Do You Spend Money Secretly?

Are you one of those who aren't honest with your spouse? I am not talking about adultery here but rather expenses which you have been hiding.

The Wall Street Journal has a beautiful piece asking if you are a secret spender.

It seems many people qualify as secret spenders. According to a recent American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, 27% of respondents have “misrepresented the amount of a purchase” while 30% hide purchases from their partner.

The extent of them keeping spending under wraps is rather funny and incredulous too. Check out what they did:

•burying their purchase in the backyard
•pretending that goods came from Goodwill
•hiding purchases in grocery bags to bring them home
•arranging for items to arrive while their partner was away
•sneaking out and bought an item in the middle of the night

Though I don't go to the extent of asking permission from my wife for my unbudgeted purchases (mostly gadgets), I do let her know about it. This is to encourage honesty from both parties.

She is quite a spender herself on clothes and shoes and if both of us were to conceal our expenses, it will defeat the purpose of having a household budget.

In any case, our checkbook and credit cards are open to each other and she will find out. But to avoid ugly conflicts, I find the right timing to tell her and her mood will depend on the amount which I had spent without her knowledge.

Are you guys a secret spender too? And how do you tell her wife about it?