Wife is over-spending ...?

Question

My wife spends all the money she can get her hands on and more.

I have finally gotten us out of debt and she turns around and gets a new credit card and has racked up 5K on it. She says we should pay it down, but then still spends all the money so I am not able to pay anything on it.

How should I handle this?

Answer 1

Jeez. I don't know. That sucks.

You two have obviously talked about it and she got one anyways so I don't really know what you can do. Although if it were me I'd be cutting the credit cards in half the second I saw them but I doubt that would ever stop her. She needs to live AT her income level and stop trying to live above it. Tell her to get a couple of jobs lol.

Seriously though... I wish I had better advice but I don't know what you can do to get her to stop.

Answer 2

I know she's your wife but come on.   If I was working to support the family and my husband spent a lot of cash..  I would take away his credit cards and keep tabs (daily, weekly) on our joint credit cards and bank accounts. If he wants to purchase something, I would tell me to see me first!!!! I might even divorce him if he continued spending.

Answer 3

Cut up the credit card and tell her if she opens another one, SHE will be responsible for it.  Jeez, she's gotta work with ya!

Answer 4

Im thinking that if things are that extreme then you are going to have to take the finances out of her hands. It will be harder if she works since she will only use her own credit to start more. She is being incredibly inconsiderate to you and your marriage. If you have a joint account, stop putting money in it.  

Answer 5

wow she sounds like a gold digger... lol control it and cancel the cards.. teach her how to save up and not to be so materialistic

Answer 6

Take the credit card and shred it, and basically treat her like a child until she can handle the responsibility of spending money wisely. Give her an allowance i guess you could say.

Answer 7

Take the Dave Ramsey money makeover course with her. You'll be glad you did it.

Answer 8

The simplest thing to do would be to cut up her credit card. Why is she such a shopaholic? Does she not realize how debilitating it can be to spend that much money? Especially if you just got yourselves out of debt (probably due to her spending, right?) Another option would be to withdraw money from your checking account so she has nothing to pay her credit card with. Maybe if you give her less access to funds she'll be more likely to tone it down. If that doesn't work, give her an ultimatum: I work too hard for my money to let you spend it all on c**p. Either stop, or I'm out of here.

Answer 9

Holy cow.... how frustrating!

What you can do is look into a cruise for the two of you and total up how much it would be... Then show her that the $5,000.00 that she blew on the credit card.... COULD have been use as a vacation!

Start showing her a budget and keep her in the loop as far as finances go... If it comes worse, why not enroll her in a money management course?

Personally, I would LOVE to take a vacation with my family, or with just my husband... And 5K would be MORE than enough for a week's cruise...

Answer 10

And the worse part is that if you divorce her,  your alimony will be based on the lifestyle she is accustomed to.   Since she is accustomed to spending money she doesn't have, lots of luck.

Answer 11

Cancel all her credit cards or take them away from her