Rebecca Meyer
This 36-year-old man, his partner, 26, and her parents are vacationing in July. He and his partner don’t have a lot of disposable income, so since they’re traveling with his partner’s parents, they were able to reserve accommodations that are fancier than they’re used to.
His partner’s parents brought up the vacation a year ago, and he was unsure at first. Since he didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend, he’d need to save for about two or three years for a trip like this, whether he was traveling alone or with his partner.
“She was all-in, so I did the budget and confirmed we can both afford the payments and the money we’ll need there if we stick to the budget,” he said.
He and his partner haven’t moved in together yet, but they’ve kept their finances separate. Over the last few months leading up to the trip, he trusted that his partner followed the budget he made for them. While he followed it, she didn’t.
To save money, he stopped going out to bars and concerts. He paid his part of the vacation and reached his savings goal two months ahead of the trip. His partner paid for her portion of the trip but didn’t save any more money.
Now, she has only two months to save money for activities during their vacation, and she only has one more payday before the trip. To afford everything she wants to do and pay for meals, she’d need about $1,250.
“Two days ago, I expressed my concerns that she won’t be able to afford what she wants to do, to which her response was, ‘That’s fine, I know you’ve got me.’ I’m sorry, no, I don’t,” he explained.
He sacrificed to save the money for this vacation while his partner spent tons of money on TikTok Shop and her Monster Energy obsession.
Whenever he reminded her about their budget and urged her to be careful with her spending, she brushed his worries aside and assured him she could save money and spend it on occasional splurges. He didn’t understand why he should have to pay for her during their vacation when she should have been following their budget.
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