Bob and Ruth Ann came because Ruth Ann was a saver, and Bob was a spender.  Bob made really good money, but his spending was out of control.  Bob was also motivated because Ruth Ann was at the end of her rope and was ready to leave him if things didn't turn around.

After working with them for a little while and asking a lot of questions about their spending plan and the extra expenses that were getting racked up, I realized that Bob's issue was more than just that he liked to buy stuff.  It was compulsive.  He realized he had a problem, but didn't know how to stop.

Two things I recommended for them:

1.  Bob needed to seek a therapist to get control of his compulsive disorder

2.  Put more control of the money in Ruth Ann's hands and much less in Bob's until he started making progress

This gave Ruth Ann much more peace of mind, and Bob was on board because he needed help and knew that his issues were causing financial strife for his marriage.