Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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wife card

 control your wife's spending
  (-3)
(-3) 		  [vote for,
against]

A special credit card to give to your wife. Most stores use a bar code which will catagorise the purchases. A special creidt card is given to the wife on which the husband sets limits. e.g. Food up to $100, clothes up to $50 per week. Then if the wife tries to exceed the limit a message is sent to the husband's mobile phone to warn him. He can then aprove the purchase, decline it, or phone the wife for a "discussion".

The card could also be set in "stealth" mode. i.e. branded as an ordinary Visa, and the husband just informed of what goes on.

This might not play well in liberal cultures such as the US and northern Europe, but would go down a storm in macho cultures such as Southern Europe and Arabic countries.

—carrot, Jul 24 2003

worst - according to the voting! a personal thing. http://www.halfbake...:n=worst:i=:t=worst
[po, Oct 06 2004]

[link]






       Sounds like a great marriage. I'm very happy for you. </sarcasm>
—Worldgineer, Jul 24 2003
   

       bet most of the votes against are from women :-)
—carrot, Jul 24 2003
   

       Debit cards (called bank cards in Europe, I believe) limit spending to what is in the bank account, and it is an easy matter to arrange weekly or monthly bank transfers, making it straightforward to ration someone's spending, whether it be your wife's, your teenager's or your own.   

       But if your relationship with your wife is so bad, I think you guys need counselling, not special credit cards.
—DrCurry, Jul 24 2003
   

       Replace "wife" with "time-proven-fiscally-irresponsible-spouse" and you *might* have a shot at getting a croissant from someone. Not from me, however.   

       I wonder if this might be more palatable if restructured as a service for those who've experienced financial difficulty as a direct result of poor spending decisions.
—half, Jul 24 2003
   

       Jeeze, this stereotype is so old and dumb.   

       manly fishbone from this guy
—snarfyguy, Jul 24 2003
   

       I remember now, one of the reasons for never re-marrying.
—po, Jul 24 2003
   

       Some people borrow $50 and you love them, some give you $50 and you hate them. Its all in the presentation. The macho spin here guarantees bones. Delete, revise and repost as a solution to a problem and lets see how this idea does. As noted, this is really a card just for the fiscally irresponsible or unsophisticated. [Curry] points out that spending limits are baked, and so the novel thing here is the category-based limits as well as "stealth mode" Probably the best use would be for teenagers or college students, who need a card but also need supervision.
—bungston, Jul 24 2003
   

       Feels like I've stumbled into Jurassic Park.
—FarmerJohn, Jul 24 2003
   

       [carrot] are you married? Just curious. If not, [verfum] may have some sisters...
—k_sra, Jul 24 2003
   

       we have a best list. <just spent some time there>. is it time we had a worst list? some ideas just seem destined for it.   

       yes, just searched - it has been discussed before, sorry.
—po, Jul 24 2003
   

       It is a known fact that no man with a penis larger than three inches cares about his wife's spending habits...
—dbsousa, Jul 24 2003
   

       How does one correctly measure that diameter?
—FarmerJohn, Jul 24 2003
   

       You don't need accuracy, it's a ballpark figure.
—egbert, Jul 24 2003
   

       [ebbert] Oh, like a Louisville Slugger?
—FarmerJohn, Jul 24 2003
   

       // [carrot] are you married? Just curious. //   

       k_sra, you have to ask? Hard to believe neanderthals like this still exist.
—waugsqueke, Jul 24 2003
   

       Very "Jetsons."
—snarfyguy, Jul 24 2003
   

       very "Flintstones".
—lintkeeper2, Jul 25 2003
   

       //Feels like I've stumbled into Jurassic Park//.   

       That'll be a DinosaurEgg card then. Or possibly Caveman Club Gold.
—egbert, Jul 25 2003
   

       Please don't feed the liberal baiters, and [carrot] please try harder. And on the subject of penis size; it might be short, but it's thin.
—nichpo, Jul 25 2003
   

       I'm voting for this, as I wish this had been around when I was married to Cuntzilla.
—thumbwax, Jul 25 2003
   

       Would've made a great flick, 'The Battle of King Dong and Cuntzilla'.
—FarmerJohn, Jul 25 2003
   

       How'd you know my other nic? Oops
—thumbwax, Jul 25 2003
   

       Didn't think it would play well in a liberal society, but I still wonder if this might be a success in Southern Europe or Muslim countries. It's all a matter of marketing.
—carrot, Jul 25 2003
   

       So you posted it to the Western hemisphere? Clever you. <g>
—k_sra, Jul 25 2003
   

       seems so
—carrot, Jul 25 2003
   

       Isn't it a sado- masochist relationship when one party always has to look to the other party for approval ?   

