Arguments about money

[tgavin71]

When we first got married my husbands nickname was taxi. He would literally wait for 10 mins to catch a taxi to go two blocks down the road. Would have been quicker to walk and saved $5. He had the money in his pocket and it was burning a hole fast. $5, $10, $20 etc would fall through it faster than in went in. The result of which was a humungous credit card debt.
Me on the other hand had trouble spending money on anything. Never having any when I did I didn't want to let it go.
15 years later we have met in the middle. Our house is no "McMansion" (not sure if you use that term or not). It is small and cosy but it does us. One car. No credit card debt. We eat out and have family weekends away. Thankfully hubby and I think exactly like snoopy. Making memories is more important to us than the car we drive or the clothes we wear. We just got back from a few days up the coast. Memories of which will last a life.

[Ima saver]

It is much easier to get along when you have your finances in order.

[shengmei]

Both of us are extremely frugal people, but we still fight about money because we are students and we simply don't make enough money. Costs of attending grad school increase by 20% every year.

We both realize it is a problem, though. Recognizing the problem and not being freaked out about it had been good for our marriage.

[abowers]

my boyfriend and i are not making the big bucks right now -- we moved here last year so he could get his PhD; I found a job as a preschool teacher until I could get into grad school (which has happened). Luckily he gets a nice stipend from the University -- he pays no tuition and gets a stipend bigger than what I make as a full time preschool teacher.

There is not much to disagree about right now -- we are not making globs of money, so it's obvious that we need to be careful of what we spend it on. We split the bills (Except I've been paying down my undergrad loans since last year, plus I've been making car payments since October, but he contributed the down payment on the car).

He's been saving more than I have been; but he's making more, and has a little less in expenses.

Once we're both done with grad school we'll both be making plenty of money, and we have the same goals so I don't anticipate any problems.

[Ima saver]

My husband and I have never made big money, but we learned form the beginning, to live on a little less than what we made.

[lrjohnson]

Very fortunately we rarely (never?) argue about money.

My Partner and I keep our finances separate. We each pay half of household bills. We are both naturally frugal. It's no problem if we don't agree on a particular purchase-we don't split that purchase. He likes to go out to eat more-I'm fine with that because it's his money. I travel more-he doesn't come on all the trips.

We have varied on our income-sometimes he has made a lot more, sometimes it's me. Because we both like living low, neither of us tried to escalate our spending to match out higher income.

[Ima saver]

WE have never argued about money either. The allowance works out well.

[shengmei]

Abowers, which university does your husband work for? I am a genetics major in Texas A&M and they don't pay stipends to grad students.

[abowers]

ShengMei--
My boyfriend is working on his PhD in Plasma Physics at Princeton. He gets ~$26k per year plus they pay for whatever ridiculous figure they are currently charging for tuition. He works at the lab full time over summers and breaks, and part time during the semesters -- it's kind of flexible as he's doing research with his advisor.

I will be going to Rider University for my master's in School Psychology -- my assistantship will involve them paying me a wimpy $8.50/hour full time over the summer, 20 hours during semesters (this is a $1.75/hr pay cut from my job as a preschool teacher); but they will pay for $3500 of tuition each semester. (that's what it costs for 2 courses- At most I'll be taking 4 courses, which is full time) My employer (the preschool) only would have paid for $500-700/academic year toward tuition.

It pays to be in science as opposed to education/social sciences!

[funnyvalentine]

I have to say that my BF and I, in a year, have never fought about anything, but money wise, we see eye to eye. On our third or fourth date, he asked me if I'd pick up dinner since he was paying for theatre tickets (that were about four times as much) and I was actually relieved because I didn't really want him to pay for everything when we went out. We seem to have found a balanced ground; both of us buy tickets to live music (which we love), I'll make dinner often, and when we go out to dinner, he usually pays. It just seems to work.....

[Fern]

I don't really argue about $$ with SO, and don't anticipate it being a problem when we live together. If anything, I am more of a tightwad than he. Together, we make a veyr decent income, so that makes it a lot easier. He did just spend $2,000 on a mower, and it wasn't even a riding mower. I tried to get him to consider something cheaper, or to buy nothing at all since i am happy to mow once in a while (once I move there this summer). But he had his mind made up, you know how men are with their 'machines.'

[shengmei]

That's kind of funny about men and their machines. I know that if my dh finds out that I buy $30 makeup (even though it is only once a month) he would not get it, but his brother just spent $3000 on a home theater and he totally gets it.

My husband is actually pretty flexible about money, but he'll never get the fact that it costs to be beautiful. He will always get the how men need their big machines, though.

[Ima saver]

My husband says when he is buying new tools, that they are making him money!

[shengmei]

Renting tools is so expensive though......Sometimes I wonder maybe it makes sense to buy new tools.

Personally I think my dh is HOT HOT HOT when he is making something, anything....rather than sitting around watching stupid TV shows. The hotness factor is worth whatever dh spends on tools.....LOL

[sakigt]

Originally Posted by abowers

ShengMei--
My boyfriend is working on his PhD in Plasma Physics at Princeton. He gets ~$26k per year plus they pay for whatever ridiculous figure they are currently charging for tuition. He works at the lab full time over summers and breaks, and part time during the semesters -- it's kind of flexible as he's doing research with his advisor.

I will be going to Rider University for my master's in School Psychology -- my assistantship will involve them paying me a wimpy $8.50/hour full time over the summer, 20 hours during semesters (this is a $1.75/hr pay cut from my job as a preschool teacher); but they will pay for $3500 of tuition each semester. (that's what it costs for 2 courses- At most I'll be taking 4 courses, which is full time) My employer (the preschool) only would have paid for $500-700/academic year toward tuition.

It pays to be in science as opposed to education/social sciences!

Getting paid for going to school is worth it! I dont get paid too much but I am paid back for my classes. Its the best thing next to getting a 401k match.

[kealina]

no arguments with us... occasionally he will not want to spend money but i will simply reiterate what we are spending it for, which is almost always necessities, and he will sigh and then we will spend... we both agree on what we want tho, which is great... unfortunately we live in a very high COL area (with only average wages) where we want to keep living and someday own a home, which is our great motivator to save...
*sigh* it's worth it to have paradise and our families...

[Ima saver]

I agree that buying tools is cheaper than renting all the time. My husband never sits around watching boring tv except late in the evening. We are pretty much on the same page when it comes to saving and spending.