Man Refuses To Let Pregnant Wife Use His Credit Card Because He’s Trying To Save Money
She wanted to buy new maternity clothes.
voronaman / Shutterstock Having a baby is a beautiful experience — but it's certainly not cheap. With this in mind, one man found himself wondering whether he was wrong for cracking down on his family's budget knowing that he and his wife had a baby on the way — so much so that not even his wife could have access to their finances.
The man refused to let his pregnant wife use his credit card to buy maternity clothes.
In a since-deleted Reddit post, the man explained that his wife is 28 weeks pregnant. Ordered to stay on bed rest due to pregnancy-related complications, her husband asked if she'd be able to work from home while on bed rest because his salary alone isn't enough for them to live on.
"She however, refused and started saying that I'm being cruel to a pregnant woman. So I didn't speak about it again and have been juggling both work as well as household chores," the man wrote in his Reddit post.
Unable to hire anyone to help with household chores, he is doing everything while his wife rests. He explained that because of this, he's barely getting any sleep and has to work at a garage outside of his full-time job.
Due to the fact that money is tight in their house, he has started cutting the cost of most things except their bare necessities. So, when his wife asked to use his credit card, tensions arose.
"Yesterday, my wife asked me for my credit card because she needs maternity clothes. I reminded her that she already has around 4 of those," the man continued.
His wife tried to point out that she doesn't have many clothes that fit her anymore and has nothing to wear at home. As a solution, the man went through their attic and found old clothes that didn't fit him anymore since he'd lost weight. He gave his clothes to his wife and asked her to manage with what they already owned.
She immediately got upset, crying and telling him that he was "being cheap" by not allowing her to use his credit card and buy herself some new maternity clothes. The man reminded his wife that expensive maternity clothes are not a necessity, adding that he's been waiting to buy himself a new pair of prescription glasses for the last three months even though his current ones are broken. That angered his wife, and she hasn't spoken to him since their argument.
The man also explained that his wife refuses to buy any maternity clothes that aren't custom-made and that they only have $150 in their joint bank account. They don't have individual accounts, nor does he have a "hidden stash" of money anywhere.
Having a baby often requires that the family make sacrifices to ensure they're prepared for the new addition.
According to the Peterson-Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Health System Tracker, via Forbes, the average cost of giving birth is over $18,000. Add to that the average cost of raising a child to adulthood, which finance site Credit Karma estimates to be well over $300,000 per child, and it becomes clear that it's imperative to have a solid budget in place when starting a family.
Most people who commented on the man's Reddit post agreed that he wasn't in the wrong for withholding his credit card from his pregnant wife to spend on brand-new clothes considering their financial situation, suggesting that they consider opting for used maternity clothes from a local thrift store.
"If she's on bed rest she especially doesn't need brand new never used maternity clothes since no one is going to see them anyway," one person noted.
For anyone having trouble budgeting for their family's new arrival, finance site NerdWallet suggested using the 50/30/20 budgeting technique.
It's also important for couples to sit down together and go over all household expenses so each person can better understand expectations and needs without feeling as though they have no control over spending.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based Staff Writer for the Entertainment and News department at YourTango. She obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing with a minor in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago.