How Does Your Spouse Relate to Your Tool Fetish?

[Bolster]

How does your spouse or "significant other" (how I loathe that P.C. term) relate to your tool fetish? Rate from favorable to unfavorable...see the scale on the survey...

 

[Theloniousmonk]

she doesnt relate, too busy cooking and taking care of the kids. kidding, she doesn't care much as long as i stay in budget and don't bring home a van full of ****.

 

[american lockpicker]

I'm single so I don't have this issue.

 

[xstubsx]

technicly im not allowed to buy some.. but what she dosnt know. cant hurt me .. atleast not till she finds out.

 

[I can fix anything]

My girlriend toolshops with me daily.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I have no significant other. If i had one and she had a problem with me buying tools she wouldn't be kept around for long.

 

[zsuperbee]

I stay out of her hobbies she stays out of mine.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

I voted for the "here's some money, go buy some tools". You guys might find this hard to believe..... but she goes to auctions with me, and pays for the tools... even helps me load them up. And we do at least one auction a month, sometimes several.

Otherwise, I rarely leave the house, and she's in sales, so she stops and picks up tools and supplies for me while she is out working (and pays for them !). My friends feel cheated by their wives, and keep telling me how good Ive got it, which I'm well aware of.

 

[Ray-CA]

No problem. If I (we) need it, we buy it.

Ray

 

[Danglerb]

Tools and Porsche's. the less I talk about them with her, the better my life is.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I voted for the "here's some money, go buy some tools". You guys might find this hard to believe..... but she goes to auctions with me, and pays for the tools... even helps me load them up. And we do at least one auction a month, sometimes several.

Otherwise, I rarely leave the house, and she's in sales, so she stops and picks up tools and supplies for me while she is out working (and pays for them !). My friends feel cheated by their wives, and keep telling me how good Ive got it, which I'm well aware of.

Any chance she got a sister?

 

[Quint]

I voted "Not Favorable", although I can't complain. She bought me the HF 45" box for my Bday!

 

[chadster1]

My wife lets me buy all the tools I want.

 

[cruiser808]

I too voted Not Favorable", but my wife still let's me buy what I want as long as I let her buy what she wants. The arrangement works out well.

 

[Soon2AdjustYou]

I handle our finances, so she hardly notices....lol

 

[seth_man]

My wife doesnt mind my tool habbit, I would fall into the "as long as you need it to make money" catagory.

 

[CGarcia]

I just tell her I buy everything at Harborfreight, even the Snap-on stuff.

 

[cruiser808]

I just tell her I buy everything at Harborfreight, even the Snap-on stuff.

Now that's funny.

 

[hguerrero]

she enjoys my tool...wait, are we talking about the same thing?

 

[NAYLOR]

Not married; I'm buying all the cool stuff I can right now.

 

[ajchien]

Wife:So how much did you save by doing the job yourself?
me:Idk, maybe $100.
Wife:Nice, we're going out for sushi tonight with a movie afterwards.

 

[mrholeshot]

I don't tell my wife how many pairs of shoes, purses and clothes she an buy and she doesn't tell me what I should or shouldn't buy. We both agree to stay out of our modest savings and when we run out we are both OK not buying anything. I don't drink (ther than a beer every month or so, no drugs, don't go out and party, don't fish, hunt or play golf. I have my Race car and my tools. The little bit of side work I do on cyl heads keeps the race car going but I've been sidelined for a few months so I won't be buying anything else anytime soon. My wife enjoys tool shopping with me at times. I can't say the same for her passions

 

[bonneyman]

If it's work related or something I need to fix something in the house, no problem.
If it's something I can resell for a profit, no problem.
When it's my 10th of the same item, problems!

 

[woody 73]

Oh I wish my wife would say here honey take all this money and buy more tools...But I suppose it is not a perfect world!

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I had to vote right in the middle.
When I started wrenching as a regular civilian (after I got out the military, obviously) I had nearly nothing in tools (Uncle Sam supplied everything for working on heavy junk). The first couple of years hurt to be dropping and average of $150 / wk towards building a real collection to carry me though my work (many may say the tools don't make the mechanic - but the mechanic that HAS all his own stuff WILL get hired first - And I had no intention of that ever effecting my ability to put bread on the table). We both stressed over it during the tough times, but the worst she did was ask "can't that wait a week or 2?" -- luckily all of the tool guys I delt with knew I would pay every week, so none of them ever said "you're at your limit, you need to pay "x" to take that tool with you this week", so the payment was always the same. Once I was into a few years and the paycheck got bigger, it really just became a laughing matter - she jokes to her friends / familly that she has no idea what I buy in tools these days, she just sees the checks process through the bank and it's just part of life like some people buy smokes or beer.....

 

[t100]

I don't go to auctions often, but when I go, my wife is always happy to go with me. one of the things I do afterwards is I compare the auction prices with the truck brand retail prices.

