[Closed] Hiding purchases from the wife... Stealth purchases!

Is your friend 12?

And I was just about to say "waits for teh self-righteous"...

Dumping the GF worked for me.

Failing that why not just MTFU and do what you want*?

*After asking permission of course.

I use counter-intuitive psychology - all my purchases are done using wifes paypal account so they arrive with her name on them, she is home day with me at work and so opens everything first, then I leave it lying around the kitchen all week until I can fit at the weekend.
She never complains at me, so it must work!

Mavic kysryium elite wheel set only cost me 200 quid last year 😉 😉
Hang on a min your not my missis in disguise are you

Still single Al?

Tell her its bike bits or a mistress and explain the economic implications of both..... I'm sure her response will be most reasonable 😯

Yep, entire bike snuck in under the radar piece by piece over two years. Rubbing mud from a plant pot into some of my "old" components saw me steeping to new lows. To be honest it became a bit of a sport.

Common

A bit sad but if it makes your life quieter AND you can afford it, crack on

I don't tell my wife what I buy but she sees the boxes and I don't hide parts. If she was listening she knows the value because I told her why I wanted to keep M&S insurance.

She was astonished when I actually sold a bike a while ago. 😳

Nah - don't hide purchases, I just tell the better half and she simply nods. It's great 😀

I was swithering whether to buy a second hand Five frame, she told me not to bother and just buy the new full bike.

Just make sure all your new stuff is either black, red or black and red. Works for me, well that and get it delivered to work...

Or buy at lbs using stashed cash

Sounds like some of you have the easy life. I like the challenge of trying to convince her that those new brakes are essential and how a laid back seat post will take my riding to the next level.

[img] [/img]

Skillz

is that a pic of your latest stealth purchase, Al ?

See my "internet woes" thread.

powering down.

Oh, I just bought 2 pairs of Campag Shamal Ultra wheels.

My missus thinks I've changed since we first met.

I pointed out that back when we lived in separate houses I rode just as much, probably more (she didn't believe me when I showed her my old training journals from before we met!) the only difference is now she knows I'm out riding whereas before presumably she thought I lived some sort of monastical existence doing nothing in between work and going to bed*!

*well apart from do what she does and watch crap on TV

I showed her my old training journals from before we met!

monastical existence doing nothing in between work and going to bed*!

Sounds like my university experience - without the celibacy...or work come to think of it.

I've never hidden them really, just have them delivered and laugh if she ever moans. My money = my toys 🙂

I realised I could do what I wished as long as the bikes stayed the same colour.
I have never lied about them as why would i?
f i could not affor dit i would not buy it

I was asked who's motorbike was in the garage, I just smiled 😀

Is that how you wooed her in the 1st place ?

We met on a night out with some mutual friends, I was chatting to the lads at the bar and the conversation amongst the girls was apparently all about how nice my arse was. 8)

It's our anniversary tonight so she came home and gave it a grope and told me it's gone a bit soft 🙁

you're clearly going to have to ride more, spoony !

you can decide on what though 😉

Low (or high!) point in my stealthiness is trying not to rattle the bed too much as I was worried the ti frame and other bits stashed under there would start jangling awkwardly. Went on a mission one day last year and just built it up in the bedroom while she was away. In some misguided way I thought buying her a '98 Klein Mantra in 'blastberry' and rebuilding it using purple & blue ano bits would appease her. She just shrugged.

"This has a really high safety rating, that's why I bought it" usually does the trick.

Tyres are easy.. Frames not so..
To be honest I usually sell something (ie wheels) to get new items.. Sometimes there's an overlap, sometimes there's not.
Most major purchases are done with Christmas/birthday money so no real need to hide anything.
Apart from the time I put my bike in to have my brakes,( avid admittedly) fixed and ended up getting hope m4s for about £280- Evans pricematch thankfully! Still wasn't happy about it though...

Ah, Hope M4's........ Shiny shiny!

Mmmmmm. 3 of the 4 mechs in the shop told me to get them. Not missed a beat in the 18 months I've had them and seem to suit the nature of my 575..

I've never understood the hiding spending on bike parts (or anything for that matter)

Unless you are spending money that you need to keep the family feed and the roof over your head then what is the issue with being honest?

If you are doing the former then you do really need ask yourself a few questions

What's it all about?

You wouldn't believe the ear ache I get if I Even try to talk to my mrs about bike parts...

She's quite happy to ramble on about how her new top/gloves/shoes compliment the colour of her frame though. Today was 10 mins about how she's thinking about changing her bar tape to black as the other f95s she's seen look a bit 'anemic'. **** roadies. Err I mean women 😀

I'm very lucky on this but I do tell my wife that its either 'out on my bike or out drinking in Wan Chai, you decide'.

