Hiding Your Shopping from Your Spouse

No doubt nearly every married physician haswanted to make a personal purchase, butthought twice when they considered thatspending the money might tick off their spouse. Butyou needn't worry so much, if you plan ahead. The WallStreet Journal suggests that married couples set aspending dollar amount, say $200 per month, thatdoesn't need to be cleared by their other half first. Thisis known as an "adult allowance," and it makes thosetempting impulse buys a little more guilt-free. If youreally want to keep tabs on spending, you can save yourreceipts and hand them over to each other.

However, if you have a spouse who just can't getenough of spending, there are still lots of ways they canhide it, such as going grocery shopping and gettingcash back on a check, or getting a private PO box soyou don't see bills that come in. Hopefully your spouseisn't so sneaky, as these private shopping sprees caneventually rack up a ton of debt. Nip secrecy in the bud,and consider giving the adult allowance a trial run.Sticking to the set amount should actually help curbyour spending.