I'm lucky, My wife is on board with this" saving money" stuff. It took us a while to get the hang of it. But it's full steam ahead now. $3,300 credit card balance about ready to bite the dust.

Mark, you are lucky, lucky, lucky.  My spouse thinks money will fall from the sky.  There is always another dollar somewhere...so he thinks.  My spouse does not understand credit.  And it causes great problems for me.  I already tried the food thing mentioned above with chicken.  He got tired of chicken and bought steak.  I bought the kids clothes from Wal-Mart, he went to Macy's......so I decided to max out my 401(k) and be frugal for myself.  That way I will not have anything to complain about later, when he figures it out and tells me that the Social Security check won't do.

Mu husband keeps saying "we are so much better off this year than we were last year." Citing his annual military pay raise and his promotion. What he does not take into account is his "must have" purchases of late: a new house (that's ok, it is an investment that we CAN afford), a brand new 42 inch flat screen tv (he worked so hard, why didn't he deserve it? ha) and the new couch for the new house, along with paint and the associated accompaniments, all of which were put on our credit cards. But, I am just anti-fun, when I disagree with these big ticket purchases. now he wants to finish painting the interior of the house, and buy a new entertainment center, for the new monstrosity that he HAD to have. Add that to the expense of HD channels, that he cannot live without and the new BlueRay DVD player he has been bugging me about since the purchase of the stupid tv. I wish the man would read a book or something!!!

The upshot of all this jenn, that indebtedness eventually leads to the loss of relationships. The major stress factor in most people's lives, other than living in combined families, is money. If your mate does not begin to grow up and understand the danger of what he is getting both of you into, he will not be the only one having to face the consequences. If there are children, they too will be casualties in this. It is a reality and must be dealt with before you both start to drift apart because of the problems this type of behaviour will cause. We really cannot buy true happiness. He needs to understand the difference between needs and wants. Needs, we cover first, wants, only when they can be afforded without creating burdensome debt.  I've seen this scenario over and over and I know wherefore I speak. Best of luck to you both. Joanne

Jenn my question is "Who pays the bills?"  I mean the sitting down and balancing the checkbook and writing out the payments for all these items.  My husband and I were the same  way...but I wrote the bills out and kept up with the budget.  My husband had no conception of where or how much went out in bills. Let him write out the checks and see what it takes and maybe that will help him get the picture.  Also set aside money for a savings and say when we have the money, we can purchase what he wants.