Man Locks Down Joint Bank Account In Drastic Attempt To Curb Mother-In-Law's Spending Spree

“I will be opening an account with only my name on it and my checks will be going there from now on.”

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• March 6, 2024

Meet our narrator (Original Poster), the breadwinner of his household. He juggled the financial acrobatics of supporting a stay-at-home-wife, two preteen tornadoes, and the cherry on top – his live-in mother-in-law.

The couple had a joint bank account, and of course, his mother-in-law had complete access to his wife’s cards. Initially, OP had no problem with this; however, things started getting chaotic when dear mother-in-law’s spending habits crossed the line of what was considered normal. 

It all began innocently enough, with impromptu shopping trips that left wallets lighter and pantries fuller than a Thanksgiving feast. But as the bills piled up faster than dirty laundry on laundry day, our protagonist couldn't help but notice a pattern emerging—a pattern of wasteful spending with little regard for the consequences.

It became glaringly obvious that this mother-in-law couldn’t care less about the fate of OP’s hard-earned money. The thermostat was always cranked up to the max during winter, yet doors and windows were left open, and fans were on.

The result? A $900 heating bill sitting for OP to handle. But the final straw was an alarmingly high water bill that traced back to a leaky pipe—a leak which his mother-in-law had been notified about a year ago but chose to keep mute.

Fed up with financial fiascos, OP decided it was time to draw the line. He opened a separate bank account where all his checks would be going from then onwards.

If his wife needed anything, she was going to have to put in a request. He had to keep his finances safe from the greedy claws of his extravagant mother-in-law somehow.

Was he wrong for cutting them off?

The story in detail

A bit of background

OP had been enduring strains to his family finances due to his MIL’s reckless spending from him and his wife’s joint account

OP decided to dump the idea of a joint account and open an individual account to keep his income

First edit

Second edit

Too long; didn’t read

We gathered some reactions from the Reddit community.

“Communicate, don't just make unilateral decisions.”

“NTA. But your wife needs to grow a backbone and/or her mother has to go.”

“NTA. MIL has a serious spending problem. It's very rude that she's treating your money like it's hers too.”

“NTA put your MIL in a home, it'll save you money in the long run.”

“All you're going to end up doing is having your MIL badger your wife into telling you to send money so she can, again, take the card.”

“NTA, sounds like you've been pretty patient and generous. But I'd probably give them a monthly allowance.”

“NTA for needing a change but you do need to work with your wife on a solution.”

Redditors were on OP’s side; it was definitely time for some tough love intervention. From the way they saw it, OP’s wife was practically a doormat to her mother.

Rather succumb to the idea of being “caught in the middle”, OP’s wife should have set boundaries and prioritized her family’s financial stability.

We’d love to get your thoughts on this story. Join the conversation in the comments.

Jesse