Basic Trope: A lady that can't control her expenses.
- Straight: Alicia spends her weekly budget in a day at a shopping mall, then wastes all the funds on her credit card and then some till the card is blocked.
- Exaggerated: Alicia proceeds to drain her husband Alton's account as well, and has to resort to Sex for Services to get more.
- Downplayed: Alicia needs somebody to tide her over every now and then, but mostly she's rather reasonable in money matters.
- Justified:
- Alicia is a Spoiled Brat who never learnt to deal with finance.
- Alicia has been pampered by her wealthy parents her whole life and has some trouble getting used to a more thrifty lifestyle.
- Alicia comes from a time or place where women weren't taught anything about money.
- Inverted:
- Alicia is The Scrooge, taking enormous pains to find the least expensive offers whenever she needs something.
- Alicia hates going shopping, and only buys what she really needs.
- Alicia is an extreme couponer.
- Gender Inverted: It is Alton who always spends money like there's no tomorrow, and Alicia has to hold the family account with an iron grip.
- Subverted:
- Alicia walks into a very expensive boutique, and it turns out she was just looking.
- Alicia doesn't know how to balance the checkbook, but since her bank does that electronically for her, all she has to do is log onto the bank's website or open up its mobile app on her phone to check that there's money in her account and make sure that all the purchases are accounted for (and are ones that she made).
- Double Subverted:
- She was looking for what to buy next as soon as her credit card is refunded. Once she has some money, it will be away soon.
- Alicia is Hopeless with Tech, and therefore doesn't understand how online/mobile banking works. She ends up getting hit with overdraft fees because she doesn't understand that the amount shown includes both processed and pending transactions.
- Parodied: Alicia makes completely implausible purchases, like buying an entire fleet of spaceships, or a 30-ton diamond ring.
- Zig Zagged: Alicia usually controls the balance of her income or expenses. But one day she goes to a mall with all the money she could get... only it was just a walk to look, rather than the usual Retail Therapy. And then she sees that fantastic new necklace, and matching earrings... However, when she counts her funds, she finds she hasn't got enough dough for it, So she decides to come get them after her next paycheck...
- Averted: Alicia, while not a cheapskate, does have a limit on her expenses.
- Enforced: The showrunners need a justification for a Broke Episode in which Alton urgently needs some money, so they go with his wife's shopping spree as a backdrop.
- Lampshaded: "Alton, your wife surely needs a lesson on being a bit more thrifty..."
- Invoked: Alton and Alicia are living in a setting where women typically don't work outside the home once married (and the jobs they may work at in their youth are typically lower-paying jobs), and where women are rarely (if ever) educated about personal finance, because it's assumed that their fathers take care of them in their youth, their husbands take care of them in middle age, and their sons take care of them in their old age.
- Exploited: A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted
- Defied:
- Alton visits the bank to enforce a stronger control of his account, citing his wife's "lack of spending control" as the reason.
- Alton and Alicia are living in a setting where women can (and do) work outside the home before, during, and after marriage, can obtain credit cards, loans, and bank accounts in their own names, and are taught at least the basics of personal finance, such as how to balance the checking account, budgeting, and how to use credit responsibly.
- Alton and Alicia agree to use their joint bank account only for household expenses, and they have their own separate accounts for personal stuff.
- Alton and Alicia agree to consult with each other before making purchases over a certain amount of money. (Whatever that might mean for their income level.)
- Alicia is a savvy shopper.
- Alicia really only goes shopping for necessities, not luxury items for herself.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Jeez, that girl Alicia is a huge spendthrift... Another walkin' talkin' proof you should never marry for the pretty looks!"
- Implied:
- After his wedding poor Alton's constantly working off his darling's debts.
- Shockingly Expensive Bills received by Alton Once an Episode are a Running Gag.
- Deconstructed:
- Alicia spends her salary on the day of getting it. Cue a quarrel at home.
- Alton gets fed up with his wife's enormous appetites and files for a divorce.
- Reconstructed:
- Alicia goes on to become a multimillionaire so that she wouldn't have spending restrictions.
- Next time Alicia seduces a really rich guy who really has a lot of money, so she can go as she wants about her spending.
Alright, darling, now I need some more grands to buy the main page! Isn't it lovely? Don't you like it?
