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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

WTF is this behaviour?

270 replies

SquirrelsAreNuts · 20/10/2025 10:38

For background, DH and I have a combined income of about £150k but he earns way more than I do. I have a minimum wage term-time job because I do all the childcare for our DC and DSC. We also live in one of the most expensive parts of the SE. Wouldn't be my choice, but it's so we can be close to DH's DC (my DSC).

We're comfortable but not rolling in it. I mention all that just because what triggered this thread was money, but it's not really about money IYSWIM?

We've had next year's holiday reserved but not paid for since the summer. It was coming up to the time we have to confirm everything and start putting deposits down and booking flights, etc. DH has been fully up to speed on all these plans, the timings, the costs, everything. I've managed the admin but have kept him informed of all the details at each step. As far as I was concerned he had signed off on all of it. I don't know what more I could have done, which is why I'm baffled.

Last night DH and I sat down together and spent about an hour searching the best flights in terms of price and time and figured out the most cost effective way to do it was fly out to one airport on a one way ticket and fly back from a different airport on a one way ticket.

We booked the outbound flight together and then he lost interest and went to sit in the front room. So I carried on and booked the inbound flight on my own (but with his agreement, I thought).

Once it was done I went into the front room and told him I'd booked the flights back and he started freaking out. Saying that now we're committed to the holiday cost and he didn't realise it was going to be so much. How much was I going to pay towards it, etc, etc. I was floored. What did he think we'd just been doing? It was such a weird reaction from him I didn't know how to respond other than WTF.

He freaked out so much he insisted I cancelled the whole thing. So this morning I've wasted a load of time cancelling the flights and trying to get our money back. The kids are going to be so upset.

He sort of has form for this. In the past he's agreed to having work done on our house (which is a fixer upper). Has let me put in a load of time and effort contacting builders and getting quotes, etc, only to say no to everything at the last minute.

I feel utterly powerless in this relationship in terms of finances. I don't think he's being controlling as such, it's more his extreme anxiety at spending any money. But the net effect on me and the kids is the same. House and garden is crumbling around our ears and we never go anywhere.

For the first time ever in our marriage I am wondering what it would be like to leave him as this latest holiday reverse ferret feels like one too many. But the thought is terrifying. I'm sure if you asked him, he'd say I'm a wasteful spendthrift who just wants the high life. But to him, the 'highlife' is putting the heating on, or having the dishwasher on anything but Eco setting.

I haven't been able to stop crying this morning but I can't put my finger on why. It's not just the cancelled holiday. It's the weird behaviour - letting me do all that organising and spending an hour booking flights with me then completely changing his mind - I don't even know what to call it.

OP posts:
TonTonMacoute · 20/10/2025 12:47

Ineedanewsofa · 20/10/2025 11:16

You need to get more involved with the finances @SquirrelsAreNuts. Practically you’re the one with the finance skills in the relationship so it makes sense to use those skills iyswim? The inheritance sitting in a current account example would tip me over the edge! The different pots suggestion is a good one, so your DH can see how much is allocated to what rather than just seeing a ‘chunk’ of money disappear from a total - I always feel a bit apprehensive making a big spend even though it’s always thought through and researched.
If he won’t agree to try a different way then maybe it is a control method and that’s totally different

This

Start budgeting, and showing how and where money is spent. Have it all on paper/spreadsheet.

NebulousSadTimes · 20/10/2025 12:48

he way he speaks about my attitude to money, you'd think I was some precious princess who wants diamond shoes

This is very telling. As is the timing of the change in finances, you being on maternity leave. Controlling men very often start or escalate round about the time the woman is pregnant.

You say you know why he split with his first wife @SquirrelsAreNuts , if it is what he has told you please be aware that they can be very believable. If it's not from another, reliable, source it may be embellished or untrue.

His behaviour may well come from his 'anxiety' around money; strong men don't feel the need or want to control, insecure ones very often do, in whatever way they see fit.

Please be careful going forward with this, do not blindly trust everything he tells you, he has his own interests at heart, it's very obvious from what you've said where you, and his children, are in his priorities.

