Part 1The $200 Allowance: How I Made My Penny-Pinching Husband Pay

When I became a stay-at-home mom, my husband gave me only $200 a month for household expenses.

He expected me to use that $200 to buy groceries, cook, pay the utility bills, and cover the entire family's expenses.

He even had the audacity to say that $200 was too generous.

Since the man at home wouldn't provide, naturally, I found other men who would pay me.

Once my wallet was full, I rightfully started dressing up, buying premium skincare products, and enrolling in high-end training courses.

Faced with my husband's suspicions, I casually told him: "I bought it with the $200 you gave me!"

But he panicked: "$200 isn't even enough for groceries! Where are you actually getting the money for this high-end stuff?"

Hilarious. Turns out, he knew perfectly well that $200 was nowhere near enough!

* * *

My name is Emma. After dating my college boyfriend, Mark, for a few years, we naturally got married and eventually had our daughter, Mia.

Since we had no one to help with the baby, Mark talked it over with me, suggesting I quit my job to become a full-time stay-at-home mom.

I was reluctant. "I want to work and earn money too. Why don't I just keep my job and we hire a full-time nanny?"

Mark reasoned with me: "A good postpartum doula or nanny these days charges five or six thousand a month, which is way more than your salary. We'd be losing money!

"Besides, can you really trust a stranger with our baby?"

I wavered.

Mark went on to say that his only goal in making money was to give me and Mia a good life.

He promised to hand over his entire paycheck to me—his "boss"—and swore he'd never mistreat me.

Since he was willing to surrender his salary, I didn't have much else to argue about.

"Alright then."

So, Mark became the breadwinner, and I managed the home. We lived like this for three years.

Stay-at-home moms don't earn a paycheck, so my daily routine involved meticulous budgeting and finding ways to save.

One night, while I was taking advantage of Black Friday sales to stock up on household essentials, Mark walked by.

He glanced at my phone screen and shouted, "You just spent $400 on toilet paper?!"

"We're not exactly rich! How could you blow that much money on toilet paper?!"

I didn't expect him to freak out like that, so I calmly explained, "It's not just toilet paper. It's tampons and pads for me, and baby wipes for Mia. This is a full year's supply for our family of three."

Mark was incredibly stubborn. "You still shouldn't drop $400 all at once! Do you think we just have money to burn?"

I found his tone highly offensive. "You have to compare the unit prices! This is the lowest price of the year. Everything is 50% off. Buying in bulk now saves us half the cost compared to buying it month by month!"

In the past three years, Mark had never bothered to look at our household expenses. He had no idea how much bulk buying saved us, so he just stubbornly insisted I was wasting money.

I finally lost my patience. "Look, since you manage the outside and I manage the inside, how the household budget is spent is my business, right?"

I brushed past him and went to Mia's room to put her to bed.

I thought the issue was over.

I never expected that after I coaxed our daughter to sleep, Mark would march up to me with a dead-serious look on his face: "Emma, I think we need to have a serious talk about household expenses."