I love my DP very much he's the love of my life of that I'm sure. But we come from such different backgrounds it's sometimes hard. I had a classic middle class upbringing, DM went to into get a history degree, DF has two degrees and owns a successful business. My DS went on to get a PhD and married a professor. I plan to also start my PhD next year but more as a personal achievement than anything else. I speak 3 languages and I'm currently underemployed, but hopefully things will pick up once ML is over. My DP on the other hand only finished secondary school and has a manual job. He sometimes tells me that I have "big dreams" and that I'm not that special (in career terms) but I really beg to differ. I still pay for 2/3s of our bills and I'm ok with it, if the gender roles were reversed nobody would bat an eyelid.
I've already told him that putting me down career wise isn't very nice and he shouldn't do it. I never tell.him.he has a dead end job or out him.down for his dreams of one day having his own business.
Because of all the financial implications I don't plan to marry him, at least not for some time. I think sometimes I'm being materialistic but my exH was a jerk about it and ended up with not a lot of a settlement but at least got our joint assets secured into a trust for our DD.
My family loves my DP but is always suspicious that he always thinks about his DC (my DSC) before me. For example, when we all moved together, o thought it was sensible to just buy whatever we could but he was adamant it had to be all set up by the time we all moved in. He also once used my CC without my permission to buy his son a phone he had already promised to him.
I paid for his car and now we're buying a house. I plan to set it up as tenants in common, in the end it's a sensible idea, the majority of bills are covered by me, and a mortgage is much lower than rent.
Part of the ongoing issue is that his DS (who is glued to his phone to his DM and her boyfriend) won't share a room with the baby so we have to get a bigger house. My DD on the other hand complains about not having her own room.
As a family we actually live a very nice and peaceful life, but sometimes I feel like he's taking advantage of me. I do think that's just down to how different our backgrounds and incomes are. Apart from the furniture incident (and the credit card one) he's never seemed to be in just for the money. When I explain things to him (like when he had the idea of just having one room as diner and lounge with no space for my desk) he always understands and we just move on from it.
Then my DM is sure his exW will only demand more money from him (which is understandable) in fact she did but he just said no.
Am I being silly for feeling this way? I think it's completely natural and just something that is bound to happen when your lives are so different.