Chip Chick
Over the summer, this 44-year-old woman financed a brand-new car. Her 46-year-old husband makes a ton more money than she does, so he gave her some money for new wheels.
She put up $1,500 for her car, and her husband put up $5,000. In the days that followed, she expressed to her husband how much she appreciated him giving her money for the car.
Several months after the car purchase, she celebrated her birthday, and she did not anticipate that her husband would buy her any birthday presents, given the car money.
She was right, he didn’t get her anything special, and they celebrated by having a wonderful dinner together.
“I am not a materialistic person,” she explained. “Usually, we have a spending cap for Christmas of $100- $200.”
“It’s just us at home, no kids, and I have no family really, so as far as presents under the tree, gift-wise, it’s only him I get gifts from. I just enjoy the fuzzy feeling of Christmas morning with coffee and a fire, PJs, and presents. He told me this year I won’t get any presents because he spent the money on the car.”
“First, he said small things for me maybe…and I asked him if he wanted me to send a list of “small thing” ideas, and he got all upset and said, “Just forget it! You can get me presents if you want.”
Now, she also let her husband sell her old car in the aftermath of the car purchase and keep the money, which totaled $5,000. So he didn’t end up losing any money on her new car at all; they were technically even after that.
Although she could have brought that up while her husband said she wouldn’t be getting any Christmas presents this year, that felt too petty to her to throw in his face.
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