We discussed that a lot, she had a hard time deciding to quit work, but decided that considering we're in a very fortunate financial decision (I'm very away that my 'problem' here is very much a first world issue, we're not in any kind of financial distress) it would be hard to justify paying someone else to stay with the kids. COVID was a rough time for everyone, but one of the benefits was that we got to both be at home with the kids for the first 3 years of their life. I fully agree that the issue is setting guardrails. I think she thinks that because she's not buying designer clothes and diamonds, all the spending is justified. In isolation, none of thing individual things are exorbitant, it's just that there are so many of them. i.e. kids swimming class, her fitness classes, some clothes from GAP, outings with the kids, a new lamp for living room....it's like there is a never ending list of 'wants', and because none of the individual things is outrageous, it's like a justification rather than looking at the aggregate amount (similar to buying a coffee every morning doesnt feel bad, but can easily be $150 a month but on a bigger scale).Would some of that be solved by your wife having a job outside the home? If she's busy working, maybe she wouldn't have time to impulse shop. Otherwise, she needs to have a budget. Regardless of how much you make, if you have a tendency to spend everything you have, you need to set guardrails.I hate to be 'that guy', but the more I'm thinking about this and the more I'm looking through our spending habits, it's really not being driven by me. I just looked...I've spent $150 of my last $7k pay check. I think a huge amount here is implulse purchases from Amazon and other online places.
Statistics: Posted by pejp1 — Wed Mar 27, 2024 11:48 am — Replies 27 — Views 1200