Having trouble being heard?

Oiy.  Holding the responsibility for holding the financial bag has got to end.  Somehow.  Wisely.  With out stupidity on my part.  But with a firmly laid out  plan THAT I WILL FOLLOW TO EXTRICATE MYSELF FROM THIS BONDAGE.

My spouse just called from Wal-Mart.  He had gotten an RCA tablet for his birthday last month.  As a gift.  About $150.00.   A few days ago the power switch stopped working.  I called RCA.  They will replace it if we pay the shipping to return it.  So, we thought we would first try taking it back to Wal-Mart.  

They only accept returns and exchanges on "computers" for 15 days from the date of purchase.  Even though it is defective, they will give us the full purchase price towards an "upgrade."  

So my spouse called to see if we "have room in the budget" for an upgrade to a $379.00 tablet.  

I spun it quite poorly.  He asked, "Do we have room in the budget?"  I said we do not have a budget.  (Thinking, I have tried so many times to get him to agree to work with a budget.)  He asked if we have the extra money?  I said not really, we do not.  (Thinking, we are majorly in debt, and we just had our 2012 tax payment planned canceled because we didn't pay 2013 taxes on time.  And we have 2 laptops.  That work.)  He said, "Will we in the near future?  (I am thinking, 'Oh, oh.  Here we go.  Liz, think, think, think, before you speak.')  So I said - the wrong thing.  I mentioned he had gotten a Father's Day gift of $100 to put towards the purchase of a tablet.  (Thinking, he spent it on something else, even though our daughter and son-in-law clearly stipulated it was earmarked for a tablet.  Then they purchased a tablet for him as a gift for his birthday.)  He responded, "My darling, I gave that money to you to spend at the flea market this summer."  

Boy, I walked right into that.  Now I am squirming because I thought he had given me a gift of some random cash he had gotten.

So, I should have taken the 'gift' this summer, and myself made a choice to pay it towards our debt.  

And I walked right into a pile of crap that it is extremely difficult - actually impossible - to gracefully back away from. 

Rats.  I bungled that one.

Liz