My girlfriends freeper husband has cut her grocery shopping money

[samplegirl]

in order to keep up with gas prices. I recommend she try this recipe.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,193,137179-238200,00.html

[Squatch]

1. I don't think that phenomenon is isolated to just freepers

A lot of people are cutting a lot of budgeted items to keep up with rising gas prices.

[hobbit709]

2. i guess he'd rather drive than eat.

[Squatch]

3. Gotta drive to get to work to be able to eat...

:shrug:

[samplegirl]

4. He's telling her to go get a job!

[hobbit709]

6. Yeah, but a "manly" man like a freeper don't want his woman working.

[alphafemale]

7. Why shouldn't she get a job? Sounds like a reasonable request.

Just askin'

[samplegirl]

13. She is retired...

and wants her to live of her inheritance.

[alphafemale]

14. Well, if she has enough monthly income to do that on her own?

Sounds as if she needs to decide whether she'd happier with him or would be better off without him.

[Carnea]

24. Is she paying half the food budget now?

And if not why not?

[samplegirl]

31. No but she has more than paid her share of expenses.

Like a new furnace they needed.

[midnight]

22. Do you know what industry is hiring? Also those industries

that are hiring, do they pay enough to pay for transpertaion?

[alphafemale]

25. The OP replied that she draws money from an inheritance and is retired.

But for most people lamenting that there are no "worthwhile" jobs to be had is the first step on a path to failure.

[samplegirl]

33. She should not have to go back out to work.

Period!

[alphafemale]

38. Then maybe she should cut the deadwood from around her neck.

It's her choice though. Is she happier with him? Does she think she'd be better off without him.

If she decides to go back to work to keep the relationship that is her choice whether you or I agree with it or not.

There is really not enough info.

[alphafemale]

52. Unfortunately? Sometimes reality in a depressed economy sucks.

Blaming it all on her boyfriend sounds unfair.

[Rage for Order]

58. She sounds spoiled n/t

[Kahuna]

21. Yep!

;)

[rucky]

5. Looks like she already has the weiner. n/t

[Carnea]

8. I'm going to need more information.

or at least something to hang my hat on like he spends hundreds every week at the nudie bar or he collects Thomas Kincaid paintings or something.

I just can't get angry at common sense budgeting.

And asking his wife to get a job???? Oh the horrors... (sound of fainting)

[samplegirl]

19. The point being...

He loved Bush and voted twice for him! Works for the government and now expects her to chip in from her inheritance from her mother.
Yet does not want to cut anything he likes.

[Carnea]

26. Yes he sounds like a jerk.

If she is paying half the bills from interest of her inheritance then he needs to STFU. But if she isn't working and won't touch her "nest egg" then they both are at fault. (It isn't much of an inheritance if a food budget will deplete it to begin with. It's not like he wants to buy a boat with it or something.)

Honestly either both sit down and work out a budget together or have one spouse in charge of spending the money and the other in charge of making it.

They are adults and sound old enough to know better.... both of them.

[samplegirl]

34. Sadly she should not have to dip into her inheritance

to support them because he is a dumb ass who supports the Republican beliefs.

[Carnea]

39. If she can't pay her bills from the interest on her inheritance.

She either needs to get a job or live within her husbands salary.

The fact her husband is a Freeper doesn't change the budgeting.

[alphafemale]

40. Wait a minute...she's not contributing? I mistaking thought you meant she got a monthly check.

That's bullshit for her to say "This is ALL mine I'll sit here on top of it. I have full power of deciding when and if any of this is spent."

Now YOU go make all the household money.

[Retired AF Dem]

42. never mind

cant figure out alien thinking anyway.

[seabeyond]

45. sample, she isnt working? she isnt putting in her share? at least tell me

she is raising some young kids at home.

she is totally capable of doing her part but isnt cause she got an "inheritance" she doesnt use to live off of. lol. looks like she has nothing to bitch about. i would be finding some cheaper recipes too.