I spend less than she does on her horse, so I'm pretty safe when it comes to bike/gadget spending.

How topical! My refurbished P6000 Coolpix (old-skool, raw-shooting super compact) arrived today whilst I was out on a shoot, and the neighbour took it in. She chose to deliver it just as the wife got home.

Fortunately, it's a 'business asset', so it's all good. Also justified by pointing out that I'll need a small camera for family stuff (baby due next month).

Bike stuff of any hue / type / cost is generally masively frowned upon though 🙁

In my case it's not the money, it's where I'm going to put all my [s]junk[/s] kit. In a way she has a point - the garage desperately needs a proper clearout. That's at the top of my list of jobs to do, right beneath all the other really important DIY stuff on parts of the house she does actually regularly visit.

I did once try to sneak a Lotus Elise past the missus but it didn't work. 😆
(I already had one but this was higher spec, newer, more expensive etc but it was the same colour!)

With Bike bits I tend to deflate the price a bit when asked but realistically if it doesn't effect how we live as a family it's no big issue, when I had some wheels delivered from bike-discount.de recently she did ask if there was going to be a frame attached. 🙂

You lot are amateurs.

There's a regular on here who got brant to send him a letter saying he'd one a frame rather than try and explain to his wife he'd bought it.

I seem to have mostly reached a point where I have enough bikes that my wife doesn't even know how many there are or what colours they're in. This and Worthing at home makes new purchases easier.

[edit] triple post as it turned out...

Double phone post.

when i asked mrs peterfile what she wanted for her birthday this year she said:

some 6mm prussik cord
DMM Boa carabiner

😆

(she got a very pretty dress and coat too, i'm not a total let down!)

I think we both like gear, so it's not so much of an issue when i buy things we most definitely don't "need". I'm pretty shrewd when it comes to gear, I tend to wait for a good deal and lose very little when I get rid of stuff.

Plus, stuff that we buy definitely gets used, or it gets sold on quite quickly without taking much of a hit.

That said, I think I may have massaged the figures a little when I finished building up the Cove Shocker (for my own sanity as much as anyone elses!).

I am a stealth purchaser when possible.

I used to get stuff sent to work until, following the arrival of some bombers through the internal post, a note was sent around reminding all staff not to use the internal post for personal items.

There are over 10,000 people in company!

My mrs encourages me. The only time I engaged in this "sport" was when I built her a bike for her birthday, so had to smuggle the bits in then. The frame was the hardest, naturally.

The lucky lady got a dropper seatpost for her birthday last year, too.

I used to, but it was deceitful and disrespectful, and on the occasions my wife did notice I felt embarressed by my actions. Plus I'm crap with money so invariably spent too much on stuff I didn't need.

Ultimately not really a great way to behave in a relationship.

The thing was that all our money went into one pot, now we have split that into 3, family, me, her, we can spend the me and her bits as we like on whatever we want to, anything else is discussed.

Feels better.

Well I am useless with money, so my good lady has all mine, she gives me what I needs when I need it, the other day I asked her for some money, she asked what for so I replied a new bike.

I got the look but the money was in my account the very next day 🙂

If she knew how much the V2's were though I may be in a bit of bother!

we have a very simple formula. i can spend what i want when i want on whatever i want as long as she and the kids can always have what ever they want.

i have seven classic motorbikes plus all my cycling stuff and close to a couple of hundred collectors 'slot cars' with NO track! ( yet)

I manage to spend loads of money on clothes and girly stuff by just saying "Don't worry dear, it's not as much as those XTR cranks I want"

It never used to matter when I was married as I bought/swapped/sold so many bits that even [b]I[/b] couldn't keep track 😉

we have a very simple formula. i can spend what i want when i want on whatever i want as long as she and the kids can always have what ever they want.

+1. Although a certain restraint is required on both sides to avoid bankruptcy. The last thing you want is a spending arms race.

When I started this topic, I never imagined tales of starving children, bankruptcy and divorce. It seems stealth purchasing is a blood sport!

Years ago, I was building up a fancy road bike for someone in installments - he'd turn up with a wad of cash one month, and I'd order him a Dura Ace rear mech, etc. then one month he turned up at the front door, but wouldn't come in - instead he beckoned me over to the door. Without crossing the doorstep, he handed me another installment, and said "my wife says I'm never to go in that bloody bike shop again, so this is for the seatpost" 🙂

Have never had any problems with buying anything.

Providing the family has everything they want/need, bills are paid & no-one is going short I can't see the problem with buying stuff that's what we go to work for.

I used to pay some expenses and milage from my work onto a credit card which my wife didn't know about. Worked perfectly along with sending purchases to my work... I can't do this anymore and really miss the simplicity and lack of greif afforded by that option.

