A confession.

[Pigmy Pony]

At the back end of 1982, I proposed to my girlfriend, and amazingly she said 'Yes'. So the following Saturday i went into town with my saved-up £300 to buy an engagement ring (hey it was a lot of money for me back then, I was only on 90 quid a week).

I shouldn't have popped into Norman Audio (our local hifi shop), but I had to do something to make the errand more interesting. He was selling a JVC DD5 cassette deck for £99, and I was seduced by the super-cool red and blue level meters In my defence the £200 ring I picked didn't look £100 cheaper than what I might have bought.

Up to now the only people I'd told were my oldest friend and his wife, who were both fine with it. Don't judge me, I'm sure there'll be folk here who've sneaked the odd item into their system, or even used the old "wife pounds conversion".

[Macca]

I thought you were going to confess to being Lord Lucan.

[WullieD20]

Don't think there are many wives out there who actually know what 100 "Hi-Fi Pounds" really equates to.....

[Pigmy Pony]

Don't think there are many wives out there who actually know what 100 "Hi-Fi Pounds" really equates to.....

That's the beauty of Hi-Fi pounds, nobody knows Exchange rates vary, depending on desperation and gullibility. When I was putting together a custom bike in the late 80s, the parts averaged 40% (£100 = 40 wife pounds).

These days it's not so easy, what with sellers wanting bank transfers, credit card payment etc. And a secret bank account would be a whole new level of ruthless. Some marriages wouldn't survive that

I suppose the modern way is to "massage the figures" but that sounds a bit complicated.

[Pigmy Pony]

I thought you were going to confess to being Lord Lucan.

Have they not found him yet? Probably shaved his tash off.

[walpurgis]

Most people here would be shocked at what my current basic system cost me........... £140!

(and it sounds great )

[Barry]

Most of my gear is ancient. Some of it is ex-studio/broadcast professional gear. If you look on ebay, etc. it would appear that the total value of my gear (and I have a lot) is about £80K.

Needless to say I only paid a fraction of that, and my partner never enquires as to the cost of any of it; but she would be aghast at the thought of, say, paying £1,000 for a pickup cartridge. But then she is willing pay a similar amount for jewellery.

The secret is for the two of you to have separate bank accounts.

[Macca]

never mix your finances with anyone else's, there's no benefit and a million drawbacks.

[Pigmy Pony]

Some wise words from Barry and Macca, advice which younger folk would do well to heed, while they still can. A lot trickier to make those sort of changes after a lifetime of doing things a certain way.

But... I plan to stop smoking in a couple of weeks when my supply runs out, and as an incentive I intend to put half of the money saved into an account of my own. That might work The only downside is that I'll be (even more) difficult to live with for a while.

[Alex_UK]

I don’t really know or care what my wife spends on her “hobbies” (clothes, hair, etc.) and she’s never really worried about my spending, although I never take the piss anyway. We have separate accounts, although she could do some digging if she really wanted as could I.

Steve, re. The no smoking, have you tried vaping? I moved from fags to vaping 6 years ago and still am, it hits the right spot for me and is a fraction of the cost, with almost all of the health risks removed. Tried everything before to give up, always returned to a “proper” smoke, but with vaping I’m cured.