecessary things cluttering the house and her cabinet. So this year would be different. I'm teaching her to budget the agreed upon allowance, which is more than an appropriate amount.
@youngsweetheart (772)
• United States
14 Jan 09
Good for you. Best of luck in getting rid of your debt!
@Trace86 (5030)
• United States
14 Jan 09
I get more irritated when my husband spends more than he needs to just for convenience. It really gets to me when he pays for expedited shipping on stuff. I feel that he should just take a deep breath and wait for it to come. Why waste money to get something faster when it is not an emergency?
I am very frugal and like to shop around for the best price and free shipping. I am fairly patient and can wait, as long as I know it is coming eventually.
@biznizman01 (581)
• Philippines
14 Jan 09
That is really irritating. The money can be better use as a savings or other stuff. Thanks for the response.
@biznizman01 (581)
• Philippines
14 Jan 09
Good for you. Me and my wife are planning to cut our credit card these year. I think it would be best. Thanks for the response.
@syeryn (573)
• United States
14 Jan 09
My husband and I have a rule about using credit cards. We have them and use them only if the purchase is a necessity item and we do not have cash on hand. The rule is if we use them we must pay them off before the end of the month so that we do not build up a large balance on them. Paying them off before the billing cycle ends also prevents us from incurring any finance charges.
