I took the plunge...

Well I took the plunge and purchased two new engines. Both are athearn one is a big boy the other a challenger. Now I need to figure out how to tell the wife without getting kicked out of the house or getting killed. Any suggestions?

 

Uh-oh... you're in deep doo-doo...

Flowers and jewelry, and also being very, very helpful around the house, telling her you love her many, many times, etc. etc, might avoid getting your tender in a sling. Just hope that she doesn't start thinking you're having an affair...

Well, with a Big Boy and a Challenger, it's about the same as an affair... :tb-wink:

 

I know. I don't think she would mind if it hadn't been $600 right out the door.

 

Refund

:nailbiting::beat-up::bulgy-eyes::shock:
​

 

You've got a new BIG BOY and CHALLENGER to play with. Wife? What's a wife? :ru-biggrin:

 

don't tell her, What she don't know won't hurt you.

 

You don't know my wife. She will find out and she does hurt. She has a bony butt and bony elbows and knows how to use them. I am thinking of waiting for them to arrive and then expalin myself. I will also have mothers day gifts handy. She wants one of those bakyard swings.cool:

 

I'm laughing by butt off. You fell for the biggest trick in the book. If money is tight in your family, you simply do not buy such things. You can build, or trade, or take side jobs, with the agreement that your regular money is the family treasury, and your side job money is YOURS. Of course, she has the same rights. You will live through it, but in the future, be patient. Those locos will show up at a swap meet sometime, and you'll get them for 10 cents on the dollar. I haven't bought new stuff in years, and have come to be perfectly happy with my old stuff, which I have detailed, and repainted etc. As for the new stuff............are you building a layout, (detailing, building, altering, planting trees etc) or are you becoming a collector? I'll be checking the OBITS for ya. hahahaha

 

I am building a new layout also I didn't pay full msrp for them. Athearn listed them at 464 each, I got them for 299 each. Also just got a large back payment for back pay owed. So not really out the money for family funds. Wife not just too keen on me buying trains.

 

My wife and I solved these kind of issues long ago in both of our favors. With each paycheck, we pull out a small amount and devide it in half. This is "our" Mad money that we can spend on ourselves without permission, etc. from each other. If I want spend $400 bucks on something and I have that within my half of the mad money account I'm free to spend it, no questions asked; she can do the same thing with her half. This way when the LHS calls and leaves a mesage that Order#X is in she doesn't explode and if I see a box show up in the mail from one of her favorite stores I don't care what it costs either. It puts both our "hobbies" in the family budget and when times get tough, this is the first area we cut; what balence is there is what you have to live with until the touch times are over.

It works!!!!!!!

:thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:​

 

I really like that way. I promised my wife last year not to buy anything for a while. Well I kept my end of the deal so that we could finish the basement. Well basement almost finished so now I can get a couple of things I want. I know she will scream but hey she needs new hearing aids and I will be paying cash for those so she shouldn't be too mad, eh?

 

Well the two engines came yesterday. The wife wasn't pleased but I am still here. She can live with it for now. Now to convince her I need some new passenger cars to go with it.

 

Just tell here they were part of the original order but shipped separately.

Hide the bank statement.

 

I got an idea

make shure shes not home around the time UPS, Fedex, USPS or whatever it is comes
when it arrives go get your prizes, goodies, or whatever you want to call them
open the box and get them out and put them on a oart of the layout that she doesnt often see or the part of the shelf that you cant see and when she does see them and ask when you got them just say that you had them for a while

 

I guess I'm wondering why buying those two locomotives is such a huge deal. Did the house go wanting and your trains didn't? Has your wife ever been forced to do without something because of a huge train purchase? Mine seems to welcome my bringing something home to work on... She always knows where I am and once in a while, I'll "get a honey do...!" Just be kind and she'll understand...

 

She wants me to finish the basement first before I buy any more trains. It is almost done. We are getting ready to paint and the bathroom just needs baseboards, sink and toilet. So I figured why not?cool:

 

Well then, there you go. You're just planning ahead! :mwink:

 

@Kevin Anderson
Don't worry your not the only one. I was at a garage sale and picked up a whole bunch of cars and an engine for $4.50. I told my wife I would need to pick up some supplies and track so I could run them. That was two weeks ago. And my $4.50 purchase has now become $600 and I still haven't decided on what DCC unit I want.