Battle of the Cookie Dough

You may not know this, but I was born with a control freak streak, courtesy of my mom. K will be the first to admit that I've come a looong way and am quite adaptable to compromise (due to another strong trait of mine: love of harmony). But every once it a while, this tendency toward micromangement rears its ugly head, especially when it comes to finances.

In October, two major events unfortunately landed in the same month: the PSP Go handheld console was released and K's 4-year-old Xbox 360 finally got the Red Ring of Death for good. That's about $600 on top of our usual gaming budget. Albeit K did keep his promise of raising $500 from eBay sales, but my lips still unconsciously tightened whenever I saw another Game Stop or Best Buy bag in his hands.

Chairman Meow disapproves of your actions*

So we're supposed to have this wonderfully romantic date night on Wednesday, and the first thing I do as he walks in the door is frown at what appears to be yet another game purchase. Already wincing from the imaginary wallet ache, my dismay compounds when I realize we'll have to eat out tonight because I was too headache-y to cook and it's already pretty late. Not to worry, let's get a take-and-bake pizza and save some for leftovers, right? We get in the shop and make our topping selection without any trouble. But then K reaches for a $4 bin of ready-to-bake cookie dough. Once again thinking of our budget, I jokingly protest (ok, half-jokingly) as he's paying but soon give up because, well, he always gets cookie dough. And then he reaches for a second bin! My protests have now become seriously outspoken (curse my voice for carrying so far), as K tries to fend off my attempts to physically snatch the dough while trying not to cause a bigger scene than I already have. Not one of my best moments, I have to say.


On the way back, we have this big argument that consists of untangling a big nest of misunderstandings. I contend that he should have asked me about the extra cookie dough since he knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money. He clarifies that the second bin was on sale for 99¢ and he wanted to get it since we're hosting Bible study next week. I express my overall anxiety concerning finances because of his games. He.. well, let's just say that statement opened up a whole can of worms.

Luckily, the whole evening wasn't ruined because by the time we got home, I had tearfully admited that I sucked for disrespecting him in public and he had vowed not buy every game on its release day. Still, the lesson learned is this: I'll still keep track of our budget on a regular basis, but instead of freaking out if a certain category is too high, I'll ask K to jointly figure out how we can still reach our financial goals for the rest of the month. I had subconsciously viewed K as a "budget corrupter," when in reality, he has become so much more frugal and is very willing to help save money wherever possible. Thank God I have a wonderful husband who patiently forgives me whenever I get all freakazoid. ^_^;;

*Yes, we recently acquired a new dependent. And yes, her name is actually Chairman Meow.