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AIBU?

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How to make my peace with our lifestyle

165 replies

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 07:58

Firstly, I know that this is a very first-world problem that I shouldn't be whining about. I'm sorry.

DH and I have very different approaches to consumption and finances. He loves nothing more than the buzz of buying and gifting, lavish meals and treats. The bank to be engaged with only on the second warning. I like the odd treat, the odd lavish meal, but mostly I like the idea of only buying what we need, make do and mend etc. I like to eat healthily, pay bills on time etc etc. All very boring.

Until now, we have never found ourselves in significant financial difficulty.

Which means that I have to let go of the idea that my approach is better than his.The fact that he took the children out shopping a few days after Christmas and got them both smartwatches? The fact that he buys expensive clothes and shoes online, they don't fit, and then he doesn't return them but leaves them laying around? His choice.

Me panicking because we have a big bill coming up and not entirely sure how we'll pay it? Me despairing at the carbon footprint of our family and my children’s materialism? Me wanting to save money for big bills or a rainy day? My choice.

What do I do?

And yes I have posted about this before. I have asked for help to change things. I'm now asking for help to accept them.

OP posts:
JanuaryBluehoo · 18/01/2025 09:42

Sorry if it's been mentioned but can you split all wages straight into monzo pots?

So he can see these pots growing but he knows he can't touch them and whatever is left from pots including savings pots investment, holidays and so on, is his?

zzplex · 18/01/2025 09:42

It's not often there's consensus amongst posters on MN but this seems to be one of those rare occasions.

OP: hope the significance of that carries you through the difficulty of addressing your DH's approach to spending. Stay strong!

JustHavinABreak · 18/01/2025 09:40

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 09:27

Yes the support was appreciated. So I invite you to leave this thread as bullies aren't welcome here.

I genuinely read that comment in an entirely different light. I honestly thought that the comment was sarcasm. That, however, is probably a reflection on my pre-coffee headspace. So I'm very sorry @Meetinginthemiddle and especially @User09678

Gonna shut up now til I've had enough caffeine.

Trainors · 18/01/2025 09:39

My husband is a spender. Will think nothing of a meal out, loves spending loads at Christmas etc. I am a saver. In some ways I have come round to his way of thinking .. for example a few years ago he wanted to go on an abroad holiday AI. I was hesitant to spend 4k on a holiday but we did and it was so wonderful I have conceded that it is indeed worth splashing out on an expensive holiday once a year.

The way we work it is that I’m in charge of the savings and although they are in a joint account he cannot see them (his choice- he could request access if he wanted from the bank). The rest of the money in our joint account is fair game and for spending on what we both want and when it’s gone it’s gone. Big purchases (anything that wouldn’t be affordable from the main joint account) we talk about and ultimately it is me who says whether we can afford them or not.. or if it’s something like a car or holiday how much the budget is.

This works well for us. A few times when we’ve done something big (like get an extension on our house) DH has commented that we wouldn’t even have that money if he had been in charge of the savings.

Cynic17 · 18/01/2025 09:39

Well, obviously no joint bank accounts. And then each of you just does what you think is best, if you can't agree on some kind of middle ground.

Billydavey · 18/01/2025 09:37

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 08:11

This is what I'm thinking... I'll figure out the monthly expenses, weight it according to our salaries (he's the high earner) and then we put it in at the beginning of the month. Then he can spend his leftovers and I can save mine.

Edited

The risk however is you save for a rainy day, he spends, then when the rainy day comes it’s you who funds it.

i dont have an answer to this as “forcing” your partner to save is apparently controlling…

Cycleaway · 18/01/2025 09:34

Sounds like you could make a lucrative sideline putting the unreturned things on vinted! That isn’t meant to sound flippant btw, you probably could do that on the quiet, and save the money for something big like a holiday. Then when everyone wonders where the money has come from, let them know… and imagine how much nicer a holiday etc you could have had for what those things cost in the first place! This could massively backfire I suppose, but the idea of recouping some of the money that’s been wasted and saving it might make you feel a bit more in control of things if you don’t think you can change them

SoftPillow · 18/01/2025 09:34

If you don’t have enough readily available for a large unexpected bill I’d say you were in a precarious position. What % your income do you both have saved?

I can’t believe he’s spending on this stuff whilst you’ve got minimal amounts in the bank, to me that’s really irresponsible of him when you earn enough to be saving.

