Always the bad guy.....
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| Wed, 10-22-2008 - 4:52pm |
Lately I feel like I'm always the bad guy. My DH has been wanting things and all I hear myself say is, "we don't need that." "we aren't getting that." "should we be wasting money on that?"
DH mentioned he thought we should get remote start on our cars. I told him no way. Not on my car. Told him if he wanted it on his car I would make that his xmas gift from me but otherwise I thought it was a waste of money. Our cars are garage parked all winter and I park in an underground garage at work. No need for remote start.
DH was begging and hinting (hinting before begging) for a new cell phone. Told him if he wanted one I'd make it his b-day gift which is coming up in November. He seemed ok w/that but I think he's starting to "get it" that stuff we don't need is gonna either become something we don't get at all or something that becomes a gift whereas before we'd just go out and buy it.
Sometimes though I feel like he's an extra kid for me to tell NO too. My five year old isn't nearly as bad as my DH. At least my 5yo just asks for a $2 pack of stickers and not a $300 remote start.....................

Welcome to the club
You're not the bad guy - think of it as taking the lead in helping your family see the value in delayed gratification! :)
My DH used to bring up spending money, and it would make my hair stand on end, and it would make us both tense because he often wasn't suggesting we spend it *immediately*, but my kneejerk response was to say "NO!" like I was the mommy. Over time I learned to say, "Maybe when we have paid off x, y, and z, we can do that" - not outright telling him no but reminding him what we were working towards - and over time he learned to talk about things that he might like *in the future*. By the time we'd trained ourselves how to talk about money without getting tense, he'd learned to be happy that he could just buy himself a cup of coffee without feeling guilty, and I'd figured out what things were important to both of us so we could concentrate on priority items, rather than our whims.
Kelly
I never thought I'd see the day, but my DH now actually saves up his *allowance* for his wants stuff.
Is it possible that your cell phone plan is up for a new phone anyway. I have ATT and every so often they include a new phone...an upgrade they call it. I bought our phones a year ago, and they just came up for an upgrade. I was looking at their list of refurbished phones and you can get some pretty amazing phones for FREE! Basically, if you are up for an upgrade you can get a new phone at the same price a new customer would get it. You know those deals where they make their own, faithful customers pay 200 dollars, but a brand new customer can get it for $50! I always thought that was unfair.
Just thought I'd mention it and you can check it out.
Abbie