Her Husband Brings In $156K, But They Struggle With Groceries Due To His $700 Monthly Vices. She Calls Him An Addict, Dave Ramsey Disagrees
Despite bringing in a $156,000 annual salary, a Chicago family is struggling to afford groceries, something the wife attributes to her husband’s growing $700-a-month addiction to tobacco and marijuana.
Substance Use Or Budget Problem?
“My husband is an addict,” Megan said during an episode of “The Ramsey Show” last year. She is a stay-at-home mother pregnant with their third child and called for advice from personal finance experts Dave Ramsey and Jade Warshaw. Megan said her husband typically spends around $6,000 a year on the habit, but the past couple of months have been worse due to the deaths of his father and grandfather.
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Because of her husband’s “erratic behavior,” Megan told the hosts she’s hesitant to pay off their $20,000 car loan even though they have the money. She fears that the freed-up $600 monthly payment would just vanish into his habit.
Ramsey immediately challenged the framing. “If I was to say that my wife was an addict, that would mean that our marriage was either getting ready to end or she was getting help next week,” he said. “But you use this like it’s part of the budget. If you’re going to call him an addict, you’re going to have to act like it.”
He added that if her concern is simply that her husband occasionally uses substances and it’s costing them $500 to $700 a month, that's a very different scenario than describing him as an addict.
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When they asked about his income structure, Megan revealed she brings in no income currently. Her husband earns the entire household income. They take home about $7,800 per month after taxes, yet Megan said food insecurity remains a problem.
Lifestyle Misalignment
With a $3,400 mortgage, a $600 car payment, and significant deductions from his paycheck for things like a 401(k), the couple may be cash-strapped due to poor planning, not just his vices.
“You’re making $8,000 a month take-home pay and you have a $3,000 house payment. You are not out of food because he spent 750 bucks,” Ramsey said. “You are going to be out of food if he loses his job because he stays drunk all the time.”
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The hosts stressed that the bigger issue is that Megan either needs to confront her husband’s addiction seriously or reconsider whether it’s truly addiction at all. “You’re going to have to reclassify this in your mind or you’re going to have to take some more severe action than you have been willing to take so far,” Ramsey told her.
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