Let me start off by saying my wife supports my hobby a 100% With that said if she knew how much I spend on parts etc... The percentage might be down to get rid of it!!! A lot of my parts our shipped to my work and for the ones shipped to my home I make sure Im there first to grab the boxes and scatter them throughout my basement and garage! Anyone else ????
I don't hide. I make the money, I spend the money responsibly. My wife's home during the day, she often signs for the packages. That's 100% support.
My wife supports me, so I kinda should listen to her about spending money. Fortunately she makes a fair amount of it.
Mine has horses and you thought cars were expensive. But, she has always been good about it. The fact that I built her a 48 Chevy PU last winter helped. It's in the upholstery shop now. I started to tell her the cost of the interior and she stopped me. " I don't I ask you how much you spend on the rods and I don't want to know how much the truck cost". A fair bargain.
Over the 44 years that we have been married I spent money on my toys. I drove many a jalopy to work. At the same time my wife always had a new car. I have only owned 3 new cars since I was 20. I'm 66 yrs young. Until the last 5 yrs I repaired, rebuilt, remodel, maintain,etc .......everything. I guess you get the picture. I sent 3 kids to college all this while the wife stood home. Therefore, I have no problem spending money on my hobby. If she supports me or not WFC!
The wife is pretty good about this addiction with hot rods....she has Tupperware. I thought car parts were 'spensive?
My wife puts up with my hobby as long as every thing else is payed and the kids are happy all is good. I dont take cars vary seriously and family will always come first.
I have a separate budget for the truck. Gig money and money from shift knob sales goes into the truck/garage. I don't touch any money from my paycheck. That all goes to the household. Sometimes there's no money in the truck budget so I just have to wait. My wife has never once complained about money I spend on old cars. In fact, sometimes if we come into a little windfall she will suggest that I take a little for the truck. I always refuse and tell her that we should do something nice for "us", go out to dinner, get a massage together or something like that. Every once in a while she does get a little bit pissy about the time I spend, but all in all things are balanced and happy.
to really enjoy this addiction, if your married, it sure makes your life easier if your wife is somewhat of an addict also. i got very lucky the second time around. this wife loves the hotrods, the other one wanted to take a hammer to everything.
I've got a very supportive wife and she has even helped wrench on things from time to time. Most of the other OT cars she doesn't enjoy as much as her Grandpa's old farm truck that we own now, and our '47. She is "amazed something that old can still drive". As long as I go easy on the parts spending and repair instead of replace...she's happy. Plus the old car gives us something to do on summer nights.
My wife has always been very supportive. she has her hobbies and I have mine. I do however sneek in a few parts now and then. Whenever I'm asked how much something was It's the usual "not that much" response. Or, "Is that new? No, I have had that forever". Never goes much further than that.
Yup, seems to me you ought to be more up front about it. I put back whatever money I make with my pinstriping and artwork for my hot rod stuff, and also trade/barter with it for the work I'm not able to do - but my wife is well aware of any of 'our' money I spend.
Us car guys that I hang out with for a comparison. Say I went out & bought a 30,000 dollar bass boat & wanted to sell it the following year. How much do you think I'd get for it ? At least with a rod or kustom you'll get most or more of your investment back if you decide to sell it.
Sure, when I was married I had to hide receipts and parts. Some of you guys are lucky enough to find women who "support" your addiction but my one ex wife and none of my girlfriends have ever been that way. They always saw my cars as something that took my attention away from them. Maybe I just chased high maintenance women or something, but they all started out saying they loved my cars and ended up not loving them so much. Now that I am single it is SO much easier, my cat doesn't care how much money or time I spend on my projects, just as long as his dish is full. Don
I run Kellys Hot Rods and my wife Jeanne has run Kellys Hot Rod parts since she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. When I met her 40 years ago she was working at one of her dads three NAPA stores..She is truely the deluxe model of the car gal and has been a true car addict most of her life...
My wife's a bookkeeper and loves old cars. My money's mine, parts I sell, side jobs etc..... all go into my Model A Sedan. Works out well. I don't hide anything!
No need for support from the wife. My hobby was supported by overtime money. It took years of saving. Now that I'm retired, I still have money in my overtime account which will probably be used up this year (sigh). I may have to get a part-time job.
I'm married a dozen years, and for seven of those, my wife stayed home raising the kids. When she wasn't earning money, she had a "matching funds" policy, so anything I spent cost me double. Now that she's working again she doesn't mind my spending, but since I'm now recession-hit, so I watch it myself. The most inmportant thing, in my opinion, is to not deny your family anything because you want to spend it on yourself. It doesn't matter if it's Hot Rods or not. I've got a brother-in-law that puts himself above the family. What he wants, he gets, no matter what shape the family finances are in. Terrible.
Like some of you, I don't spend paycheck $$ on the old stuff. That was the agreement when I bought the first one and the biggest reason my progress drags on for years. So I don't have to hide parts. She loves riding in them, has no interest in the build but is supportive and happy to see me enjoy something.
I work two jobs. One for the family. The other for my toys. Its an even split. But very tiring. What we do for our hobbies!
My wife is a 14 year survivor of a cerebral aneurysm that should have been fatal. She is my ENTIRE life. I show it, I live it, I preach it. She supports "our" hot rod project with all her heart and soul, goes on my parts runs, LOVES wrecking yards and cruising the back roads for cars and parts, and has generally been my inspiration when my level is low. Needless to say, if she needs or wants something, she gets it. I love you Baby! We have an arrangement that works for us:..... I tell her what to do and she tells me where to go!
My wife is very supportive of the hot rod hobby. She stay's home to raise the kids and I'm the only pay check coming in. My pay check is not spent on hot rods I have a seprate account that I use for parts. This account is filled by selling cars, parts, part time jobs, little jobs here and there. My Kids and faimly come frist, the hot rod can wait if need be, it will be there when I get more coin to work on it.
I met my wife in 3rd grade, we grew up together and went through life dealing with all that it threw at us. The one thing that got us through it was our love for each other and cars and there have been many. She is the one that does all the money management in our house and it works fine with me, I hate dealing with that shit. With that said she knows where every penny is spent. Just lucky I guess.
Bingo ! My wife has accepted my passion-addiction years ago, She knows where to find me 90% of the time ,In the garage. She never has to worry about her cars appearance or repair bills. Mtc by me. And when she sees what neighbors and friends spend on boats, football, sports tickets and car costs, my car stuff is not a problem
The Jalopy Journal