Flowers
Differentforgirls · 20/10/2025 12:51

SquirrelsAreNuts · 20/10/2025 11:08

Yes, his grew up with his mum in a council flat and they had fuck all.They both still have the same mentality. My own childhood was very shit in lots of ways but I have no experience of financial insecurity, so although I do sympathise, I also find it very frustrating and exhausting.

Where did the inheritance come from?

AquaForce · 20/10/2025 12:51

I think he sees it as his money, even though you are married. He doesn't see you as a financial equal. You want to spend 'his' money. As you don't have access to it, he can indulge you, then pull the rug by refusing to commit.

Look at the mess you're in. Why are you paying then asking him to reimburse you? You're taking a risk every time you try to force him to spend. You might find yourself out of pocket one day. You'll pay for something that can't be fully refunded and he won't bail you out.

The hobby comment is unfortunate. I had one of these men, wouldn't do anything with me but always up for doing things with other people. By the time we finished it had been years since we'd even had a drink in a pub never mind a holiday. OP, he spends money on his hobby because he wants to do that. He doesn't want to go on this holiday or spend any other money on you. That's really why this is happening.

SquirrelsAreNuts · 20/10/2025 12:53

NotOverlypleased · 20/10/2025 12:41

Op, you saying you'd been together for 18 years - was that a typo? If not, his older DC can't need much input from you can they?

I agree with others that you need to gain some kind of control here. HE doesn't care if he never does anything, goes anywhere, experiences life, lives in a habitable home, but you do! You have one life, one precious life. Don't let this man dictate how you live it.

Sod his anxiety, that's his problem and he needs to deal with it, not drag you down with him. And before all the "but you don't understand what it's like to grow up poor" crew jump on me, yes I bloody well do! What that did for me is to make me want to get out there and enjoy what I can afford because I've earned it. We had nothing as kids - no holidays, no hobbies, no treats, no car, no new clothes, no central heating, nothing - and I was determined my children would have a warm home, hobbies, days out and holidays to make memories. I love spending money on those I love, it gives me great joy, so there's nothing inevitable about growing up poor and becoming a miser.

He has hefty savings by the sound of it, but won't share them. I could not live like that, you shouldn't live like that, so you need to have a serious talk about your future together - how does he see it, how do you see it? It may be you're ultimately incompatible, it may be he's amenable to change, but you need to be firm and put a stop to his controlling behaviour.

Not a typo! True his kids are older but I'm very close with them and they are fully part of our family and household. Sure, they don't need their hands holding when they cross the road but there has been boyfriend dramas and changing A Level choices dramas and which university to apply for dramas. They're good kids but they can be...dramatic!

I'm of the same mindset as you. I don't have any idea what it's like to grow up poor in monetary terms, but my childhood was very emotionally neglectful and although we had all the nice middle class trappings, we also didn't actually do anything very fun or joyful in my family. I'm determined my kids will not experience that. I want them to see the world and have great experiences and learn that they are worth having good things happen to them.

DH thinks it would be a valuable life lesson for them to know what it's like to freeze in a garret and eat gruel. I want better for our children than we had.

OP posts:
SquirrelsAreNuts · 20/10/2025 12:54

Differentforgirls · 20/10/2025 12:51

Where did the inheritance come from?

Oh gosh, that is very, very complicated and would be outing. Distant extended family in a nutshell.

OP posts:
Meandmyguy · 20/10/2025 13:01

Why are on earth are you going to allow your children to be disappointed.

Just take them on on holiday yourself.

Trickedbyadoughnut · 20/10/2025 13:01

The thing is - even if it's trauma from having experienced poverty - he's still manipulating and controlling your behaviour, presumably with the aim of getting you to just stop any suggestions to spend any money.

Sounds like he actively wants you just not to suggest holidays and home improvements and just edge around issues on eggshells, too afraid to raise them in case he freaks out. Or that you buy them from "your own money".

