Trouble in Paradise
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Shared Money Question

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Re: Shared Money Question

  • imageMotzie:

    You can set a limit for what you can afford. You don't have to match dollar for dollar. If you can afford $100, and he wants to blow $500 on you, who cares? At this point you're not fully combining money, so if he can afford it, let him. Just my .02.

    Yup, I agree with this.



    Click me, click me!
    image
  • I agree with HS and Motz that until you share money, you can't really tell him what to do with his. Buuuut, it never hurts to talk about expectations for the future. Money talks suck, but you've really got to put it all out on the table-- especially if you have different spending styles. You'll figure it all out. I swear.
    I agree with everything that muddled said. You should listen to her. -ESDReturns
  • If we set a limit at $100 and he spends $500 I'd be upset.  Partially because I can see so many better uses for $400 than buying an expensive gift and partially because I think it's careless to spend that much over the limit.

    Unless it's something practical for the house, I can't see going overboard.  Although, if I got something practical for the house that I didn't express an interest in getting as a gift, we'd have big problems!

    The most practical gift I got from him was jumper cables and a first aid kit for my car (got it for our first Christmas together).  He got it for me because it was an hour drive to his place and he wanted to make sure I had it just in case something happened.  Luckily for him he got me other things too that were fun.  I haven't gotten anything practical since then.

     

    PitaPata Dog tickers
  • imageMortomo:

    The most practical gift I got from him was jumper cables and a first aid kit for my car (got it for our first Christmas together).  He got it for me because it was an hour drive to his place and he wanted to make sure I had it just in case something happened.  Luckily for him he got me other things too that were fun.  I haven't gotten anything practical since then.

     

    That is a seriously sucky gift, Morty.

    I agree with everything that muddled said. You should listen to her. -ESDReturns
  • imageMuddled:
    imageMortomo:

    The most practical gift I got from him was jumper cables and a first aid kit for my car (got it for our first Christmas together).  He got it for me because it was an hour drive to his place and he wanted to make sure I had it just in case something happened.  Luckily for him he got me other things too that were fun.  I haven't gotten anything practical since then.

     

    That is a seriously sucky gift, Morty.

    When I said practical I didn't mean something like jumper cables.  If BF was worried about my safety driving to his place (when we didn't live together) I'm pretty sure he would've bought those for me immediately, not given them as a Christmas gift.   

  • imageMortomo:

    imageInterrobang:
    Okay, I've never shared finances, because I didn't trust my XH not to clean us out on some stupid shiit like the latest pyramid scheme, BUT, if all $$ was combined I'd probably just set a limit and take out cash. 

    If you make purchases online though, this doesn't work!  I shop mostly online.

    D'oh. True. I shouldn't post before coffee.

    I've always liked imoan's "fun money" setup, from the way she's described it on here. I can see that working well and if you have that setup it's easy to then buy a gift in secret squirrel fashion.  

     

  • We either take cash back during a deposit for gifts or put them on our separate ccs
    imageAlternaTickers - Cool, free Web tickers
  • image+LuckyVal+:
    We either take cash back during a deposit for gifts or put them on our separate ccs

    I'm sure it's been on here for a while (I haven't been), but that picture of Hart is ADORABLE!!!!! 

  • imageMuddled:
    imageMortomo:

    The most practical gift I got from him was jumper cables and a first aid kit for my car (got it for our first Christmas together).  He got it for me because it was an hour drive to his place and he wanted to make sure I had it just in case something happened.  Luckily for him he got me other things too that were fun.  I haven't gotten anything practical since then.

     

    That is a seriously sucky gift, Morty.

    I also got a really nice watch and the perfume that I like.  If it had just been the jumper cables and first aid kit, I would have seriously reconsidered things.

    Crabby...I don't think he realized I didn't have that stuff in my car until he asked and I said I didn't have it.  Christmas wasn't that far past when we started dating.

    PitaPata Dog tickers
  • We usually talk about a ballpark amount to spend for Christmas, etc.

    If I don't want him to know about what I'm getting, I either use cash, use money from an old account that I still have, or tell him not to look at our main account for a few days. :P 

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  • H and I are lame and tell each other what we want and the other gets it so we aren't surprised. It doesn't really matter to either of us though.
  • imageCrabbyGrabAzz:

    image+LuckyVal+:
    We either take cash back during a deposit for gifts or put them on our separate ccs

    I'm sure it's been on here for a while (I haven't been), but that picture of Hart is ADORABLE!!!!! 

    I AGREE!!!! OMG!!!

    DH and I don't spend much money on gifts. He has access to my Prime account on Amazon, so there no secrets there. When it's gift time I either spend cash or buy an item on a rarely-used CC which I then hide from Mint for the remainder of the month. He doesn't really care either way. We are not extravagant -- gifts for anyone don't go over $100 in our house --  but we do enjoy well-meaning, thoughtfully wrought surprises.

  • imageMotzie:
    imageCrabbyGrabAzz:
    imageMuddled:

    imageCrabbyGrabAzz:
    I'm on man #2 who won't set $ limits on presents.

    Why not? Is this something that you would like to do?

    Yes, I would like to do it.  They never want to.  They want to be able to spend as much as they want to.  Thankfully I don't feel BF went overboard last year.  I'm a very practical Christmas person.  I'd like to put money toward the house or a trip or something.  I have plenty of "stuff." 

    You can set a limit for what you can afford. You don't have to match dollar for dollar. If you can afford $100, and he wants to blow $500 on you, who cares? At this point you're not fully combining money, so if he can afford it, let him. Just my .02.

    fully disagree.

     

    I am a full time student who makes minimum wage. My SO is in i-banking. I make just less than 5% of his gross salary.

     

    I save for months and still can only afford pretty basic gifts -- he could "afford" to blow thousands if he wanted to. He respects my wishes to keep things modest, and this helps keep us on more even footing. If someone is consistently footing the bill for everything or on the buying end of all of the extravagant gifts, it has the potential to set up a type of power dynamic that I want no part of (especially when the partner who can't or does not want to keep up has expressed his or her concerns about the issue). 


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