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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to be bothered that DH expects me to pay him back?

432 replies

Tuatara22 · 15/04/2023 15:22

I recently started a new job after being out of work for some time and I haven't yet received my first paycheck. DH has always been funny about money, for lack of a better word. We have completely separate finances (his preference) and he pays some bills and I pay others, and for some bills I transfer my portion to him and he pays it from his account. He has a spreadsheet that calculates the bills and how we split them, and I pay about a third of everything, since he earns 3x what I earn. Personally I find this strict and precise division of finances odd and pointless, but he gets his back up whenever I raise the matter, so I've let it be for the most part. He grew up working class and his parents struggled at times, and I think that's lead to him having some anxiety around money and seems to always feel a bit insecure about finances even though he earns a good salary. Drives an old car, never buys clothes for himself, purchases require long deliberation etc. I grew up financially comfortable and don't have the same anxiety about money. We don't have kids.

He loaned me some money this month (a few hundred) to buy new clothes and shoes for work and other bits and bobs like hair products, and he said he'll keep a tab to track what I owe him and I can pay him back over the course of a few months. That's fine. I don't expect him to buy everything for me like a sugar daddy.

I have very little left in my bank account and today I asked him if he could transfer me some money to buy a few plants for the garden and mentioned I won't have enough left to buy lunches for work so I'll have packed lunches until the end of the month. He sent me £50 and told me he'll add it to the tab.

I didn't think much of this in the moment, but a few hours later I'm sitting here feeling a bit off. I wouldn't expect or ask him to pay me back for lunch money or household/garden items, and I'm sure my father wouldn't make my mum pay him back for little bits either. I feel like he doesn't fully see our marriage as a complete partnership and sees his money as entirely his. Like there is no marital or household money. If I were to raise this it would probably lead to a fight and me being told I'm entitled. Am I?

OP posts:
thesurrealist · 20/02/2024 14:06

NurseCranesRolodex · 15/04/2023 15:37

JFC No.
I'd get yourself out of this situation, honestly it's beyond weird. What if you had to leave work through I'll health, would you have to earn token by say, cleaning, ironing.

This won't change.
LTB

This. I've been married to a man like this. Get out now, they only get worse.

AlwaysGinPlease · 20/02/2024 14:10

gamerchick · 20/02/2024 10:00

Wtf dug this up? Hmm

Good question! Why?!

LifeExperience · 20/02/2024 14:37

I wouldn't live like this. and neither should you. He has severe mental health issues regarding money that need to be addressed. He needs counseling, probably trauma therapy, to get over his unresolved childhood anxieties about money.

IMO, a married couple should join finances and enjoy the lifestyle that they can mutually afford together. If a man was not willing to do that from the beginning of marriage I wouldn't marry him.

LardoBurrows · 20/02/2024 14:42

Why are people commenting on a Zombie Thread?

gamerchick · 20/02/2024 15:13

AlwaysGinPlease · 20/02/2024 14:10

Good question! Why?!

Who knows. The post that bumped it doesnt make any sense anyroad.

Viviennemary · 20/02/2024 15:17

What a skinflint. It really can't be pleasant living with this. I would leave and do without his three times yours salary.

Honeymooner24 · 20/02/2024 15:36

I find this thread weird. You've been out for work for some time and now you finally have a job you earn 3 x less than DH. There are no children involved. Why have you been out of work and why do you earn so little - those answers are needed to be able to make any reasonable judgement on the rest of the scenario.

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