99bottlesofkombucha · 20/10/2025 13:02

I think i would tell him how I felt when I cancelled, and that I have promised myself never ever to feel like this again, I’d have piled all his hobby gear in a room, or listed it on a paper, priced it, and written him a speech for the kids where he says ‘I spend money on my hobby because its important to me and makes me happy. I won’t take you on holiday because you aren’t important enough to spend money on. So I’ve canceled that holiday your mum and I had talked about, I think it would be better for you to stay home and eat gruel with no heating, and I’ll be using my expesnxie equipment name to play hobby. Then I’d write him a speech for me that said what I felt he thighs about me and how little shits he gave for my time and effirt when he made me cancel, then I’d read my speech, which says I will never ever let you make me feel like this again. And one absolutely necessary condition for me to stay was a credit card in his name that I could have and use to book holidays. And if that’s a no please pack a bag and go. Now. I don’t want you here. I don’t want you in the same house.

therapy for the money attitude would be another requirement.

Reasontoreason · 20/10/2025 13:02

Might sound strange but could he be gambling? When he is winning happy to book things . Then has a big loss and panics about money . Would explain the big u turn

Comtesse · 20/10/2025 13:08

That kind of bait and switch would do my head in. At this point I would want to take the kids away with a cheapo holiday in the UK and leave him behind.

ThatCyanCat · 20/10/2025 13:09

DH thinks it would be a valuable life lesson for them to know what it's like to freeze in a garret and eat gruel.

Why does he bother earning all that money if he thinks it's better for his kids to live like they're poor?

Starlight1984 · 20/10/2025 13:10

Meandmyguy · 20/10/2025 13:01

Why are on earth are you going to allow your children to be disappointed.

Just take them on on holiday yourself.

This.

SquirrelsAreNuts · 20/10/2025 13:16

ThatCyanCat · 20/10/2025 13:09

DH thinks it would be a valuable life lesson for them to know what it's like to freeze in a garret and eat gruel.

Why does he bother earning all that money if he thinks it's better for his kids to live like they're poor?

Exactly!

OP posts:
Citrusbergamia · 20/10/2025 13:21

To those of you saying 'just go on holiday without him', the OP has already said that the cost was put on the credit card she holds, with a view to him paying it off. She can't afford to repay the card on her own.

He sounds very selfish; his money is his etc. especially when it comes to his hobby 😏funny that. Even with his nature to drag his feet to buy anything for his hobby, he still went ahead and bought it didn't he? Makes you wonder if he thought 'I'll go through the motions of pretending' and getting you onboard but always had the intention to buy the hobby stuff anyway!

I do hope you are making him tell the kids that the holiday is cancelled. Please don't be the one to tell them. Let him see their disappointment first hand because he deserves to see that. And once he's done that, you need to then spell it out to him that you've had enough and things need to change otherwise he needs to move out.

YourAquaLion · 20/10/2025 13:21

Holdonforsummer · 20/10/2025 11:05

I suggest ring-fencing money for the family holiday (a separate savings account, put £400 a month in or whatever you want to spend). Try to build it up in advance and then agree together what to spend it on. I like holidays more than my husband so this works for us. I also try and earn extra money which we agree I can put towards the holiday budget.

This is a great suggestion. Also, can you get a joint account in addition to your separate ones at all? I feel like you need some agency here and some way to access the money- especially if he is rubbish with money! If you both put in an agreed amount each month for the holiday or anything else agreed on that might work.

But I am baffled as to why he was there booking an outbound flight with you and freaked out at the one coming back. I know it’s hard and you seem super nice and understanding but I feel like you should have stood your ground and not cancelled it all - he doesn’t get to go back on this one! I had a micro of sympathy until you mentioned he doesn’t mind spending on his own hobbies - that really isn’t fair and needs a serious conversation. Good luck OP!

UpDownAllAround1 · 20/10/2025 13:21

Gambler I bet

ThatCyanCat · 20/10/2025 13:21

SquirrelsAreNuts · 20/10/2025 13:16

Exactly!

Why did his relationship with his children's mother end?

TheCaribbeanIsCallingMe · 20/10/2025 13:23

OMG, I just typed out a huge post and it deleted. Never mind. The crux of it was that you need to book a holiday for you & the kids, even if it's somewhere cheap like Spain. Leave him behind. Let him stew on that.

