[Disclaimer: don’t read as far into this as your gossipy, little hearts want to – it’s not exactly time to take that step yet, at least as far as I know…]
So we were talking at work the other day and quite the interesting discussion topic came up – “How much should a man spend on his bride-to-be’s engagement / wedding ring?” Of course, the female opinions were all on one side of the table with the guys on the other – we heard everything from two months’ salary to “a couple grand, at the most” to one guy whose girlfriend had already set her heart on a $30,000 rock… 😛
I guess I’m torn about this one and maybe I’ll have a slightly different opinion when I get closer to actually making such a decision, but from my perspective – as I’m just completing a two year effort to pay off five years’ worth of credit card debt and looking to soon sink that newfound income into the purchase of a house – is that it doesn’t make sense to enter into a marriage with someone and already have that kind of additional weight over one’s head. Now don’t get me wrong, she still deserves a nice ring and all, but when you’re talking about price tags that could also represent the down payment or closing costs on a new house, it kind of makes you stop and think – two months’ salary is a lot of cash!
LOL – we also decided that if following the “two months” rule, second and third jobs don’t count and you’re allowed to figure off of your net earnings instead of the gross…yes, have calculator, will geek out…
I read a couple of articles stating that some men…and women…agree that you can’t live in a ring, or drive a ring to the beach, or take summer vacations to the ring, and thus they had agreed together on a set amount to be spent that fit within their budget. While I think that this kind of takes away from the surprise of the whole moment if she already helped to pick the thing out, it might be easier than overspending and then getting in trouble later for putting the new family too deep into debt. And then again, I do believe that this same article can be quoted as saying that our “two months” should be comprised of the man’s and the woman’s monthly salaries combined and I just can’t see that one happening, so maybe that’s what you get for looking to the Internet for advice!
I want to hear some other opinions, especially if you’re somebody who’s already made this purchase! The only people who already had rings and would admit how much they cost were sure to throw in that their husbands had spent considerably more than two months’, so is this just one where us guys have to bite the bullet and commit to eating Ramen for a while or is there a little more leeway than what’s already been spelled out???