[uppityperson]

61. so she is contributing nothing? Huh.

And he is having to budget differently? And this is an issue because...why? Don't contribute, and expect to be taken care of? What am I missing here? Perhaps I read it wrong, but what?

[Andy823]

9. I have a garden

Helps out big time. Right now I get lettuce, spinach, salad greens, and radishes that I am eating daily. I have beans, snow peas, onions, carrots, beets, peppers, cucumbers and squash that will be producing through the growing season. What I don't grow will be bought at the local farmers market. This year I went to raised beds, which I built myself. I will be adding more raised beds this fall or next spring, and so far I love them!

I have been cutting down on my driving, and not that school is out, I can cut down even more since I don't have to take my son to school each day. I parked my diesel truck till next winter when I need to push snow, and my gas pickup is only used on rare occasions. I have a ford focus that gets an average of 30 miles per gallon, and I have gotten up to 35 on the highway, that is my main source of transportation. I have been slowly reducing the amount of grass in our yard each year to cut down on mowing. Every little bit helps!

[ulysses]

12. mind if I ask how you did your raised beds?

Pictures welcome too. :) TIA.

[LiberalEsto]

27. My raised beds

I used concrete cinderblocks arranged in rectangles to make four raised beds of about 8 feet by 4 feet, with a cross shaped walkway in between them. There is planting soil in the holes of the cinderblocks, and I grow garlic in them, which helps cut down on pests a bit.

The garden is surrounded with 7' high black plastic bird netting on green metal fence posts to keep out deer. There's also 24-inch chicken wire at ground level to keep out the rabbits, which have learned to rip holes in the netting to break in.

The soil was improved Square Foot Gardening style with peat moss, compost and vermiculite. There are tall trellises made of metal electrical conduit, with lengths of cotton clothesline strung down to train up tomatoes, pole beans and cucumbers. (Instructions are on the Square Foot website http://www.squarefootgardening.com/). These trellises allow me to grow more plants in a limited space.

Hope you find this helpful! :)

[ulysses]

32. thanks!

I've done (or tried to do) the square foot gardening thing in the past - I'll have to get my book out again. Most helpful and appreciated!

[LiberalEsto]

37. You're welcome

I thought about using treated wood or plastic, but neither seemed like a safe material to surround food crops.

The real keys to the square foot method are improving the soil to make it fertile and fluffy, and not walking on it. I don't bother with marking off foot-square sections - I just estimate and plant accordingly. Again, using plastic to separate the sections is probably not a good idea when growing food.

Good luck!

[alphafemale]

53. Funny thing. Somehow some seeds found their way into the compost.

I have all volunteer tomato and pepper plants.

I thought the seed would be sterile but it turns out not.

Some of the healthiest looking tomato plants I've ever had in fact.

[zanne]

17. A garden helps, but...

I also grow a vegetable garden, but I don't start harvesting anything from it until July and most of the veggies are only ready to pick in August. By mid-September, the garden is done and the only thing I can really store is winter squash. I don't care for vegetables that are "canned" because they usually don't taste much like the vegetable is supposed to taste.

[Marrah_G]

36. A suggestion:

Turn the veggies into Spagetti sauce and can that. It will help a little and taste better then the store bought kinds.

[Catch22Dem]

10. Why would you throw the wieners out???

That reminds me of this girl I used to know who'd get coneys without the wiener. Insanity!

[salin]

44. I think someone posted that recipe as a joke.

[WolverineDG]

11. How's about she sends HIM shopping

I remember my mom & dad had a spectacular fight about how much she was spending at the grocery store, so she gave him the ultimate: If YOU can do it better, YOU do the shopping! Then she gave him her list & the grocery budget & told him to have at. He did, & never again griped about how much money she was "wasting" at the grocery store.

dg

[Warpy]

15. My mother's story was how she fed my dad a bowl of air

one time. It was the late 40s, they'd just been married, and he hadn't thought to dole out a household budget.

