Just an Idea

We found Lion’s phone in a fairly obvious place after looking in obvious and absolutely non-obvious places. Finding it meant Lion did not have any punishment for last night. It did seem like he wanted me to punish him, though. He said he put me through a lot looking for it. I know he wants me to crack down, but I told him he would be punished only if we couldn’t find it. I wasn’t going to change my mind no matter how many bags of garbage we sorted through.

We also discussed our finances last night. For a while I’ve wanted to be more involved. Lion took that to mean I want to pay all the bills now. Well, that’s not what I meant at all. I just want to see what comes in and goes out. Since we have separate checking accounts, he rarely knows what I’m paying and I rarely know what he’s paying. He did accuse me of not contributing a lot to the household finances. I reminded him that I’ve been paying some of the bigger bills and buying food during his unemployment. I know he’s still looking at a stack of past due bills, but I thought that was an unfair characterization of my contributions. He agreed. Tensions are obviously still high in the Lion’s den when it comes to money.

On the other hand, if I did take over the finances, I could give him an allowance. He couldn’t go off and buy whatever he wanted if he didn’t have the money. Bigger ticket items would have to be discussed. We’ve started doing that already, but I could rule with an iron fist if I had control of the finances. Did you hear that? Lion just gulped. Uh oh. In yet another be-careful-what-you-ask-for move, Lion may have gone a little too far this time. He might have to fill out a form in triplicate if he exceeds his allowance. The request would go to the committee of Me, Myself, and I. We’re a tough group when we want to be. Poor Lion.

For now, I’ll just keep an eye on things and pay attention to the comings and goings of our money. I’m not sure how he’d react to an allowance. It’s definitely an idea he’d have to get used to. It would also take time to establish how much of an allowance he’d need. Of course, it would be just one more area I’d have control over him. Did he piss me off? I think that might have cost him $20. Docking his pay for bad behavior would certainly get his attention.

As he says, it’s just an idea.