Hi guys,

Get a throw away phone for all hobbying.  

I pay the bills and my wife has no idea.. I have a vision of eventually telling her that we are broke.. but it hasn't happened yet.. a few ideas..

Start to slowly build up the amount of cash you withdraw for lunch and sundries every week, just a few dollars each week until you have enough to use for the hobby.

Also, if there are some ways that you can get a direct petty cash reimbursement for anything you buy associated with work, that's another good way to put some cash in your pocket.  Buy with the credit card and take the reimbursement in cash.

Accumulate the cash little by little (you can get cash back at many places, I am sure your SO is not continuously looking into the receipts). You can also create an "investment account/money market account" previously discussed here for financial market investments.. you can transfer money to that account and be the only person who handles that.. wive usually don't get involved on that...

a portion of the raise directly deposited into an account that is only in your name.  Call it your hobby account for golfing or fishing or whatever.  Another option is to sometimes charge happy hour or lunch expenses for the table and have the rest of the guys reimburse you in cash.

I use my wife's social security payments... she never checks that account .. she thinks we need it for day to day expenses.. and I pay the bills.. she's the one that decided to stop with the physical part of our marriage.. pay back is a bitch !

I accumulate...  I initially doubled my weekly cash...  more & more goes on CC but still keep my pocket cash.  I do not carry all of it, refill as needed from my sock drawer.   Do not have your main stash in your sock drawer as SOs sometimes make withdrawals or at least notice.  I continually have cash in motion...  and have a better hiding place for my hobby money.

.  It could be woodworking...  time at Home stores getting perfect piece of wood ..  
   
Snicker... snicker. .. he said.. getting a perfect piece if wood. ... he he.. That's what the hobby is all about..

Thanks so much for the great advice, some ideas are already in place (like paying for lunch and getting the guys' cash, expenses at work, etc..) others will be, going forward (thank you Paloma for the cash back one!).

if you simply don't spend dollar bills. If you keep every one dollar bill that passes through your hands and put it in your stash you will soon have enough to have a good time. While pocket change adds up, dollar bills add up quickly.

antique slut  . What the heck did you mean?

What company is the phone if you do not mind?

I thought it was "giving that perfect piece the wood" lol

I think an antique slut is an avid female buyer of antiques.

I took it too literal, as in old female fan of sex. oops

Floyd1039...If you mean my current phone, it is a Samsung Galaxy S3 with AT&T.

the phone online from a public computer (i.e. library) using a fake name.  No paper trail of any kind.

I thought about getting a Trac phone , but  worried that I might leave it somewhere the SO would find it and wonder why the hell I had an extra phone. My favorite provider told me about Google Voice. I installed it on my phone and now have a way to text and call providers that won't show up on my phone bill and that was my major concern.

Google Voice is the way to go.

personally use Burner app on my iPhone. Works like a charm.  And every few months I switch numbers.

Google Voice is great, you would just have to watch and make sure you don't leave yourself logged in your Google account on a shared computer.  Also, there are settings to check on and stuff from within the app so that your phone isn't ringing at weird times....