When she ran out of canned goods, she served air for supper. He complained, she informed him that's what air bought at the supermarket.

I never heard them fight about money, so I guess that's when they settled everything.

[ensho]

30. wonderful

nt

[yellowdogintexas]

16. oh yeah, that is a great way to open someone's eyes about the reality

he truly must have no idea what is going on in the grocery store if he is complaining about the amt she spends on food.

Of course she could just buy beans and rice and spices and see how he likes that after about a week. There are enough varieties of beans to have a different kind every day.

that is what I would do if someone tried that with me.

and instant milk
and day old bread

[WolverineDG]

23. I forgot to add that this happened back in the 70's

during the first Gas Crunch. :)

dg

[Sal Minella]

28. Instant milk (cheapest house brand) is now $3.00/gallon.

cheapest generic bread here recently went from 99 cents to $1.49 in one jump.

My nearest secondhand-bread store is now too expensive to drive to, and it's become a lot more expensive anyway.

I'm sure having the complainer do the shopping himself is the only way reality will sink in.

[seabeyond]

43. 3.89 and 4.09 in our store. the two brands... but it is the meats and

fruits and veggies that are so very high right now, in our area anyway

[Xenotime]

18. He sounds like a control freak to me.

Watch, he will be pissed now that there is nothing to eat when he comes home. I know these types.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. When we foreigners are taught English, the word "girlfriend" means one thing and one thing only.

Hence you'll understand the beginning of this thread's title really stood out in my mind. :spank:

[Book Lover]

50. DU is educational as well as informative :-)

[seabeyond]

51. and what is that one thing

and one thing only....????

[Catch22Dem]

55. Obviously a romantic relationship

As opposed to someone referring to their female friend as a girlfriend.

[seabeyond]

56. see.... i missed the hubby part and thought she "girlfriend" of freeper

happens with perusal and assuming girlfriend as in romantic and not friend. lol

gotcha, thanks.

i misread title

[ensho]

29. I recommend she leave him.

she can probably run a budget better then him anyway.

[Trillo]

54. She already has.

The OP said, "My girlfriends freeper husband".

Probably pseudo-staying with the freeper to get whatever money she can.

[Marrah_G]

35. I've cut my grocery budget because of gas prices also

Perhaps he is being a realist and she should start a garden and learn to shop carefully and with coupons.

[seabeyond]

41. except grocery have risen to so it is really a double cut if he has reduced amount spent

on groceries. good luck on that one.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

46. I can't fault him if money is tight. There is much more flexibility with grocery shopping than with

price of gas.

[Marrah_G]

47. I have couple questions

1) what percentage of the household bills does she pay?

2) If rising gas,food and heat costs are breaking the budget why would she not want to contribute more by either taking it from her trust fund or getting a part-time job.

3) Why is she resistant to finding new ways to save money on food? If she does not work she should have tons of time to garden, cut coupons, shop sales and cook more wisely.

[alphafemale]

49. Yeah. The OP maybe didn't explain fully. But she should contribute her fair share.

Gas prices have risen horribly. Somethings gotta give somewhere if there is no willingness to earn extra money.

[aikoaiko]

48. I don't get it. she has enough money from inheritance to live on, but is reliant on a him for food?

weird.

[InsultComicDog]

57. Here's what I think of that recipe

[Book Lover]

59. This thread should remind us all

that no one really understands what goes on in other people's marriages. In my state, which is a community property state, a spouse has no right to any monies received in an inheritance. And one other thing: every marriage ends, whether by divorce or death. It is very likely that the woman will be the surviving spouse. Every woman needs to plan for her widowhood; maybe her inheritance is her plan.

[Jack_DeLeon]

60. Whats the problem? Atleast thats one way to fight America's obesity problem...

as people can no longer afford food then people will lose weight. :)