Is your husband on board with what you're doing? I have to admit, mine wasn't very helpful at first. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he just didn't take any of it very seriously and laughed a bit as I complained about our local grocery store (we only have 2). Now that he is taking an interest in our bottom line he is a little more impressed with how organized we are getting. He loves meat and potatoes and isn't impressed with meatless night or soup and sandwich night but whatever. I'm grateful to him that he makes a great wage and looks after earning a living for all of us so I can stay home. Sometimes I wish he would take a little more interest in some of the numbers I put down on paper.......he doesn't seem to care how much $ goes out for some things. Just wondering how many of you have your husbands attention with all this or do you find yourself doing most of this. Mine has no clue how to do internet or telephone banking......it just gets done!!!

Our husbands sound pretty similiar but mine is better about meatless meals, lol, get him hungry enough and he won't even ask what is in dinner. He did REALLY get his eyes opened last night when we could buy him a newer truck because of the amount of money I'd put back just for that, lol, salesman walked away to crunch some numbers and I told him how much I could put down, his jaw dropped and he said "where'd you get THAT from?" LOL, bit by bit, week by week I put it away for over a year.

So I bet mine pays even more attention now!

kj

My DH is not helpful at all! He thinks it's great that I'm saving money, but he'd just as soon spend it. For example, we bought a printer for his dad on our Dell account. When his dad gave him the cash for it, DH's plan was to spend it, since we'd already paid off the card! I didn't even know he had the money until I found out he'd already spent some of it. It's very frustrating, but I keep at it.

To be fair, though, I used to be just as spendy as DH is!

He mostly helps. He often doesn't realize just how much he's spending since it's usually a little bit here, a little bit there (it adds up), but he's mostly great about trying to save and cut back.

Is your husband on board with what you're doing? I have to admit, mine wasn't very helpful at first. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he just didn't take any of it very seriously and laughed a bit as I complained about our local grocery store (we only have 2). Now that he is taking an interest in our bottom line he is a little more impressed with how organized we are getting. He loves meat and potatoes and isn't impressed with meatless night or soup and sandwich night but whatever. I'm grateful to him that he makes a great wage and looks after earning a living for all of us so I can stay home. Sometimes I wish he would take a little more interest in some of the numbers I put down on paper.......he doesn't seem to care how much $ goes out for some things. Just wondering how many of you have your husbands attention with all this or do you find yourself doing most of this. Mine has no clue how to do internet or telephone banking......it just gets done!!!

Your dh sounds just like mine except mine doesn't care what I cook.

My DH is pretty good most of the time. When he gets in a spending mood I can usually reduce it by finding something that needs to be done around the house. Or often we will just talk each other out of non essential purchases. For the most part we both have a pretty frugal mind set. His weakness is elctronics and mine is hair and spa treatments.

My husband teases me joyfully about being frugal. He'll even pull me back when I go over the line with a comment like, "I'm gonna post on your site that you went over budget." The only place I have a problem with him is on meat. Its a must for every meal. He grew up in an orhange and meat wasn't always on the table or if it was the large kids would take it from you so now its a thing for him. I can cut anywhere but there. So I give him his meat.

Laurie in Bradenton

My dh is an angel! He never questions anything I do with the budget...and he'll eat anything you put in front of him! He takes his lunch every day and brags at the office that he eats better than any of them. No complaints here. Luckily, we've always been on the same page about finances. This has helped us have no credit card debt...and only our mortgage. If we want something...we just save up for it. He does get a bonus each year, which he typically uses to buy a new tool or something he really wants that he thinks is something *we* shouldn't have to budget for. Last year he bought a used motorcycle that he now drives to works and saves $$$$ on gas. He's a very practical guy. Incredibly generous...and pretty easy on the eyes too!!!

My DH is good about everything, although it took a bit to get him to this point. We had to go through some financial troubles years back for him to get on board. Neither of us had good financial role models while we were growing up, so when we were first married it was get all the credit we could get and spend, spend, spend. Years later (and both wiser, I hope) we have finally gotten on track with our goals. He still tends to be more the spender than I am, but when he (although rarely) starts in about maybe it wouldn't be so bad to finance something, we sit down and I show him how close we are to realizing our goals and he agrees that we're doing the right thing. Later, he'll say, "Boy, I sure am glad we didn't didn't decide to finance that nice travel trailer we saw. Think about the payments we'd be having to make right now. I'd much rather that money go to paying off the house." And I'll just smile and say, "Yep, honey, I'm glad that WE decided not to finance that nice travel trailer also." (Yes, it helps to let him think it was always his idea also.:hmmm: )


--Michelle

My fiance used to be terrible. We decided to budget last year, then a month later, he bought a new computer with our savings :bang: . I was saving for a tattoo (and he knew it) but he spent it thinking we had a ton of money. Well, we didn't. I cancelled my tattoo appointment and when i told him, he felt awful. Now he is completely on board. He won't spend $2 unless he asks me first, which is great!!! But...every once in a while, he mocks me Dave Ramsey motto "live like no one else now, so you can live like no on else later" especially when he whines for something and I tell him after we have our debts paid off.

