CJ C

so where do you guys hide your receipts? i hide mine in some heavy rough feeling socks i will never wear

yes the "Bug" bit me i told my wife that it would only cost $30 bucks to fix up my old 12speed. well i blew that by having to buy a new rear wheel at $40. then i had the LBS check out the front wheel and true it up. i also needed new tires that were red-walled and you cant have red tires without red bar tape! and felt for my safety i needed new brake pads. and after a few test rides i decided for the future prospect of having a few more kids i need a new saddle that will increase blood flow and not both my man parts. and why would i put my new saddle on a 20 year old steal post? so a new one will be on the check list. also i am figuring that i wont really ride in the drops so i may switch to bullhorns and i will need new brake levers if i do that.

so as you can see that $30 is long gone and i need to keep the receipts incase of returns. just wondering if any of you's hide them too?

CliftonGK1

I don't. I buy stuff, then I sit in the living room with my bike up on my stand and assemble my new parts right there in front of her. Last weekend I built a pair of wheels while we watched a movie. We have a household budget that comes out of the joint account we both dump money into, and once the bills are covered then any expenditures beyond that are not each other's concerns. I don't ask about Kate Spade packages, she doesn't ask about Bikeman.com packages. I tell her that her new purse is pretty, she tells me my wheels look nice.

MNBikeguy

Sure... It starts innocently as a small cost overrun.
Then before you know it, you'll be sending pics of your new wheels to random bike newbs over the internet.
Just wait 'till your wife finds out. Another weener-gate...

KonAaron Snake 

I make the majority of my bike purchases with money made with bikes...she doesn't say a thing other than how great a hobby it is. I don't drink, I come home on time, I treat her well and spend time with her. Even when she's annoyed about space issues, she sees it as a benign hobby (especially after I bought her a 96' Lemond Zurich to replace her POS).

Terry66

We're past that. Bikes are always coming and going. Parts boxes come a couple times a week. It's a never-ending thing.

____asdfghjkl

pockets of jackets that you never wear.

eat them.

colleen c

Easier to ask for forgivness than permission? Or What they don't know won't hurt them?

Well, I be honest. My SO (partner) knows most of my purchase. I make more than she does and since we have a separate account anyway, it really more or less doesn't matter what we spend our money on as long as the commmon bill gets paid.

She don't mind me spending more than I need since most of the stuff I don't use goes to her bike anyway. So far she gots lots of freebie from me....and I do mean a lot!

dynodonn 

Not even a concern in our household, my monthly bike expenditures pale in comparison to the wife's car expenditures.

Ira B

My biking save us money and keeps her from having a flabby hubby.

Besides, she reads my mind so hiding receipts would be pointless.

busted knuckles

I would have to hide them where she would never look. In with the pots and pans.

bhop

mustang1

I keep my receipts for 2 weeks, in the wallet. After that they go in the shredder, not coz I wanna hide them from the wife, but coz I'm usefless with paperwork so I'd rather just get rid of it. I keep nothing.

NotTheOne

You must have a nosy SO...Mine leaves my stuff alone. Plus I'm the only one working right now so it's only fair for me to spend money.

snajper69

I always tell her I "really need this" and this is the last thing I will buy for a while . Usually it means about 48 hrs, but if her deffinition of "for a while" is different it's not my problem lol.

KBentley57

My wife monitors our joint checking and savings accounts like a hawk - multiple times per day. I don't even bother to try to slip things through. We have a deal that anything over $50.00 needs to be discussed first (if only to avoid wondering where a large charge came from), anything under is fair game. It's cool though, she's caught charges not made by us on the same day. It helps when calling the bank and noticing an odd charge that isn't two weeks old!

I've never been turned down for a purchase, but I know when not even to bother asking for something expensive I don't need in the first place too

chandltp

I know I have a problem if I'm hiding bike expenditures. Although I have a hard time spending money. My wife told me to spend the $600 for hand built wheels and another $200 for dyno lights, but I'm still waffling because I hate spending the money.

stringbreaker

We each have our own checking account and one account for house stuff. Its been this way since we got married and that way we don't argue over money.

philski

Similar to other posters,

1) my bike expenditures pale in comparison to her car expenditures (I've spent about $100 year to date; average year is about $300)
2) I've flipped every bike I've bought and sold for a profit. I keep some of it in a PayPal account. Use that to buy purchases online... what receipt?

philip

Scooby214

I wouldn't consider my purchases to be hidden away from my wife, though I may not immediately let her know when I've made small purchases. Storing recipts depends on how I purchase the bike items. If I use the credit card, I can store the receipt away in a drawer. If I use the check card (joint account), I have to let her know right away so we don't overdraw the account. My teaching salary is our only income, so we have to be careful with spending. There are times when I "need" something for one of the bikes, but I am careful to not spend our checking account into a hole.

My purchases are usually small items, and she never minds the purchases, so I don't feel the need to ask permission before making smaller purchases. My bike needs are fairly simple and my bikes are simple, so I rarely need to make larger bike purchases. The other side of the equation is that she also makes smaller purchases without needing to ask permission. We have a common goal of stretching my small teaching salary to provide for a family of five.

cccorlew

Jeezzz, I'd never hide money or a purchase from my wife. We're married,as in we're in love and a team and all that.

That said, I guess I 'm lucky. My wife rides a bike to work, and on the weekends. At a swap meet last year I really liked some Sidi shoes, but, even though they were $450 marked to down to $200 I thought that was too much for bike shoes.

She teased me a lot "So, how many miles did you ride last year? How many this year so far? How many hours is that? How many years will they last? How much per mile will that be? Didn't you just say you love them.?"

So I bought them. And they are great. And so is she.

If you're hiding money, look to your soul, or change your life.

RT

If you have joint accounts, you are doomed. Be honest with her - she will find out. She is a woman, after all.

jpatkinson

Hey, I don't think CJ is serious about hiding receipts. I can't imagine hiding anything from my spouse. Really?

dynodonn 

Is your budget that tight? Discussions on every purchase over 50 dollars would be a serious waste of time in our household, 500 dollars, maybe, but not 50. Constant micromanaging was one reason I changed employment, I surely wouldn't tolerate in the home.

chandltp

In my house, my wife manages the budget. I don't have to ask permission so much as make sure we still have money in the budget. If I don't have the money in my wallet, I check to make sure I can spend it. She allocates money for bike purchases out of each paycheck, and keeps a running tally.

We always have money for things we need, and I don't need to worry about it, so it works out for both of us. And our budget is that tight. We are a single income family of four. We have no debt other than our house, and we intend to keep it that way.

dcrowell

My wife and I have separate finances. It works better that way.

On the other hand... if hiding receipts eventually leads to a divorce, you can make sure your next wife is okay with separate financial arrangements.