My wife did the unthinkable today.

She wants to know exactly how much we're spending on aviation.

Wife: "Exactly how much are we spending on aviation?"
Challenged: "Just curious, why are you asking me that right now?" {Question with question thing :)}

...then you will have the discussion she is wanting to have and its probably not about airplanes...and notice you won't even have to tell her how much :)
 
Wife: "Exactly how much are we spending on aviation?"
Challenged: "Just curious, why are you asking me that right now?" {Question with question thing :)}

...then you will have the discussion she is wanting to have and its probably not about airplanes...and notice you won't even have to tell her how much :)

W O A H...……..
 
She wants to know exactly how much we're spending on aviation.

You should just advise her that, "If we're spending it, you should already know. Why are you asking me?" (P.S. Be prepared to spend many nights, weeks possibly, in the dog house.) :p
 
Just realize a divorce will cost both of you more, sets the mind at ease. Saving up every penny is overrated, just to deal with health issues the last years of life.
I'm not so sure about that. For the past 40 or so years, we lived rather frugally (unless you were to ask my dear departed Mother), and we were finally able to retire. We now use that savings for much more than health carein our final years. We just returned from flying our Bonanza from Florida to Alaska and are planning another trip from Florida to Seattle, and stopping at a bunch of places in between. We are able to enjoy life while most of my siblings who figured saving money was over-rated are now living from paycheck to paycheck are jealous as hell of me.

Fortunately, my wife is just as into flying (or more so, since she is the one with the active certificate) as I am.
 
well....bless yer heart. o_O
I'm not so sure about that. For the past 40 or so years, we lived rather frugally (unless you were to ask my dear departed Mother), and we were finally able to retire. We now use that savings for much more than health carein our final years. We just returned from flying our Bonanza from Florida to Alaska and are planning another trip from Florida to Seattle, and stopping at a bunch of places in between. We are able to enjoy life while most of my siblings who figured saving money was over-rated are now living from paycheck to paycheck are jealous as hell of me.

Fortunately, my wife is just as into flying (or more so, since she is the one with the active certificate) as I am.
 
Being serious for a bit.

She's known you while you have been flying. So this isn't about the money or she would have asked you sooner. You always have to ask - why did this come up now?

For example, if you guys are young and she's thinking about kids...this very question could come up right now because she's thinking of what raising a kid will cost, how would you save for their education and of course a bigger house....which of course are all means to and end...to talk about having a kid.

Or maybe a co-worker got her into thinking about this because of reason X. Get to the Why Now?

If you can kid with her easily, then have fun with it as the others have said.
 
Whenever she asks pretend you didn't hear here and follow up by saying, "you really look pretty today."

If that doesn't work tell her it is way cheaper than the therapist I would be paying if I wasn't flying.
 
Are you able to pay all your other bills? Perhaps she is worried because things are going unpaid, or you're not saving for the future like you should be.
 
or you're not saving for the future like you should be.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on, we're supposed to be saving for the future? I mean, I have been investing a lot of money in spare antique airplane parts, surely that's what you mean. Right?
 
just tell her to "hush up woman, you just sit there and look pretty". that should divert her attention away from the topic of aviation for a bit.

If the idea is to divert her attention, I suggest NOT saying, "Dear, are you putting on weight.??" While that will get her off your back that will affect your meals....and possibly sleeping quarters....
 
I am really lucky.

When I told my wife I was going to learn to fly, she said, "I was wondering when you are going to do that."

When I came home and told her I had passed my checkride, she said, "Of course you did. Where are we going?" She insisted that I had to take her and our son for a ride the very next day, and she followed up by researching and finding places for us to travel to that were uniquely suited to private aircraft travel.

When I told her I wanted to buy my own plane, she asked me what kind I wanted, and in response to my answer which was, "a Comanche, a Cessna 210 or perhaps a Bonanza," she looked me in the eye sternly, and said, "Bonanza! It's got to be a Bonanza."

I never question what she spends money on (she is very good with a dollar), and she never challenges me on aircraft expenses.

Like I said. Lucky.
 
Fortunately, my wife is just as into flying (or more so, since she is the one with the active certificate) as I am.

A friend of mine, his dad always wanted to fly his own plane to further his business. But this was in the late 70s. in the early 70s and he went through a quadruple bypass and took some sort of experimental medication, as well as a couple other heart problems. All disqualifiers at the time.

So his wife got the medical and certificate and they trained together. He obviously could not do any solo stuff. But he aviated while she navigated and communicated. They worked well together.
 
Why are the cost of aviation relevant for making sammiches?
 
How much are WE SPENDING is a funny question.

Does she have an income that is subsidizing your aviation? (note: never ask a woman if she "works." They all work. Putting up with men is hard work)
If no, you're done.
If yes, you'll have to demonstrate that her earnings don't go to aviation. (Tough task... anything you spend is OUR money... anything she spends is HER money)

Maybe the best response is "How much are WE going to spend on divorce lawyers?"
 
In her defense, she's just not really a spender. I've been saving up money, specifically to use on aviation, for several years now, so I'm ready to go out and do that. She's a little more thrifty (which is probably good), so it's hard for her to get too excited about spending money on airplanes. She's typically on board to load up and use the plane to go on trips, so I usually try to focus on that since she can appreciate that aspect of it.
 
<Story redacted so to preserve the awesomeness of my life>
 
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She wants to know exactly how much we're spending on aviation.

Well currently flying and maintaining 8 airplanes and I own 5 of them.
I don't even ask myself what I spend on aviation.... I just make it happen :)
My wife could care less. We have separate bank accounts and we do what we want with our money. It has been like that since day one of our 17 year marriage and we have never not even 1 time argued about money :)
Time to put your foot down and tell the old lady to get her own bank account like Pigpen's wife. LOL!
 
I’m teaching the wife to fly....she is equal partner in our decision to buy our own plane. She enjoys and appreciates the flexibility of owning just as much as I do.
 
I spend almost as much as she spends on her horses and chickens and foster animals, and...
 
I was contemplating sending her that Bulldog ;) Great minds think alike.
 
My answer to anyone asking bout how much I paid for something.
“I paid what it costs”

Guessing you aren't married.

He's probably married. But he should have written "I paid what it costed"

Tents, tense, oh whatever.
 
What, you don't keep two sets of books?
 
Being serious for a bit.

She's known you while you have been flying. So this isn't about the money or she would have asked you sooner. You always have to ask - why did this come up now?

For example, if you guys are young and she's thinking about kids...this very question could come up right now because she's thinking of what raising a kid will cost, how would you save for their education and of course a bigger house....which of course are all means to and end...to talk about having a kid.

Or maybe a co-worker got her into thinking about this because of reason X. Get to the Why Now?

If you can kid with her easily, then have fun with it as the others have said.

Agreed.

If you're not doing a written budget as a team, stuff like this will always pop up when their minds are on something they want to do or buy...

Easiest way to avoid? Monthly written budget. Together. No surprises. Want to change it, take ten minutes and talk about it and what's going to lose budget to move it elsewhere. No big deal.
 
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