He's helpful but not in a particularly active way. :D He wants me to make most of the decisions but I do consult him on the budget, etc.

usually...help

Mine is on board now. He didn't use to be, but he sees that every penny saved is a good thing.

Kellie

DH is a great guy but he thinks money just magically appears! Any time something needs bought, such as a part for a home repair, he will call me at work and ask me how I want him to pay for it. I always wanna say, with whatever cash you have in your pocket! And to make matters worse, he only drives what he wants to, thinks we need a spare car, will not consider not having his boat....etc..etc..etc.. But to be honest, lately I am having a hard time getting back on the frugal bandwagon. Murphy has taken up residence in my house which can get discouraging!

Mine helps most of the time! Although he does buy a few too many motorcycle parts, but that is mainly with his overtime pay.

Mine is getting better. He was a bit of a spendthrift when we got married and he also spends without thining about it if it is something he thinks we need right away (henece a lot of our debt). However, he is getting on board and making definite changes in his spending and learning lots of tricks to reduce costs. He's a bit slow about things sometimes (like canceling the extras on our phone which is in his name and would save us ~20/month). He gets overwhlmed easily, but now that I have strated putting everyhting in a spradsheet, he is getting better.

Mine is pretty good. We both have our weak spots. His is electronics and computers. Mine is my hobbies (quilting, rug hooking and stitchwork). We live in a nice area of town within walking distance to shops. One of our problems is to keep from nickeling and diming ourselves to death. We've set ourselves up with fairly high basic expenses, which we are both regretting. We are working at getting those under control before he retires.

Jean

My Jack is even more frugal than I am, sometimes too much so. He'd love to live without tv, computer, phone etc. He was reusing coffee grounds and other nifty stuff when I met him.

Mine is very helpful although we will disagree sometimes on the method of doing stuff that's ok. I will make the effort to sell it to him but if he's against it I will follow his lead and that' fine with me! He will eat anything even chicken which he hates as long as it's in something and meatless is fine for him. Beans especially if I make Jiffy cornbread! :lol: Our goal is to pay off as much debt as possible by the end of next year we should be done so he is on board!

Now had you asked about me! I'm the one who gets a little wah sometimes.

DH is a great guy but he thinks money just magically appears! Any time something needs bought, such as a part for a home repair, he will call me at work and ask me how I want him to pay for it. I always wanna say, with whatever cash you have in your pocket! And to make matters worse, he only drives what he wants to, thinks we need a spare car, will not consider not having his boat....etc..etc..etc.. But to be honest, lately I am having a hard time getting back on the frugal bandwagon. Murphy has taken up residence in my house which can get discouraging!

:fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance:
See banana dude. Know why he is happy? He got back on the frugal wagon!

Last night after doing all my shopping for dds school I went to my wallet and counted what was left for the remainder of groceries for the month. I had $46 cash in my wallet. I took out the $6 and put it in the 3rd savings group I have for dds 2007 Fall Semester at school. I just started it and have almost $100 of the $2100 I need. I have a year to do it.

I AM NOW $6 closer to my goal.

I will Make it work! My dd will go and finish college and I will not go into debt to do it! The others will go too!

Do you have any cash in your wallet. If you do go skim it right now! Even $1 helps!



:fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance: :fdance:

My DH is frugal when I need him to be. But, he also has some serious hobbies like motocross and snowboarding that can be costly. He just bought a used dirt bike and got it for 800.00 down from 1200- so that is a savings. He bought the
motocross pants at the thrift store so he saved money there.
The boots were over 100.00, but that is a safety issue.
He has improved alot, IMO!:biggrin:

My hausband can be very frugal with his mad/gas money. He watched it closely and almost never asks to get more for gas. He takes left overes for lunch all the time. He likes that I am trying to keep things under control financially. So, yes he can be helpful.