Could you run through some scenarios with him? Perhaps an unexpected car bill (mine just cost me £3k) plus broken boiler, the loss of one of your salaries, mortgage rate increase? This would have me worried too OP. I’m not sure I could happily be with someone that couldn’t see past the short term.

12purplepencils · 18/01/2025 09:29

My xH was like this, terrible with money and loved compulsively buying stuff (usually for himself), and not doing things like comparing house insurance so we paid a massive premium every month. We also ended up in a big expensive house with loads of maintenance needing doing but he didn’t want to spend money on boring stuff like that.

i didn’t like it at all, but luckily he earned a shed load initially so it was ok. Or kind of ok, we were constantly in overdraft. He would have boxes of wine delivered costing a couple of hundred. I’d be selling clothes on eBay or Vinted to feel like I could buy myself something new. We didn’t have a joint account and it didn’t feel like his money was mine too.

one of many reasons we divorced. On paper now I’m much poorer but I’m in control of my finances which feels amazing.

anyway I know where you’re coming from, even if overall the financial picture is ok it’s horrible to be wasteful and over indulgent and unwise with money and to feel you don’t have agency over that. It made me feel very icky.

Owly11 · 18/01/2025 09:28

What am I reading? You make it sound as if you have no say. For god's sake you need to be discussing this every week until you reach some agreement between you. Is the rest of your relationship like this? If you can't reach some kind of agreement or compromise the en your relationship is dead in the water.

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 09:27

JustHavinABreak · 18/01/2025 09:25

Is that really helpful?

Yes the support was appreciated. So I invite you to leave this thread as bullies aren't welcome here.

OP posts:
Matildahoney · 18/01/2025 09:26

Maybe you should look at it from the point it might teach your children bad habits, they may not be in the position in their lives to be able to afford everything they've been accustomed to. They need to learn good financial habits especially if they're going to want their own houses one day.

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 09:25

3LemonsAndLime · 18/01/2025 09:02

I think giving you ideas on how to handle this is not the best of ideas, as it’s enabling you and possibly making you stay in a situation longer than you would. (Similar to some women who say ‘he hits me, but is great at other times, how do I get him to stop/learn to live with being hit, so I can stay for the children?’. When everyone removed from the situation can see the only thing the person should do is get out).

But assuming you know your own life, and know best, I would have a chat with DH and say you’ve going to stop taking on the mental load of worrying about $, and in order to do so, the best way forward for you both is to have one joint Bills account, into which you both have an auto transfer of you total yearly bills divided by month and split in salary proportion.

Then you have a second account called House, which is 1-2% of your houses value, again divided by the month. Again you both put in an auto transfer every month from your salaries, in proportion. (As an aside, 1-2% is minimum what is recommended people spend on home upkeep each year. So this is for emergency household work when the boiler/oven breaks, the plumber needs to be called or, hopefully, you planning ahead and using it to replace the oven/washing machine/roof when you know it’s getting old etc).

Then you have a third account called Holidays - same as above. You can’t take a holiday until you have money in the account to pay for it.

After than, all your money is your own, in your own personal accounts. You can save and he can spend, it’s your own choice. But the three accounts above are not to be touched except for those things. Make them hard to access the money if you too, as the second and third should only be accessed for long planned purchases anyway.

Personally, I would say you need an Emergency Fund of 3 months expenses first, and forgo the holiday fund (or pay more from your own portions) to fund this. But I suspect your DH will not respect that account and see it as one to ‘raid’ when he wants something. So I’d do the above and probably save on my own, knowing that my own savings won’t be used for emergency big bills anymore.

Finally, you have to stay chill, and enforce it. So there isn’t enough money in the holiday account for a holiday DP wants? Then you don’t raid another account, you go on a smaller holiday (or no holiday) and save up for next year. If DP buys iPads or smart watches from his own account, fine. If he raids one of the accounts, you insist he repay the money immediately. If he goes into his overdraft to do so, it is NOT YOUR PROBLEM TO FIX. You have detached. You are chill. The main accounts are secure, everything else is his problem.

In a perfect world, I’d also suggest 6 month Emergency Fund account, offset against your mortgage, and money into your pensions. But that’s something you can work towards. I think it will be v hard to do the above as it is.

Edited

This is brilliant... i would love to have a set-up like this and will suggest it to my husband. Thanks very much @3LemonsAndLime

OP posts:
JustHavinABreak · 18/01/2025 09:25

User09678 · 18/01/2025 08:02

Sounds so hard for you

Is that really helpful?

