Experiences of an American woman who was married to a Serb.

Friday, April 4, 2008

How Much Should You Normally Spend on Wine? Cultural Dichotomy

"I don't think my husband understands the value of money," an American girlfriend of mine told me this week. "He went out the other night and spent $50 on a single bottle of wine to drink with dinner!"

I nodded vigorously. My husband, too, is perfectly capable of nipping up to the liquor store for a little something to go with dinner and coming back with a $39-80 bottle. On a weeknight. When we don't have guests. No special reason beyond, "Well honey, this one tastes good."

This is not a coincidence. My girlfriend's husband is a Croatian-British mix. My husband is a Serb who grew up in Croatia. I've discovered for men with a Croatian background, it's not so much that they don't understand the value of money as it is their American wives do not understand the value of wine.

I ran this past my husband. He flat out agreed. "Even when I had nothing as a refugee in Serbia, I would buy good wine," he explained. "A good bottle is not worth an entire week's salary, but, maybe two-three days of salary. Definitely."

Using that math, it would not be out of the question to budget 30% of your salary for wine. God love Croatian men.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This might be a male thing. My American husband is doing the same. Once he spent $200 on a bottle of wine and a few high-priced munchies to "cheer me up" after a tough day. Well, nothing can cheer me up more than spending that kind of money on booze and fancy snacks! I threatened that I will take his photo to every cashier in 10 miles radius saying: This man is not allowed to spend more than $50 on anything! Period.