My husband is truly my partner. We do our budget together, make decisions together, etc. He would truthfully like to spend more than I would but he doesn't and he doesn't complain. The only way we can live on his income (very small as he works for a small church) is to watch every penny. So I am more of a "saver" than he is, but he is NOT a "spender".

DH can be a great help. Often times when I'm weak and want to go out to eat, DH will remind me that we just ate out last weekend, or whatever. He does spend a lot more than I do, but he always stays within him allowance. I let him handle the budgeting and bill paying, and he figured out a plan to have our credit cards all paid off last month (started our agressive payment plan last November), plus paying for his classes. He is into computers, so he'll do things like buy a $900 moniter - but he waited 2 years for the price to drop (was $2500) and saved up for it from his allowance and some bonus overtime he got at work. We always talk over large purchases (like the car we're going to buy in Sept, and the washer and gun safe we need to get before the baby is born). A fair amount of large purchases we will put on credit cards, but will always pay them off by the end of month (I get paid monthly, so cash flow is sometimes an issue).

I think the fact that we both REALLY want a house is keeping us in the frugal mindset. Though I always get a chuckle when he tells me how much we made in interest on our ING account (he gets genuinely excited by making $8!).

Oh, he totally hinders my efforts. I tell him over and over again that we can 't keep going out and putting stuff on the credit card. He says oh ok, I understand, and then the following days says about getting something different that costs even more. I tell him, did you not understand yesterday what I said about not having any freakin money. If we didn't have the money for an item that was at X price, we certainly don't have the money for something that costs more than X. DUH!! As soon as I pay off the CC, he charges more stuff. One of these days, I am going to beat that man up!!!

I believe my husband is glad that I try to do what I do, but it is more that he just doesn't get it. I've tried to sit down and explain the budget to him, but his eyes just kind of glaze over and I think music starts playing in his head. He grew up in an upper-middle class family which did live fairly frugally (attested to his parents very relaxed retirement now), but always had $ when it was needed. We are working-class (by his choice of career), and he just doesn't get that we don't live at the same level, so it has been hard for him to adjust to it. We figure part of my job as a sahm, is to balance the budget and live within the means for the family so he basically goes along with my suggestions/decisions. I just wish he would hear me when I tell & show him that we have no more $ for the week. Everyday I have to check our bank balance to make sure there are no surprises.

ok, i must admit i am jealous of all the women who have active supportive husbands. my husband's idea of a budget is when he is out of his allowance(which was his idea in the first place) to take money out of my purse. it has taken me 3 years but at least now he asks first. i pay all of the bills and i read all the books. and i search the web looking for support. to give him credit- we did just have a big meeting on the debt plan. and he agreed to getting the emergency fund in place first. when i first met him and we consolidated bill paying, he would tell me when the bill was due. of course his due date was the last day before it was considered late,which we couldnt get there in the mail in time, so late charges. ok im going to get it all off my chest. it really annoys me that i make all this effort to get rid of our debt and he doesnt seem to sacrifice anything at all. his major concern during our meeting was we still had money to pay for the extra hockey channel in oct. i'm worried i might let the resentment lead me to splurging on something we cant afford. i'm upset we had to push our house plans back a year and hes upset he might have to give up hockey night in canada. thanks for listening, i feel better after venting.

kate
i will not debt today

DH comes from a spendthrift family. His mom NEVER cooks, they eat out every since night. At first he was like ok whatever. But now he sees how big of a difference it makes and so he's on board.
As far as meatless meals go, he's a big meat person. But I'm slowly getting him to where he can eat SOME meatless meals (baked potatoes and salad or pasta with meatless sauce, etc).

My DH is very understanding and wants to be on the same page as I am. I love getting a good deal and he tries to out do me and get a better deal. That doesn't bother me one bit; it actually makes it fun because we see who can save the most!

my dh loves that i'm frugal. him & i & the kids allw ent to "harbour freights" tool store the other day & he was totally impressed that i have a 20% off coupon for his total purchase!!!!!! we saved $5.00!!!!! he said "you are always prepared honey". and i just smiled!!!

My ex-husband wasn't much of a help with frugality. He liked to eat out and he liked to spend a lot of money in one big bang -- video games, computer parts, etc. He also didn't work, so any money issues were cared for by me -- he just spent the money and then asked me for it.

:smooch: is definitely better -- he chuckles at my frugality, but he respects it. He certainly doesn't try to hinder me. He just smiles and says, "You're cute." But there's a lot of things he's picking up on, which is fantastic. :) He's really sweet.