       Maybe that's what's going on with [carrot] and his wife, if this is true then shame on all of you for all of the personal attacks on him. You need to learn to be more tolerant, even of cultures and practices you may not understand.
—SystemAdmin, Jul 25 2003
   

       Welcome to the HB, SystemAdmin.
—bungston, Jul 25 2003
   

       carrot and stick, eh!
—po, Jul 25 2003
   

       Neanderthal-husband-who-sets-grocery-limits-for-the-month: Where's my beer woman?   

       Wife-who-got-smart-and-used-this-against-him: There was only $100.00 on my grocery spending limit. After Slim-Fast, carrot sticks, tofu, alfalfa sprigs and various other healthy foods, I couldn't afford to buy your beer. We're going to have to talk about that, it's a very expensive habit.   

       **perhaps the time-proven-fiscally-irresponsible-spouse thing would have changed my view of the whole situation. That I can relate to.**
—vendetta, Jul 25 2003
   

       The idea has merit.   

       The stereotype is unfortunate.
—Xoebe, Jul 25 2003
   

       I note that my idea is now 4th worse on half bakery, which gives me some sort of strange satisfaction.   

       If anyone still reads this topic, I'd be interested in knowing in what sense it's a "bad" idea?   

       i.e. would it not work, would it not make money, is it morraly repugnant?   

       The number of people who took this semi-seriously gives me hope that there may be something in it after all!
—carrot, Nov 24 2003
   

       Actually, [carrot], this could be accomplished with nothing new - many cards offer the ability to monitor charges, balances and payments on line. To snoop on your spouse, son, parent, etc. just pull up the info for your card.   

       After reading some stuff this past weekend about adults with early dementia and their wildly irresponsible spending habits, it occurs to me that a monitoring system like [carrot's] or as described above would be useful to prevent catastrophe.
—bungston, Nov 24 2003
   

       i'd like this so i can moniter myself. and my cat who is always spending more maney than i make.
—lizziepunkin, Nov 24 2003
   

       I suggest using my favorite, The American Mistress Card, "Don't leave home with out her..." When I was last in France having esspresso with Jean Paul,,,, I realized that I had been robbed!! They got away with all of my American Mistress Travelers Chicks! But with American Mistress,, my travelers chicks were replaced within two business days! My American Mistress gives great service!! I'll never leave home without her! A truly satisfied customer, ydeRay
—yderay, Nov 24 2003
   

       carrot, what they're (and I'm) saying is, revise the unfortunate stereotype to make it a solution to *a* problem, instead of *such-and-such really-flame-attractant-and-divisive issue*. Thanks.
—galukalock, Nov 24 2003
   

       for "really-flame-attractant-and-divisive issue" read "really-interest-attractant-and-divisive issue"
—carrot, Dec 14 2003
   

       When I read this topic I first thought that there were trading cards for wives. Husbands create cards of their wives including stats on the back. Send them to other guys around the neighbourhood and trade away. Puts more of an adult aspect on a kid hobby.   

       (Just make sure the wife doesn't find out!)
—v0rtexx, Dec 16 2003
   

       Kid aspect on an adult hobby ?
—juanmanandez, Dec 16 2003
   

       I thought it was funny. Nice job on pissing off a bunch of hippies. <highfive>
—ilikebeer, Dec 16 2003
   

       He's available ladies! No pushing in line, please!
—xand3r, Feb 17 2004
   

       The USA should give such a card to the president. The results should be published in The Washington Post.
—popbottle, Nov 22 2016
   

       Now THAT'S funny.   

       [carrot] acquired a user account in the summer of 2003, posted this and one other idea that week, and was never heard from again.
—normzone, Nov 23 2016
   

       I expect we scared her off.
—MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 23 2016
   
      
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