The main goals of a relationship are mutual support and responsibility sharing. Regretfully, there was a significant disparity that my spouse, Peter, and I encountered about expenses and household tasks. I made the decision to figure out how to help him see the repercussions of his behavior as a result.

 

We had a lot of trouble selecting who should pay for takeout dinners. Peter insisted that I should cook because I was the wife. However, I wasn’t always able to perform that duty because of my recent promotion and increasing workload. He felt that even if we split the cost of food and rent, I should pay for our meals.

The Alarm
It all came to a climax when Peter, inebriated, said something rude about putting all of his money into me. That stung, and I realized I should have looked more closely at our financial status. I began meticulously documenting every item we incurred, from groceries and bills to trips and airline tickets – all of which I personally covered.

Peter never seemed to understand the truth of our financial inequity, even after providing this data. He would make pitiful contributions to our costs, citing things like missing paychecks during a certain month as justifications. I was tired and annoyed by this, especially because he insisted that I was the lady of the house and should do all the cooking.