Wife Acceptance Factor

It seems to me that most women who are wives in my area (including my own) believe in the "what is yours is mine" philosophy, or worse, tend to believe they own the monopoly on “home sense” in terms of what is appropriate to buy, or what is suitable design wise, for the home environment (I mean these in both the ergonomic and fiscal senses).

What this amounts to is the following: man sneaks around buying equipment he can hide somewhere (if he is fortunate enough to have his own space in the house to hide things). If wifey discovers hubby's goodies, wife must be compensated to what she feels are equivalent indulgence levels. Unfortunately women do not consider purses and shoes as comparable indulgences, nor the Broadway plays or dinners out with other couples, which she will likely instruct you to attend (though you might actually enjoy them as well sometimes).

The other, worse, situation is when the husband has no private space, and/or the wife believes she has the sole right to decide what works, interior design wise, in the house. In that case you are screwed. I know guys whose wives won't allow them to have comfortable reclining chairs because they won't fit in with their decor sensibilities! And, when you think about it, you can have a reclining chair custom upholstered to match any decor, so it isn’t even about the chair itself, but about control.

All this is a good example of why I openly support gay marriage and look forward to the day when my libido disappears completely and I can find an agreeable, and wealthy, male friend with whom I can pool my money for the ultimate home theatre. J/K

In every relationship, there's a "Male" and "Female"

Shut up damn you, don't ruin my fantasy!!!

J/K

Don't get my original post wrong BTW. I'm happily married (if that tired cliche really exists as more than an oxymoron...). My wife knows how much I spent and on what. My system is only around $25-30K (will be around or over $30k when I upgrade the TV). I have my own private office/listening room in the basement that is around 40 ft by 20 ft in size, give or take (more than half is my listening room home theatre space). I do have to compensate my wife for making my resent purchases, but admittedly her requests were not nearly as expensive (but it is all money I brought to the marriage, which is why she is not unreasonable about it). She is not happy about the things I have bought, but she lives with it. I didn’t sneak around, but I certainly didn’t advertise, though I never lied about it when asked.

I started out by saying, "most of the women who are wives in my area", because it is true for most women I have met, and what I said about men is true about most men I have met. Actually, I am exaggerating; most of the men I have met are whipped and afraid to stand up for a few privileges in the houses that they pay for, as per the reclining chair example. Not compromising enough to let your husband have one chair he enjoys sitting in, in the den no less, is sadistic IMO, especially since it can be upholstered to match any decor. Albeit my wife has the rest of the house and picks everything, but I still have recliners in the den!

Reply to Mitch4t:

Just put it in the prenuptial. She might lie!