Note - I never took the piss with this system and I used it mostly for brake pads and little stuff.

I'm skillfully hiding my new windsurfer by leaving the board and mast in the hall, the sail's in the playroom and the boom's in the kitchen.

She'll never spot it!

My problem has always been that when it comes to bikes she's got a pretty good idea of what it all costs and knows her XT from her XTR.

wwaswas - Member
You lot are amateurs.

There's a regular on here who got Brant to send him a letter saying he'd won a frame rather than try and explain to his wife he'd bought it.

Take a bow JohnClimber 😀 That was a few year ago now, I'm sure he tells her all about his fat bike spending these days 😉

I didn't like to name and shame, just in case 😉

Only fallen foul once.
Did a deal for a 69 Karmann Ghia in bits, no cash involved.
Parked up behind the office on a trailer under tarps so never really thought much more about it.
Mrs C went in for her back op, she came home and was convalescing upstairs when the V5 arrived. Not even giving a thought I popped it in the letter rack.
A week or so later I came back home to find Mrs C had ventured down stairs and was helpfully sorting out the correspondence.
In the middle of the kitchen table was the V5 - to this day she does not believe I did not spend a penny of our money on the car!
Other stuff I swap, or sell and use the cash to buy other stuff.

i have a lovely steel road bike stashed in the loft.
and a new turbo trainer in there as well.

i'll just tell her the previous owners must have left them there.

I had a friend who had to pay his wife the exact same amount he paid for a round of golf.

So, each time he played a round, he paid double the fee, half going to the wife.

Unreal !.

😯

So, each time he played a round, he paid double the fee, half going to the wife.

New wife time 🙂

What a total boot!

I keep my bike in the kitchen.

I recently swapped my Fox Float forks, that were WHITE, for Fox VAN's, that are BLACK.

HRH didn't notice.

I don't think I need to worry about stealthing my purchases.

Never any questions asked now once I found out how much Mrs Breathes haircuts were costing her 😯

We each get pocket money to spend as we please. And thankfully the postie seems to be on my side and pretty much anything gets the red card and I go to pick it up so she never sees the steady procession of boxes. When she was out once I managed to pick up a full bike from courier, get it back in the house, assemble it, dump the bike box at the tip and get away with it with a casual "Oh, I've had that for ages now".

My mrs was in my bike shed last week laughing about and counting my bikes, I did mention to her that there was one at work in the bike locker and one in the shop getting fixed. She just laughed added another 2 and asked why do you need so many bikes!

😉 there wasn't one at work or shop but it leaves me room for more.....

No stealth purchases I tell her but she hardly listens when I mention bikes........ She once had a go at me to look at real porn instead of bike porn! 😆

I've owned 28 motorbikes in 5 years.. all different.

I've owned 3 different bicycles this year... The wife has now given up caring.

Sat morning i'm picking up a Honda CR-V 🙂

we only have one car which the wife needs for work

my argument/logic is that it would cost £100 per month to get the bus to work but by cycling instead i save lots of money and can justify paying for new stuff due to all the "wear and tear"

well it seems logical to me!

I bought a motorbike resto project, but allready had one in a million bits, so I couldnt really tell her about the new one, so I had it delivered to work where I stripped it and took it home in bits.

I now have 2 million bike bits. But a dream. 🙂

my missus says if i want it, buy it.

i want the pompino thats in the classifieds, but i cant justify it to myself. my mrs shouldnt/couldnt/wouldnt care less tho.

I used to, but it was deceitful and disrespectful, and on the occasions my wife did notice I felt embarressed by my actions.

I can't read that without imagining you sat there with your mrs looking over your shoulder making sure you are writing the correct thing.

Like a child that is being made to apologise and is repeating the words that the teacher has told him to say. 🙂

I just bought my wife a new commuter - have I got the wrong end of the stealth purchasing stick? I'm pretty sure she noticed, she's been riding it for 2 days and the layback bars were a dead give-a-way!

As long as she gets presents occasionally she has no problem with me spending money, we have a very 1950's relationship 🙂

I just buy aslong as there is money in he account and we don't go overdrawn no problem.

there wasn't one at work or shop but it leaves me room for more.....

No longer stealth buy as I can do without the grief but now I no longer buy !! as kids/house blah blah have sucked out any cash plus cash I don't have so ill just have to man up and wait till the kids are paying me rent and the wife is working full time....long wait. I'll be old and decrepit but damn it ill have me a bling bike.

I bought a lovely pair of hand built Phil Wood hubs laced onto Mavic rims for a track frame that I don't have for a track that wasn't built for another few years! My wife has now advised that I should buy a track frame for the wheels. On reflection, this post doesn't really constitute a stealth purchase! Doh! My wife rocks! 😀