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Casey and Matt are a young married couple. Matt loves to go out for midnight fast food runs with his best friend, who is a fellow night-owl and grad student. He says it's a chance to eat and have quality time with friends. His wife Casey objects to the practice, saying it strains their budget and the time Matt has to get things done around the house. Who is right?

http://www.maximumfun.org/judge-john-hodgman/judge-john-hodgman-episode-69-night-food-court

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Maximum Fun intern extraordinaire

I thought this was a great ruling from the Judge. Late-night food runs were a staple of my college experience and I would have felt betrayed if someone told me I had to cut them out entirely.

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Ladysplaining - A podcast where Sara Chicazul explains everything
Girlfriend Mode - Lindsay and I talk about video games!

God, poor guy. I suggest the wife spend a night out with nearly any other male graduate student and see how much money they waste on bad food, alcohol, drugs, and other superfluous things....would put that $35 a month she hounds him about into perspective very quickly.

Thought the Judge handled this one nicely. A very young married couple arguing over $35/month in food expenses is bad news. Hope for the best for those two, and this is one of those arguments that they laugh about at their 25th anniversary, but yikes, man.

I'm sorry but she seems controlling and a bit of a harpy. I wish them the best and I hope she is able to put things into some sort of realistic perspective.

I thought I'd drive my car off the road when the wife suggested a $10 meal budget. (And I was in bed at the time.)

They agree to pool their money, but she gets to tell him how to spend it.

I hope these two are using birth control because divorce proceedings are much more complicated with children involved.

Crazy lady is crazy.

I had the cultural reference totally wrong -- I thought it was "Tiger by the Tail":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeOddejiGw
Must be the original of the parody. Or just a similar song. Though "Tiger by the Tail" might be appropriate for this episode too.

My husband and I don't have a pooled bank account. We split up the bills and groceries pretty evenly and try to pay fairly equally for meals out together (he ends up paying a little more because he makes more), but what we do for individual recreation is pretty much our own business. I guess it's a slightly different situation since we both have our own income streams, but I would have been pretty incensed if anyone tried to cut out my weekly grad student complaint sessions at the tavern. It's unfair to call her names, but jeez lady, let up a little.

As someone who just transitioned into being solely supported by my wife for a while, I can attest that the financial pressures of one income really make you consider every little thing money goes to. I don't think Casey came off as mean at all. In fact, they both came off as very nice, rational people. Jeez, guys, lay off the very nice guests who without which we'd have no delightful JJHo episodes.

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Flee The Scene Podcast | @DoctorHighFive

+1000

From what I could hear, that modest amount of money was very significant to both of them.

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The bums will always lose.

Color me chastened. The money sitch is different for everybody, and I thoughtlessly jumped on the criticism wagon. Thanks for keeping MaxFun a friendly place, janus1172 and Jesse. Thanks for sharing with us for our entertainment, Casey and Matt. You sound like very cool people and I'm sorry that I listened to my reptile brain.

This was a genuinely wise ruling for a ridiculously nice-seeming couple.

I thought it seemed like their budget was needlessly rigid in its categories, but then she mentioned her bedtime. If she's dropping off then, I assume that he and she are squandering much on recreation. It sounded like that bit of cash mattered.

Thanks for 1 of my favorites of these!

She seems like a nice person, yes. They both do. But when you go to bed at 9pm and give your husband an allowance, you're his mom, not his wife. Hence the great tact and wisdom of the judge to get this point across without being mean to either. I listened to this podcast on a road trip with another married couple, and we were all wincing throughout.

The good thing about being young, married, and poor is that it forces you to grow up, communicate like adults, and best of all, it's hilarious later. My wife and I have been so poor that we literally didn't have money for tolls. We'd have to stop, apologize to the operator, fill out a bunch of paperwork, infuriate a bunch of cars behind us, and mail in two dollars to the New Jersey Turnpike Commission or whatever it is a few weeks later. It was humiliating then, but now the act of driving through a toll booth with my wife is a triumphant moment.

Best wishes to these two!