I bought myself a white gold diamond eternity band. The reason? My now ex-husband had spent a good portion of our money on booze with his friends, and we couldn’t make the car insurance payment. I was so fucking mad – he would do this all the time and then ask me to ask my father for the money, which I never did.
So with the remaining money, I went and bought myself the ring. He saw it on my hand when I dropped him off lunch and he asked about it. I replied, “Well, if we are going to be idiots with our bill money, then you will not be the only one to benefit from it. And no, I’m not asking my dad for it. Your fucked up family raised you to be an asshole with money, so you and they can figure out the auto insurance. Bye.”
I always referred to that ring as my “lesson ring”, because it taught him that I will only tolerate so much, and it taught me to value myself more. It still took me years to leave him, but that was one of those baby steps that led to it.