Who is the "saver" in your family?

[jacksmom]

Not Me!

 

[swilshire]

I am the saver. Learned it from my depression era parents who never let go of a nickle if they could help it. My husbands parents were younger and he has the opposite mentality about spending. Two of our four children are turning out like me regarding money. My oldest son is more like my husband. Too soon to tell about the youngest.

Sheila

 

[Marionnette]

I'm the more frugal one. I shop for the best prices and will delay purchases until the items reach my price points. My husband buys what he wants, when the mood hits him.

But he is the saver in the family. He is much more likely to make the argument for putting more into our retirement fund or the emergency fund. I am more likely to push for spending money on home improvements, vacations or technology upgrades.

 

[clh2]

DH and I are both pretty reasonable with our spending and savings habits. We have been saving for our retirement since before we were married. Been married almost 25 years, and have rarely had an argument about money.

Where we are having a difference of opinions now - (I am 51, he is 54) is "when" we want to retire. We could work for about 7 years more and have a frugal retirement; or if we work for about 10 more years - we could go into a "living large" type of retirement.

He wants to retire earlier. Assuming our DD gets married...has a family etc, I want to be able to do fun things like take her family on a Disney Cruise etc, so I would rather work a little longer to be able to do things in our retirement.

As far as our daughter, (now a college freshman) she is currently "afraid" to spend money. She knows how hard she has worked (while in high school) for what she has, and she doesn't like to waste anything. Santa - being a little concerned about her being too frugal - gave her $50 1-dollar bills in her stockiing this year - so she can splurge a little bit if she wants. Sometimes - you just need to go with the girls out to Starbucks or whatever they are doing.

 

[HouseMother]

I am the saver in that I don't spend money as easily as DH. If he wants something he has no trouble just going out and getting it. I research and weigh options and hem and has over whether or not it is a necessary purchase. Case in point: I just got a new iPad for Christmas last night. I have gone back and forth for TWO YEARS over whether or not I needed one. DH got one as a gift from his bosses right when the 2 came out, so that bought me some time. Gadgets are my weakness, but it is just such a huge expense. I was lucky enough to only have to pay around $200 out of pocket thanks to some gift cards and Christmas cash and the return of an Amazon Kindle Fire, so that was a bit of luck on my part. But DH found out Friday that he was eligible for a phone upgrade and went immediately to the Sprint store to see about getting an iPhone. I told him to sleep on it a day and let me come with him so I could use my Disney rewards card and get the points, but he was ready and willing to buy it immediately, no research or planning or thinking about it whatsoever. I guess our brains just work differently!

Sent from my iPad using the DISBoards app!

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

Thank you all for your responses thus far! I like to see how other couples deal with finances/spending. I forgot to add in terms of spending: if it's not something I really like (my Coach bag that I Love love love!!!) or really need (groceries), I sometimes get "Buyer's Remorse". Example being: I went to the $ store the other day to get Easter things for the baskets and I felt like I ended up buying too many small things that were more or less "JUNK". I went back and returned the stuff I deemed junk.

 

[ChiCat]

DH is a saver, I am a spender.

Over our 17 years together, he has learned to loosen the wallet a bit and I have learned to keep mine shut more often.

We have found a balance that keeps both of us happy.

Same for us but we've only been married a couple of years.

 

[Pesky]

We are both savers and spenders. We have big ticket items that we have purchased together and after discussion, usually big home improvement items. I think I am slightly better on saving than he is but he's gotten a LOT better since we married to the point that we have no debt outside our mortgage right now.