<prompt> Human: I make about 50 grand a year and my wife has taking control of my money for over a decade. She doesnt feel the need to save but now she has come around and knows that if she is in control of our money she will spend it all every paycheck. Agreed to let me take over finances. The main issue between us is food spending which also includes household cleaners and things around the house like toilet paper and paper towels. We are both in our 40s and have a 7 year old daughter and she thinks she needs over 300 dollars a week to feed us and get extra household items, not pictures and stuff but things to clean and household medications. Isnt 600 dollars a pay period way too much or am I out of my mind? I want to save money for emergencies because we needed help with Christmas this year and that is extremely embarrassing for me. I feel like a child asking for 20 bucks to get something I have wanted for over half a year and still havent received.She knows she isnt good with the money and has no problem with letting me split up the funds but when it comes to food shopping she thinks she needs more than I am willing to give her. What should a household of 2 adults and one child spend on food and extra supplies for the house? We spend 1000 a month on rent, we have 30,000 in car debt and we have normal bills beyond that. Our only debt are the cars as we do not use credit cards. So if I am bringing home 4 to 5 thousand a month why arent we saving money and the glaring over spending to me is the household stuff. It is like pulling teeth to get her to tell me every penny she spends as she is highly unorganized and lazy when it comes to that. Any suggestions, as I have been trying to use Mint.com but she forgets what she spends in a day. A soda here, drive through over there and a lot of little purchases that add up. My spending habits for 5 years has been gas for the car I use for work and nothing else. I havent spent anything on me and we havent saved any money. Payday looks like this, I wake up I go to work, I come home and she has paid the bills and done some food shopping and I ask how the 2500 dollar pay check is and she says most of the bills are paid and I went shopping and we have 20 bucks until next pay period. That is what I have been dealing with for about 8 years. I have to beg to get a dollar so I can get some crackers at work so I dont become hyperglycemic. She is now handing over all the finances to me... what do I do and how much is realistic in giving her money for shopping for the household?EDIT - Thanks everyone for the responses and allowing this thread in Personal Finance even though it should have been in Relationships. I will definitely look at your suggestions and sit down with her and get this hammered out. I will then determine if I will post this in the other sub reddit. For now though, A HUGE thank you from me  <response>: Sounds like she needs to stop spending money on random stuff you guys dont need. That soda here or snack there might not seem like a lot, but it adds up quickly. My guess is thats where most of the unaccounted money is going.Maybe suggest that if she cant remember where the money went, then whatever she bought couldnt have been that important. Make a budget off what she remembers purchasing and try the envelope method. You could also see if you can get HR to deposit part of your paycheck info a savings account automatically. If you never see it then you cant spend it.Also sounds like you might be overestimating your take home pay. 5kmonth? Even before taxes the math doesnt make sense. 