 

[mrholeshot]

(many may say the tools don't make the mechanic - but the mechanic that HAS all his own stuff WILL get hired first - .....

I had some guys come to work for me that either had their tools stolen or got burned out and sold their tools. I would provide them a box of tools to work out of but I expected them to jump in a start buying stuff after a few weeks. The guys who had all their own stuff, could pass a drug test and Sled screening got the jobs first. My biggest thing was be there on time, don't lay out and do good work. About anything else I could work around. I can plan around inexperiance, shortage of tools but I can't plan around undependable.

 

[jethro29]

as long as i tell her about it,she's cool with whatever i buy or spend and she knows that i use them to make money, both at work and at home.one time i didn't tell her about my new $8500.00. purchase and a couple weeks later a THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECENT PURCHASE. letter from snap-on came in the mail,which she gets everyday and she was pretty pissed. that's when she told me if you need it, get it but just tell me so. and no problem since.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I had some guys come to work for me that either had their tools stolen or got burned out and sold their tools. I would provide them a box of tools to work out of but I expected them to jump in a start buying stuff after a few weeks. The guys who had all their own stuff, could pass a drug test and Sled screening got the jobs first. My biggest thing was be there on time, don't lay out and do good work. About anything else I could work around. I can plan around inexperiance, shortage of tools but I can't plan around undependable.

You are right, 15 years later, I hire guys that way too - reliability and doing the work right is more important to me now, as a supervisor -- of course being reliable AND having all my own stuff has ended up meaning they won't even let me quit (I tried once)! --- I have a guy now who is constantly working out of my box - I've gotten him more than one raise, but he can't seem to come up with money to buy his own tools (keeps spending his paycheck on rent and food ) - it's frustrating 'cuase he invariably uses stuff I need for the job I'm working on...my only remedy for this guy, since he is good in all other aspects, is to get tools off the truck on the company account and tell him they are his to keep.....

 

[wornoutoldman]

Not Favorable: "I can't believe you bought more tools!"

She is not digging my tool purchases. Course I've just coming off a buying binge!

 

[sberry]

I dont discuss it with her. Not her business.

 

[crewchief888]

we've been together for about 11 years now, and i think she's finally figured out the reason for so many tools.
her ex wasnt mechanically inclined at all, they always had POS cars, he could barely put a nail in the wall to hang up a picture.
ive been working on const eq for 25+ years, was a tool and die maker before that, and have been "fixing" stuff ever since i could remember.
40 years of tool accumulation, theres tools everywhere at work, in my service truck, in the garage, and in my basement reloading/hobby room.
she never has to go outside to get a hammer, screwdriver, or a tape measure. theres enough stuff in the house to take care of a lot of little things that need taken care of.

the longer we're together, the more she understands, and she knows if i do want something, i wait until i know we have the cash on hand for it, and usually bring up the subject before i make a purchase over $50 or so.
she rarely comes out in the garage when i'm working on anything, she says thats "my time"

 

[oldwino]

My first wife would come over to the shop and see a new skid steer loader, $3000 laser lever or ? and her first question was "oh, when did we buy that, it looks expensive", When I'd tell her it has already paid for itself the response was "ok".
I'm no longer an active contractor so my stuff is much cheaper now. Just an amateur wrench. Current wife picks up mail at the post office and daily brings home a package and doesn't say anything. She buys what she wants and I buy what I want.

 

[GTO]

She calls me from Garage/Estate Sales with tool finds.

 

[scott37300]

Mine always says "Don't you already have 3 of those? What do you need another one for?"

I tell her that I will sell all my tools and then she can pay someone to fix her car and keep the house up. Then she seems to understand a little

 

[toolfreak]

My wife is very understandable, most of the time she tells me that if I need it for work then I should buy it. Now there are some things that I want to buy such as a snap on modis, suitcase wire feeder, and other expensive tools. Then she will ask me if I really need them or how often I will use the and I will talk myself out of them, which is probably a good thing.

 

[Drdaves49]

I've got a great wife. She always wanting me to buy more...especially at HF..
Sometimes she buys more than I do, I have to keep telling her na, I don't need that, she says well duh, it's for me.
Hey what can you say to that. I Love her.

 

[crewchief888]

My wife is very understandable, most of the time she tells me that if I need it for work then I should buy it.

Then she will ask me if I really need them or how often I will use the and I will talk myself out of them, which is probably a good thing.

the older i get the more i talk myself out of stuff.

 

[nismomans13]

Married, 2 years, dated for 10. I just bought a new hydraulic spring compressor and she was perfectly ok with it, since the cost of the tool was less than a shop would charge to do the job.

 

[NJHandyGuy]

My wife is very unfavorable. because of our current situation she's not happy with it but when we were better off 2 years ago she didn't mind. I towwed a car 5 hours away and she took my tool returns and met the snap on guy and made this weeks payment.

i think whne business gets better she'll loosen back up