Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH wasting so much money on trivial events.

152 replies

user1484750550 · 13/04/2017 09:52

This is a bit of a first world problem, but it's been bugging me.

Basically, I have my birthday, Valentines day, Mother's day, Easter, and our wedding anniversary all within a 10 week period (between mid Feb and late April.) Despite my requests to not spend much and that a box of maltesers will do for valentines, and mother's day, and less than a tenner will do for my birthday and our anniversary, and a 99p chocolate egg will do for Easter, DH always spends a lot, and always buys the same things! Confused

For example...

Valentines; a litre of port, a soft toy, a box of milk tray, and a dvd I had never mentioned I wanted. A single red rose.

My birthday; a litre of whiskey, a box of dairy box, a soft toy, a CD I had never mentioned I wanted, and a book I never mentioned I wanted.

Mothers' day (no idea why he buys me anything and I have said he doesn't need to!) A litre of port, a box of milk tray, a soft toy.

Easter ... a bottle of whiskey, a giant chocolate egg, a toy bunny.

Our anniversary; a litre of brandy, a box of milk tray, a soft toy, a dvd, a book I never asked for or wanted.

Each of the 5 occasions he spends between £35 and £45 .. so he is spending around £185-£200 on those 5 events over the 10 weeks.

I have said numerous times that he doesn't need to get anything for Mother's day, and that a single rose and a 50p card will do for Valentines, and if it's not a 'special' birthday (40, 50, for example,) he doesn't need to spend more than a tenner. He ignores what I say every time.

3 years ago I suggested maybe he could get a bit of jewellery when he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, (as I am bored with chocolates, booze, soft toys, CDs, and DVDs!) and Argos do nice silver earrings for less than a tenner. He got a necklace with a diamond in it, and when I saw the transaction on his credit card statement, he had gone to a high street jewellers, and it was over £120! Shock It was not a landmark birthday either!

Thing is, with the money he spends on this stuff that I don't want or need, we could have a long weekend in Paris or London! I currently have THREE boxes of chocolates, a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of port, and a bottle of brandy. I went on a diet in mid Jan and said I am going teetotal too, and yet he has still bought shitloads of booze and chocolate for me. In addition, I am falling over all the effing soft toys he keeps buying!

He doesn't drink and has been on a diet since September, and has instructed me to not buy booze or chocolates. In addition, he has started saying this past couple of years that I should not buy him aftershave, clothes, CD's DVD's, or jewellery, (so I am flat out stuck on what to buy him when anything comes around!) Yet he never adheres to any of my requests.

Sounds like such a first world problem, and I feel like such a cow, but AIBU to feel pissed off by this?

OP posts:
Naicehamshop · 14/04/2017 11:33

He is a controlling, passive aggressive arse. Honestly, I can't think of any other way of explaining his behaviour. Hmm

Birdsgottaf1y · 14/04/2017 12:28

OP, what would happen if you started planning a short break for Easter, in January (before Valentines Day) and asked him to make that your gift?

Not having breaks/holidays, but spending joint money on stuff that wasn't needed, would be a deal breaker for me.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page