Money for a Calendar
January 14, 2009
I went to Staples tonight to buy Marc the school supplies he needs for this semester. The total was $115! Granted, I bought the huge pack of pens and pencils because they always disappear so quickly, but that only came to $12. $30 went for a personal calendar for me, so school supplies were "only" $80. It hurts.
When we left Staples, I said, "I don't know how your dad is going to take it," because I spent that much money without calling him first. The way I saw it, I am responsible for taking care of household things, and because we're doing the budget together, I know we have a couple hundred extra this pay period.
Well, Will didn't take it well. I came home and gave him the receipt. He said, "This is a lot of money!" which, of course, I completely agreed with. He then asked what the thing for $28 was. I didn't know, so I looked at the receipt. It was my calendar, but I thought the price was $20, not $30.
So anyway, he immediately asked where the calendar was and started flipping through it. He said, "This is worth $30?" I said that I thought it was worth $20, but I hadn't decided if it was worth $30 or not. "What do you need this for?!" he demanded, "I got you this one from work for free!" and pointed to the huge calendar on the refrigerator that we use to keep track of the boys activities.
I told him that I needed one I could carry with me to keep track of appointments and other things I needed to remember. Well, he didn't like that at all. I don't know why - I guess he just thought I didn't need it and it wasn't worth $30.
He kept harping on the stupid calendar which I hadn't even decided if I was going to keep or not! I told him I would decide if I was going to keep the calendar or not after I finished making dinner.
So he says, "That's what this is all about. You don't like answering to me! You didn't let me know you were going to spend this money because you knew I would ask what it was for and that I would say no!"
I said, "Since we're doing the budget together, I knew we had the money to spend on the school supplies. What's the difference if I told you before or after I bought them?!" and while he started yelling I added, "And I haven't decided if I am going to take the calendar back or not."
So I didn't hear what he said at first. But he was upset that I didn't call him to ask and that I spent that much money on something I "don't need."
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