Author Topic: Out to Lunch  (Read 7653 times)

AboutTime

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Out to Lunch
« on: March 21, 2013, 07:18:48 PM »
I was talking with one of my colleagues the other day.  He was complaining about how much money his wife spends on everything.  He said she's spending money they don't have.  Apparently, he has been telling her to do the grocery shopping at Meijer instead of Kroger because its cheaper.   Her preference is Kroger though.  He mentioned she got home from the grocery store the other night and he ripped the Kroger receipt from her hand, drove to Meijer, and priced out all the items to see what the difference was...at 10:30 at night.

Here's where it gets good.  In the same breath he told me he spent $5K last year on golf alone.  He also said he spends $11-12/day on lunch.  Do the math $12X5X52=$3120/year on lunch at work.  I just laughed and went back to my desk and ate my orange, carrots, and Nutella sandwich. 

sherr

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2013, 07:44:33 AM »
An orange-carrot-nutella sandwitch? Huh, that's a new one for me. ;)

It's amazing how people fixate on tiny problems when the giant elephants in the room go unnoticed.

igthebold

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2013, 07:47:06 AM »
It's amazing to me how many men complain about their wives, but I know that's not your point.

velocistar237

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2013, 08:31:40 AM »
It's amazing to me how many men complain about their wives, but I know that's not your point.

I have to admit, I've picked apart my wife's spending decisions, only to turn around and do something worse, and then she would be very gracious about it.

Cecil

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2013, 08:34:42 AM »
It's amazing to me how many men complain about their wives, but I know that's not your point.

I have to admit, I've picked apart my wife's spending decisions, only to turn around and do something worse, and then she would be very gracious about it.

I've done the same thing, I admit.

You spent $30 on new shoes? But you have so many shoes already! And yes, honey, that is totally different from how I spent $30 on a new video game when I have so many already!

DebtDerp

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2013, 10:18:47 AM »
I was talking with one of my colleagues the other day.  He was complaining about how much money his wife spends on everything.  He said she's spending money they don't have.  Apparently, he has been telling her to do the grocery shopping at Meijer instead of Kroger because its cheaper.   Her preference is Kroger though.  He mentioned she got home from the grocery store the other night and he ripped the Kroger receipt from her hand, drove to Meijer, and priced out all the items to see what the difference was...at 10:30 at night.

Here's where it gets good.  In the same breath he told me he spent $5K last year on golf alone.  He also said he spends $11-12/day on lunch.  Do the math $12X5X52=$3120/year on lunch at work.  I just laughed and went back to my desk and ate my orange, carrots, and Nutella sandwich.

Don't leave us hanging, what was the difference? ;)

noob515

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2013, 10:34:18 AM »

Don't leave us hanging, what was the difference? ;)

Yeah, was it worth trekking out to the store at 10pm?  I hope he felt like an ass when he got back home.

And ditto what Cecil and Velocistar327 said.  I get on my husband's case for spending $5 here and there buying energy drinks or whatever.  He is a master of not seeing the forest through the trees though.   Sometimes I need to remind him that even though he "only" spent $5 today, those $5 purchases add up.  Plus, if he really wants the stupid sodium laden energy drinks, I'll buy a case  at Costco, so the per unit price is at least better.  Geez.

gooki

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2013, 01:53:28 AM »
Which is why having separate fun money accounts with regular allowance kicks ass.

My wife once spent $300 on a hair cut. Since the money came from her personal account and not the joint one, I could get over the insane price, and we both had a fucking good laugh about how much of a rip off it was.

jamccain

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2013, 05:47:27 PM »
It's not the money the other one is spending that's offensive...it's the value decision that is misaligned between the couple. Let me poorly explain this...

Example, golf is worth $5K per year because it gives him benefit x,y,and z.  It's dumb to his spouse because she doesn't value x,y, and z.  He hates spending money at Kroger because it's inefficient as compared to Meijer, but she sees the value in Kroger because of x,y,and z.  When they start to disagree about spending because of their moral values then things will get very interesting. 

venkol

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2013, 05:02:35 PM »
Geeez, that's crazy, everyone knows that Meijer is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than Kroger.

AboutTime

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2013, 06:28:11 PM »
FOLLOWUP ALERT:  So I decided to ask what the difference was on the two bills.  He said the Kroger receipt was about $150 total and Meijer was about $138.  Keep in mind that this is the bill for the bi-weekly shopping trip so that represents a significant savings over the course of a year.  I asked him what HE was planning on doing differently to help out with the budget and he replied, "Nothing, we're already screwed."

NumberJohnny5

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #11 on: March 28, 2013, 07:56:23 PM »
$12 bi-weekly is $312/yr, not that significant. Now if you meant twice weekly, that's $1,248; that's a good bit of money (maybe enough to justify a heated discussion), but I'd be more concerned about the fact that both grocery bills are excessive at that point.

How many times has he checked how much she's "wasting?" Store prices fluctuate frequently, perhaps he'd find that the next two trips were indeed cheaper at Kroger's. Is Meijer out of the way while Kroger is more convenient? Has he sat down to calculate the savings Kroger may be giving in terms of fuel, car wear, and his wife's time?

If he's stressing out this much over the grocery bill (I can't judge, been there myself), I think they need a budget. Set a grocery budget, and don't complain if spending stays within budget. Seriously, if the budget is $140 and she spends $135, don't worry if the same groceries would have cost $125 elsewhere. Give both some spending money that can be spent however whyever; if the grocery budget is $140 and she spends $150 with $10 of that coming out of her misc money...leave it be. If she'd rather forego $10 worth of new shoes than switch stores...she's still saving $10, so consider it a small victory.

Freda

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2013, 09:28:31 AM »
Geeez, that's crazy, everyone knows that Meijer is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than Kroger.

Pfft.  Aldi's for the win.

Starstuff

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Re: Out to Lunch
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2013, 10:19:00 AM »
Kroger has substantially better, cheaper, and more organic brands then Meijer. The difference in products is not worth $6 a week.