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The Ever-Changing Value of 'Wife Pounds'

There's a computer running my HiFi, been there for 3 or 4 years now. A white Mac Mini. 'She' either does not know or is not bothered. She vaguely knows that stuff gets delivered via the internet these days but the subscriptions are on my own account.

When I was not working from home, delivery to the work address was convenient - in more than one way! And I was always home first!

Bigger stuff she gets to know about - I could hardly hide the purchase of an amplifier, and didn't.

I had the Gales knocking around for years until I secretly sent them off to Vintage Gale to be worked on while we were on holiday. She was quite pleased with that - she likes the Gales and is quite happy with the WAF level on them. More so than the tall black TDL Studio 1 speakers that pre-dated her arrival in my life.
 
Ponty said:
Quite. If you’re married, there’s not really such a thing as mine and yours.
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That's how we've always done it. When we were skint graduates renting in London the only way to cover the bills was to pool our cash and we've never really got out the habit - it all just goes in the joint account. It probably helps that we're both fairly frugal*

* i.e. tightwads
 
Mr Pig said:
Be a man. You don't need your wife's permission to buy something, or at least you shouldn't. Hi-Fi is a good example because women typically do not value it so asking their opinion is pointless. A holiday they value but it's a waste of time trying to appease them on a purchase they do not understand. Buy what you want and if they complain tell them to go swivel.
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If one partner objects to the other spending on their hobby, the second should be able to return the compliment.

A £500 pair of shoes or handbag is as incomprehensible to us as a £500 cartridge is to them!

Everyone should have their own spending money that should be able to be spent on whatever they like without any comeback.

Andy
 
I've never engaged in subterfuge when buying hi-fi, but I once had to buy Mrs MikeMA a new cooker after I'd bought a particularly expensive valve amp. She was no more convinced by my argument that there was nothing wrong with the old cooker than I was by her argument that there was nothing wrong with the old amplifier. :)
 
MikeMA said:
I've never engaged in subterfuge when buying hi-fi, but I once had to buy Mrs MikeMA a new cooker after I'd bought a particularly expensive valve amp. She wasn't convinced by my argument that there was nothing wrong with the old cooker any more than I was by her argument that there was nothing wrong with the old amplifier. :)
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Did the food taste better?
 
Why I purchased my new DSM last year my wife saw it as nest building for when I retire next year, she said, better buy now while your still earning a wage. We each have our own hobbies, and everything else is split 50/50. Not one cash flow argument in 21 years of bliss.
 
Reminds me of my Naim years when many boxes came and went and were never noticed. Once I changed to other brands, it became 100% obvious when a new arrival landed and more explanations had to be developed!
 
cooky1257 said:
Get divorced, you'll soon find out what's really yours ;-)
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Very true, or even have to buy what you thought was yours again. A friend who bought artwork over the years (some pre marriage) got a shock when the judge said he had to have them valued and if he wanted to keep them, pay 80% of the current value to his wife. No, that’s not a typo…
 
Ponty said:
Quite. If you’re married, there’s not really such a thing as mine and yours.
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I think that depends on the parties concerned. We decided 33 years and 3 kids ago that we would have a joint account that we both paid in to each month that covered all bills and food and everything else stayed in our own accounts. It is a bugbear of mine reading “I hope the wife doesn’t find out what I’ve paid “ each to their own though.
 
My wife has zero interest in money ( unless there isn’t enough of it). The upside is I buy what I want without comment unless it’s a parcel that needs two people. Downside is she overfills kettles and does the washing in the middle of the day despite getting up at four am and we being on an economy7 tariff. This drives me nuts but I can only suggest changes in the most indirect way I can summons.
She does buy new glasses when her prescription changes but sees this as part of a transaction to keep independent opticians in business. This hasn’t worked but I admire the sentiment even though we have never discussed it.
Her dad was the driving force to establish the unionisation of office workers at Falmouth docks to mirror the much better paid manual workers there. He was successful but lost his job because of it ( this is late forties/ early fifties) She is based on a more firm moral compass than mine so if she did object to a purchase I would fold.
 
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