Money Stress..

samanthadarneille

My husband really likes to impulse shop. How do I get it through his thick head that we could have really used that $200.00 he spent on random stuff for himself for bills and/or baby items?!?

Whenever I try to talk to him about it I get really emotional because I am soooo stressed buy it.

Any suggestions?

P.S. It's usually video games and health supplements that he uses a couple of times then gets new ones.

vigurl

Suggest a video game rental service instead.

thatgirl84

Make him create a budget. Keep receipts in one spot. Encourage a "buy what you need, not what you want" approach.

And if all else fails, guilt.

Doriekirk

Looks like it is time to give h an allowance.

vigurl

doriekirk:

Looks like it is time to give h an allowance.

 This too is a good idea.  I am not a good spender so I volunteered to let DH put me on an allowance.  We started Jan 1st and have seen our savings dramatically increase...so that being said I dont mind my allowance at all.

Doriekirk

Dh makes about $7 more than me, and with me being on std, that's gone up considerablly, so he knows we depend mostly on him. His x always handled bills and he even had a separate bank account that she would only put a certain amount in. I feel guilty doing this to the person who MAKES the $, but he has 4 children to take care of and enjoys going out to eat and convenient store snacking WAY! Too much, so we give him a cash allowance once a week. It works out for us. Of course, there are circumstances when that can be exceeded, but he is a big boy and understands he is a little impulsive, so he deals! GL!

justme04

My DH used to buy video games like crazy.  Although he is obsessive and plays through them until he has gotten every achievement.

Since DS was born though he has deffinatly limited his game time...which I was worried that he'd play video games every free minute he had leaving me to care for DS all by myself.  Now I am trying to explain that maybe he shouldn't be playing violent video games in front of out 20 month old (DH thinks DS is still to young to notice).

Financially though my DH didn't get my financial squabbles until after the baby came and he saw how much money we had to put into things like diapers and formula (breastfeeding wasnt very sucessfull with DS hoping for better luck this time around).

DH did join Gamefly for awhile and really enjoyed it...he actually ended up liking that he could play games and not have to shell out all that cash.  Maybe you could suggest to your DH that if he really wants to buy a new game he should trade in some of his old ones that he doesnt play anymore. 

When it comes to gaming we have the purchases under controll in our household....but he still impulse buys now and then (I wish I still felt like impulse buying were ever an option...I agonize of a purchase for months).

just kita

I recently went from working 2 jobs to just one very part time job, and I had to seriously limit my spending money to make sure the bills get paid. Its hard to stay on budget when you don't really know how much is okay to spend.

You don't need any complicated spreadsheets...just a pen and paper. Write out income, - monthly bills, - gas, - grocery, -eating out, etc, and finally see how much you have left for his spending money. If he wants more then maybe he can give up something else.

I've been taking out cash once a week for everything but bills (gas, groceries, eating out, baby, spending money) and try really hard not to take out more once I've used it up.

Good luck  

ETA: DH and I love video games...we used to rent but all the rental places near us closed recently. I've heard that redbox has started renting games but not yet where I am. Maybe they are in your area?