What will retirement be like with him? Pretty boring would be my guess. Me and DH are going to travel for 3 months every year, as soon as he retires at 55.

As my user name suggests, we travel a lot now, and currently have 3 long haul trips booked. It's not just the holiday that gives you joy, it's the planning, the booking, the anticipation, buying new clothes, watching video's of the hotel(s)....and I think the older you get, the more money you have, so you should push the boat out more, like 1st class rail travel, premium seats on the plane....would your DH's head combust?

Someone said something to me once about money, and I've thought of it often "It's only money, I'll just make some more"......so very true!

Apocketfilledwithposies · 20/10/2025 13:29

That sounds like a really miserable way to live.

Why can't you see the main finances without ASKING to see them?

Why were you living with a rotten bathroom floor that the bath fell through before he would green light it being fixed?

Things like the bathroom - he has inheritance money sat in a normal account, not gaining maximum interest and not even being used to make the house safe for his kids so I'm not surprised he vetoed a lovely family holiday.

I'd be really really sad too op. For my kids and for myself. You and they deserve a better happier life and it may be that that has to be without him if he can't make some radical changes.

I can't decide if this is purposeful financial abuse or not on his part eg is it intentional, but regardless of if it is or not the outcome for you and your kids is the same.

176509user · 20/10/2025 13:31

I’d say he’s doing it on purpose,OP. He knows what he’s doing and he’s relying on your confusion to get away with it… each and every time !
Does he even apologise to you for putting you through obvious distress ?

If I were you I’d book a little holiday for you and the kids and realise how easy life is without him.
He sounds like very hard work and very controlling. He likes asserting himself as the boss.
You do have a choice as to whether you continue to put up with it, or not.
What is he doing with the money ? I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s squirrelling some away for his hobby. Sounds like he thinks it’s his money. But it’s marital money. So do you even have a joint account for basics or do you have to ask him for money for food and clothes for the kids ?

Nevereatcardboard · 20/10/2025 13:32

99bottlesofkombucha · 20/10/2025 13:02

I think i would tell him how I felt when I cancelled, and that I have promised myself never ever to feel like this again, I’d have piled all his hobby gear in a room, or listed it on a paper, priced it, and written him a speech for the kids where he says ‘I spend money on my hobby because its important to me and makes me happy. I won’t take you on holiday because you aren’t important enough to spend money on. So I’ve canceled that holiday your mum and I had talked about, I think it would be better for you to stay home and eat gruel with no heating, and I’ll be using my expesnxie equipment name to play hobby. Then I’d write him a speech for me that said what I felt he thighs about me and how little shits he gave for my time and effirt when he made me cancel, then I’d read my speech, which says I will never ever let you make me feel like this again. And one absolutely necessary condition for me to stay was a credit card in his name that I could have and use to book holidays. And if that’s a no please pack a bag and go. Now. I don’t want you here. I don’t want you in the same house.

therapy for the money attitude would be another requirement.

I agree with this. You need to tell him that this is a deal breaker and you are not prepared to go through this ever again. He has a choice - either change his behaviour by getting therapy or he has to leave.

He is damaging the children by cancelling a holiday for no good reason and you are damaging them (and yourself) by allowing this to happen repeatedly. It’s a form of financial abuse.

moderndilemma · 20/10/2025 13:33

@SquirrelsAreNuts I 100% understand why you are upset. That is an awful reaction from him and somehow he needs to understand that. He upset you, and has (or will when they find out) upset the children. Whatever the reason, his behaviour is ingrained and deeply rooted. I don't think you can make any headway on this without external professional support - both emotional/psychological and financial.

Once your (understandable) upset has reduced a little I suggest you make a calm proposal about you both getting counselling support and financial support. Let him know that this has upset you so much that you are considering whether you have a future together, and that if he refuses to participate you will have to consider what other options you have. Research the support options beforehand, talk to potential professionals, even investigate possible dates. This way you are offering him a concrete proposal rather than a vague 'I think we should'.

