I don't justify anything, and if I want something bad enough and hubs seems to not be warm to the idea I just save up and buy it myself. (saving might mean he'll be eating cereal for dinner for a yr!)
Life is very short. All I do is ask myself: 1. do I really want it? (I never ask if I need things because when I go down that road well, really all I "need" is food and water!)2. Will I ever use it? (I have way too much "stuff" and I have to keep up w/ dusting around it!) 3. Can I afford it w/o making a debt? (I almost always buy things after saving up for all or most all of the cost of it.)
I did get him to buy a riding lawn mower several yrs ago. I did most of the lawn mowing/ raking. (I prefer outside to inside work!)I finally said no more, he could do it or hire it done. (we have close to an acre yard to mow, and I was pushing a mower.) Well, on 4th of July w/e he was going to mow, had trouble starting the mower, it was over 100% out, and after just the front he said, lets ride around town and look for someone for hire - well, the 4th after all -lol.
of course there was no one mowing!
we road right to the John Deere dealer and had a mower in the yard in an hr! Now, I hardly get a chance to mow - he loves his toy!! sharet
oh, my next big spend will be a complete new set of pots/pans, in stainless steel. He doesn't seem to understand the need of a pot having a lid that fits! All the stuff I have is mismatched every kind of cooking materials you can imagine. Some of mine, some of his wife's some from goodwill - I want one full real set of cookware cus I love to cook.