Nina1013 · 18/01/2025 09:25

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 08:47

We don't have financial problems though. We're way more precarious than we should be, given our income, but we're okay.

Your post literally states that it hasn’t been until now that you’ve been in significant financial difficulty.

Which means you are in financial difficulty.

Your subsequent posts say you’re not.

I have no idea what help you are actually asking for, or what the point of the post was.

Largeandsmall789 · 18/01/2025 09:24

Absolutely fantastic advice from 3LemonsAndLime
Advice we should all follow!
Mumsnet at its absolute best!

The problem though with op’s dh is that op would still have to be alert all of the time as to whether he has raided one of the three accounts. And maybe that is manageable and she will feel happy having more visible control over the situation, But she will still be managing it.

In other words this issue is about trust as much as it is about money,

And I am not sure how you can respect and trust a dh who endangers their family’s security like this?

To my mind it’s like entrusting your husband to do the school run when you know he drives recklessly at times? Ultimately you just wouldn’t allow it because you know eventually it will lead to serious, possibly irrevocable, trouble.

JessicafelloffTheKnappett · 18/01/2025 09:22

MillyVannily · 18/01/2025 09:12

He is the high earner, so ultimately it's his money and how he spends it is his decision. My DH is also the higher earner and I can't really control what he spends his money on as long as he pays his share of our bills. Not much you can do apart from starting to earn more and save more of your own money.

But! Buying your kids stuff without your approval sucks and shouldn't happen. If he spends money on himself that's fine but buying big things for kids without consulting you is a bit rude.

Maybe I've been married for way too long but just because he earns more doesn't mean it's his money! It's all family money and should all be in the family pot.
I earn more than DH but everything is shared, and we each have the same spending money for ourselves.... to spend how we wish.

thepariscrimefiles · 18/01/2025 09:22

AlpacaMittens · 18/01/2025 08:51

"Me despairing at the carbon footprint of our family"

Howling!!! 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Why is this funny? Are you a climate change denier?

Princessfluffy · 18/01/2025 09:22

Have you built up an emergency fund of six months salary and a fund for replacing expensive items?

Maybe having separate pots for these things will be helpful.

And having your own spending money accounts sounds good too.

Maybe see a financial adviser together as a way to get closer to be being in the same page.

Scottishgirl85 · 18/01/2025 09:20

I couldn't live like this, and he's teaching your children to be very materialistic, which is very sad. Do they seem grateful for things?
You might be fine now, but it'll catch up with you eventually. I also wouldn't be surprised if he has secret credit cards...

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 18/01/2025 09:20

As a couple are you.living beyond your means? If you are you've got to stop as it's just a matter of time before it gets really messy and quite horrible for you all as a family.

thepariscrimefiles · 18/01/2025 09:20

Meetinginthemiddle · 18/01/2025 08:10

The thing is that we haven't been in financial trouble. So while his approach might seem reckless it's just responsible enough to keep us on track. Until we get sick or lose our jobs, of course, but he doesn't like thinking about that.

So can you pay this bill that you mentioned in your OP? If you can't, then you are in financial trouble.

BMW6 · 18/01/2025 09:19

There really ought to be a happy medium here, where you can sit down and agree a budget that satisfies your sensible need for savings but also gives him an amount to spend on whatever he likes - and you too!

Neither of you is wrong but you are at opposite ends and the solution is to meet in the middle.

DH and I are exactly the same. He was the spendthrift and had zero savings and paid thousands in overdrawn fees before we met (he got £4k back...)

We now have a paid off house and 40k savings. He looks back amazed at how foolish he was.

BeensOnToost · 18/01/2025 09:19

Have you thought ahead to retirement and how accepting his spending will affect that?

Your method means you can retire and have a nice lifestyle. What does his mean?

HonoraBridge · 18/01/2025 09:18

Two points - your DH is living a life that he simply cannot afford to live and he is not behaving as if he is part of a married couple. This must be incredibly stressful for you, OP, because he is being deeply selfish and irresponsible, and there is a real risk that his house of cards will come tumbling down, dragging you and your DC with it. I don’t think you should accept his behaviour as it is dangerous and damaging.You say that his spending is not causing problems but it is - the family has no significant savings so you are “teetering on the brink” financially. What if something goes wrong eg job loss, serious illness?

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