Men’s Meme…Money Matters

1. Who makes the financial decisions around your home?
2. Do you share in making them?
3. Are there ever any disagreements?

“Those questions are just cut and dry,” he said.

1. My wife is primarily the decision-maker because she is thrifty and more budget minded. That has a lot to do with the fact that I was a single mother for a long time and had to plan very frugally in order to afford the things we needed. Also, I hate shopping and have very few “wants” which means I never “want” to go “shopping.”

2. Sometimes we share in making the decisions. Most of the time we shop together. She doesn’t like to shop and I do. I purchase things like cell phones, computers, monitors, and I keep our computers up to date and repaired. Whereas she keeps our home well supplied and nice. I go to Sam’s Club and buy our household products once a month. That only leaves milk, bread, fresh fruit and veggies to buy weekly which is quick and easy shopping.

Electronics are another story. Tom and Alyssa always want the latest and greatest in electronic gadgets. I get attached to my electronic equipment. I kept my old cell phone so long that when I took it into the store, the young kids who work there passed it around because they had never seen that style before and thought it was hilarious. The phone wasn’t broken. It just didn’t have the technology to communicate to the newer cell towers. That should tell you how old it was, but I loved it! I was really sad to see it go. Now I have a Blackberry. I am lost. It does too much stuff. I think it can even make milk shakes and wash the car. I can’t ever find anything. **Sigh**

3. There are occasional tensions on this matter with the wife unit. She is the voice of reason. When Tom said this, I was like “The wife unit?” Sometimes he is weird.

The tensions happen when Tom wants to buy a billion dollar guitar or amplifier. First of all, we don’t have a billion dollars and I don’t want to charge anything. If we do not have the cash, we are not going to buy it. I always taught Alyssa that we would go to the store without money first and then come home and think about the things she wanted to buy. If she still wanted them the next day, then it was a wise purchase. Most of the time, she didn’t want the item that much and it was just the feeling of happiness at being in a store surrounded by new things which created the desire to impulse buy. This is a big issue for many women who try to mask unhappiness with themselves or situations by buying new things or they just get caught up in the thrill of shopping. I posted a discussion at BLOGNTWEET on Impulse Buying. Feel free to join in on the topic.

So the “husband unit” is still learning the ropes of frugal living.

He thinks it might kill him.