I wonder whether you have an oversight of what your financial situation is on an income/expenditure basis? Are you eating into 'his' savings to pay for holidays etc? Are you leaving savings intact and just about breaking even on income/expenditure (including enough for holidays etc), or do you have sufficient to pay for all of that AND add to your savings?

My dh had some similar tendancies, although not as extreme. It was born out of an early adult situation of him being completely broke, and being too embarassed to ask for help (for fear of judgement by his more financially secure parents and siblings - and to be fair they would have judged!). To keep a roof over his head, he sometimes had no money for food. One week he survived on a sack of cheap onions.

Once things improved he became an anxious hoarder of money - the more he had in savings, the more he worried about having less than he currently had. 'Eating into your savings' for whatever genuine reason, became anxiety inducing and even though savings were for a rainy day or emergency, he panicked if he actually had to spend them, and wanted to have enough in his current bank account to also pay for unexpected costs. Savings had to be protected.

He is also a bit naive about money, e.g. before we were married and when we had no joint account, his stock answer to any of my discussions about money were ' well I've got savings and you know that those are for us both'. Except they weren't. They were his savings in his account and I had no recourse to them. In that phase of life I was juggling 0% loans, paying back before the term concluded, and things were really tight.

Things changed gradually - we bought a joint house and I insisted on a joint bank account for everything related to the house: mortgage, insurance, food etc. We agreed how much we would each pay into that account (salaries were paid into our own individual accounts). I was the bigger earner so I paid more.

Then we got married, so legally 'his' savings were also mine, although in all practical sense I had no access.

Then things changed again when I benefitted from a small inheritence and used that as a way of suggesting changes.

As a pp suggested, we have different accounts for different things (colour-coded according to the bank logo / bank card colour). White: A sacrosanct savings account for a terrible emergency. Blue: A holiday / eating out / joint recreation / family birthday present etc. account (the pleasure account). Green: Our own individual accounts where we pay for our individual eating out / hobbies / birthday presents for each other. Yellow: A joint account for everything related to day-to-day and annual survival: insurance, utility bills, cars, groceries...

We have now progressed to the stage where all our income goes into the yellow joint account. There are standing order / direct debit withdrawals: to the white savings account (so dh can be reassured that everything is still OK); to the blue holiday account - the balance obviously fluctuates massively but essentially once it is spent, it's spent and then we can't eat out any more or book expensive holidays; and green - we both get equal amounts for individual spend and it our own responsibility to manage within our means. Everything else remains in the yellow joint account.

dh (I think) is reassured that we're not eating into the savings, which allows him to bemore comfortable about spending from other accounts. He knows we're not overspending on holidays or luxuaries. He's in charge of his own account. And as long as the general monthly balance in the joint yellow account remains constant (or increases) then we are living within our means.

All of the above must seem like an overly complicated system, but it does allow me to relax, to not have to negotiate over every spend. However it has been a long-term gradual process.

OP, you do not have the time to achieve this before I suspect you will crumble and get out.

lessglittermoremud · 20/10/2025 13:44

I don’t understand why is was on board with booking one set of flights but not the others? You would obviously be booking both so that you can get back home?
I wouldn’t under estimate the impact of him growing up with very little though, my Mum grew up in poverty and because of it she does do some odd things so I’m sure his childhood would have had a lasting impact.
If he’s always been fairly transparent about finances maybe it’s the burden of managing it and you could offer to be the one responsible for household budget, that does mean not having seperate finances though.
Im not surprised you’re upset because it’s not logical at all, and you must feel wrong footed all the time.It may help is to try and increase your own hours if you can so that you feel more confident in your own finances.

TwinklyStork · 20/10/2025 13:44

I’m not going to get into whether I think this is financial abuse or not because only the OP knows what’s going on here and I'm not denying that everyone sounds like they're absolutely miserable about the situation, but, OP, you say you work part time in a minimum wage job and you’re not across the finances at all and that he pays all the “big bills”. Do you actually know how much these are, whether what’s coming in is covering them, and whether he’s justified in panicking about spending money as a result? Because it doesn’t sound to me like you do. I haven’t read the entire thread, but I have read all your posts and I can’t see whether that’s been covered anywhere.

Is his anxiety justified?