In our weekly series, readers can email in with any financial dilemma and enter the Money Moral Maze.
Are your friends racking up big drinks tabs and then trying to split the bill equally? Is your partner spending overspending on your joint account? No matter your dilemma, email in anonymously, and i‘s money and business team will do our best to answer.
This week’s dilemma can be found below – email us at money@inews.co.uk with yours.
The dilemma
I live in a house with friends and they bought Christmas decorations for the house that cost twice my weekly shop. We had discussed getting a few bits to make the house look Christmassy, but I thought I’d made it fairly clear that I didn’t want us to go overboard.
They came back with decorations that cost about £100 all together – without checking if a £25 budget would be okay for everyone. For context, we’d already hosted friends for a Christmas dinner that had left me £20 lighter.
I was not happy about it and said they should have checked what we were all happy to pay first. The response was that I was being a “Scrooge” and a “Grinch”.
I know these things can be difficult to navigate in shared houses, and I appreciate they were trying to make our home more festive. But in the run-up to Christmas, every little helps and I think it’s only fair to ask people before spending their money. Should I pay?
Grace Gausden, i’s deputy money editor, responds:
Christmas is the most expensive time of year for most, with the cost of presents, festive dinners and drinks and decorations all adding up.
With the cost of living crisis still ongoing, many have tried to cut their spending where possible, something it sounds like you have been attempting to do.
I can imagine you were left shocked when your housemates said they had spent £100 on Christmas decorations, especially as you were not consulted on the price.
They expected you to fork out £25 towards the decorations, a considerable sum of money, especially as you had already spent £20 on a Christmas dinner at the house.
I highly doubt there was any malicious thought from your housemates when spending so much and was probably a case of your friends getting carried away when shopping.
However, it still stands that they wanted you to shell out for their purchases.
And calling you names after you flagged your concerns is completely unfair and not the right way to handle the situation.
In terms of whether you should pay, it is tricky, as the purchases have already been made and the decorations are adorning your home already.
One way to handle the situation would be offer to pay less, around £10 or £15, and suggest your housemates keep the decorations for future use instead of sharing them equally.
If they have spent so much, I would assume the decorations are of a decent quality and will hopefully keep for years to come.
If you feel too awkward to pay less, which I can understand given their initial response, state that you’re on a tight budget and reiterate that you would like to be consulted on group purchases in future so you can confirm whether you are happy to pay or not.
Hopefully this will be taken on board and you won’t find yourself in a similar situation again.