How selfish are you?

I was just pondering something: I just sent in my reimbursement form for my flex spending account. I'm going to get back a little over $400. So I was thinking how nice it would be to just not tell DH and go and spend the money. He doesn't really need it anyway!
It would seriously just go in the bank otherwise. We don't really need it to pay bills and all of our credit card debt is paid off. I'm sure DH wouldn't mind if I just spent the money on clothes, but then again, he might give me a hard time about it.
I can't hide any money from him anyway since we have a joint account (and he watches that account like a hawk) so there's no way I could just spend it without him knowing (unless I found one of those check-cashing places). This was just a thought running through my evil little head

So, what would you do? If you came across some money and you didn't have any bills to pay, would you just spend it on yourself and not tell DH?

LOL on myself! Not necessarily clothes or shoes, but tuition or something like that! Or my 5 year college reunion fund! We don't have a shared account yet (until he pays down his CC debt) so I can be as selfish as I want to be without him caring.

If you don't need money for bills and stuff...why would your DH give you a hard time ????

I would just put it in your account and use as much of it as you like. Like you said..you are doing fine finacially so i don't see the big deal

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Posted by RedHead

If you don't need money for bills and stuff...why would your DH give you a hard time ????

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Like I said, he probably wouldn't (I think I said that anyway) but I don't know, the whole joint account thing just annoys me! I don't like not having at least some of my own money that I can keep track of. He won't budge on this either so I always plot ways of spending money without telling him that I ever had it. It's kind of my own little childish way of getting back at him
My conscience usually gets the best of me though
And I'm not asking what you think I should do, I'm just asking what YOU would do if you had the money. Just curious to see what you all say!

We have joint checking/savings accounts, but we also both keep a small amount in individual checking accts - to do with whatever we please. The other person doesn't need to approve, or even know about it.

If it were me I would spend $200 on myself easily, but I would probably put the other $200 in our joint and do something fun for both of us, like a fancy dinner or night at a B&B.

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Posted by Anniegrl

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Posted by RedHead

If you don't need money for bills and stuff...why would your DH give you a hard time ????

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Like I said, he probably wouldn't (I think I said that anyway) but I don't know, the whole joint account thing just annoys me! I don't like not having at least some of my own money that I can keep track of. He won't budge on this either so I always plot ways of spending money without telling him that I ever had it. It's kind of my own little childish way of getting back at him
My conscience usually gets the best of me though
And I'm not asking what you think I should do, I'm just asking what YOU would do if you had the money. Just curious to see what you all say!

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I know what you mean--he might think you should save it all, etc. I feel like DH should save more than he spends, but since we don't have joint accounts yet it's not really my business as much!

when i get my flex spending check back i have the urge to do the same thing...and i have now and then - i cash the check

don't feel bad - it's your $ - you worked for it!

We have a joint account that we both contribute to for paying the joint bills. Any money either of us earn above our contributions is our individual money. In your case, if I've already contributed to the joint account, I would deposit this check in my individual account. Neither one of us questions the other about our spending (as long as the joint bills are paid.)

Personally, I think it's wise to have separate accounts in addition to joint accounts. It has nothing to do with selfishness.

I don't think you are selfish, but I would probably use the money to buy something for the home that I wanted and DH didn't want or would't spend the money on. So it would sort of be like getting my way (in the sense that I buy what I want) but not being so selfish that it doesn't benefit him at all (clothes, makeup, etc)

Since I'm like a nazi when it comes to our finances, and I constantly watch his spending habits, I could not selfishly spend it on myself.

I'd probably find a way to spend it on each other...maybe a weekend away..dinner and a show in the city...

I would spend it on myself, but then tell him about it.