WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor)

[aricher]

My wife and I split all the bills, rent, groceries, etc. Whatever is left over (after a savings deposit) goes to whatever we want. She bought a new Vespa, I bought a new PB 17" 1.33. Good deal for me as well - she prefers to use her work-supplied ThinkPad and I still get to ride the Vespa.

That said, I did get in a bit of trouble several years ago for bringing home a surround sound system - now I know to confer.

 

[wdlove]

You are correct Mr. Anderson, compromise is the best policy. It all depends on who is the stronger of the two in the marriage. It seems that we all learn by experience. We all have to see what works best.

 

[brap]

My partner and I have an agreement... so long as the bills get paid, and we're comfortable, we can buy whatever the hell we want.

I still feel the need to ask before big purchases, though ("Sweetheart... you know the really shiny Apple, which I said I couldn't afford..?")
She generally is cool with it, because she gets the benefit from whatever I buy -- I'm an electronics junkie, and have no car to pour money into. She's a big fan of my surround sound setup, and wants me to replace the PS2 I gave to my younger brother toute suite 🙂

 

[MarkCollette]

Two things to keep in mind, before even entering the buying frame of mind, are:
1. Are you already saving 10% of your income away, for retirement
2. Do you have a liquid emergency fund that would cover you for several months?

If yes, then congradulations, you are one of the 15% of North Americans who are being financially responsible, and thus you shouldn't have to think twice about blowing all your money on Macs 🙂

 

[Makosuke]

This is certainly a familiar concept to me, and my family operates on this scheme in a more formalized way. We use the Japanese system (being my wife is Japanese) which works like this:

I work and earn money. All income goes into the same account. She manages all the money. Each of us gets a monthly "allowance" of around $100 to spend on whatever we want, and all other purchases are strictly regulated by her, with only necessary "family" items getting bought--you want something else, you pay for it out of your allowance. Everything left over goes into intrest-bearing savings of some sort.

Unlike some of the partners mentioned here, I'm certainly the unfrugal one; I'm generally cheap, but I do like the expensive toys. As for my wife, her hobby is saving money, so she spends nothing on jewlrey or non-essential (shampoo and soap) grooming, and almost nothing on clothes or the like. She doesn't even generally end up spending her allowance, because she prefers the wad of cash to physical objects most of the time.


I get less toys (in my case, it took about two months to convince her that the upgrade from a DP533 to a G5 provided enough family benefit to be worth the expense), but this works out pretty well--we have zero debt, and manage to save a few thousand a year, which isn't too bad on my salary.

Plus, I think I've managed to convince her that the $1300 for a new 20" display from Apple is worth it if I kick in a few hundred of my own money.

 

[Angelus]

Oh dear god, that is so not gonna happen to me.
My wife,when i eventually get married, will understand fully that i love my gadgets and tech equipment.
This reminds me of an episode of Everybody loves Raymond where he waits at home for his wifes curtains to be delivered. The day i find myself waiting at home for curtains is the day i go Kevin Spacey from American Pie.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I sometimes try to use "the one with the most toys in the ned, wins". Though I am told I have already won. 😀

Though I remind hhim that we don't have that big plasma screen HDTV yet. 🙂

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Oh dear god, that is so not gonna happen to me.
My wife,when i eventually get married, will understand fully that i love my gadgets and tech equipment.

Bwahahahaha - oh that's great. You say that now, but get back to us a couple years after you're married. If you're not bringing in tons of money and have the cash to throw away for toys, then you'll be singing a different song.

Of course we all like our gadgets and toys, but reality sets in and you know that you can't always get what you want. We've managed to pay off all our debt except the mortgage and save a ton for retirement. That still leaves plenty for fun, but there is a limit. And in the end all large purchases have to be a joint decision.

D

 

[radhak]

this (WAF) is nothing new. do these journalists live in a different planet? its been always like this. i remember my mom firmly refusing to buy us kids individual cotton candy even after dad had okayed it : "don't waste money; you all can share".
so i was conditioned to it when i got married, which was great for my wife 😉

still, i was not fully 'domesticated' till my own faux-pas:

some years ago, before the kids, my wife worked and earned at almost an equal footing as me. we decided to use only my salary and save all of hers. being the booming stock market times, i got tired of seeing such a large chunk of money pining away in measly CDs and moved all of it into stocks. i still remember one day showing her the bottom line - our money grown almost 400% !!! She told me to sell, begged me to sell; but we guys know best, right ? 🙁 Not wanting to dwell more on that, lemme fast-forward - the value sank to around 30% of original investment, and she was not even working by then 🙁

sigh! so now, i am now at her level of frugality and allow her to decide on any purchase over $50. my salary is more than enough for us, but we are still renting, so till we save enough for the down payment for a house, i am always going to be on the defensive. double sigh!

 

[jaromski]

My G5 purchase request has been going on for longer - I'm just glad we're moving so we'll have a little extra cash from selling the house for my G5 setup😀

I'm a little annoyed that the 23" LCDs are still 1999 - I'll probably buy the 20s instead now and get the new graphics card 😀

D

Dude just go old school 23". I have seen them on eBay for cheaper than 1999. Plus you can get them from apple EDU for 1799. Do you know somebody in school?

I saw 23" cinema display on eBay the other day for 1649 NEW. Now that really blows, because I bought it back in the $3499 hay day.

Oh well, can't complain because it is magnificent.

jaromski

 

[Tremaine]

Married for 13 years. The wife seems to buy things worth about $20 for 100 straight days. I go out and buy a new G5 once. That is the difference for us. Everything I want costs big, her stuff is cheaper, but she buys more of it.

I have to do the sales pitch for my big purchases like my G5. I have a pretty good track record though and she trusts that if I'm telling her we NEED it, she is cool. I remember convincing her about getting surround sound about 10 years ago. She kept thinking it was stupid, but then I had her listen to it at a store. She turned to me and said, "We have to get this!" So I always just bring up in my sales pitch about that time.

Also, I would never wait at home for the curtain delivery, maybe a couch, but never curtains...

 

[Jovian9]

My wife and I both like to spend money. Though we do have debt from 2 cars and school loans. There is a difference though: I'll admit that I like to spend too much money on computers, cameras, video games, etc........but she's in denial......that is until we're somewhere she can spend money🙂 I guess I'm lucky though b/c my last 2 Christmas presents have been a 10GB 2G iPod and a 12" G4 iBook (though we sold it and bought a 17" PowerBook b/c she wanted more screen space for her school work.....fine with me). If enjoying the things you purchase provides you with more happiness than the money you are spending worries you......go for it.