Things like the dog are constant from my wife.

Ooooh look at this, I want this! We need 'X' for the house. I need 'Y' cause 'reasons'. My laptop is too slow I sure wish I had a new one. etc etc etc

I used to take this seriously and stress about all the things I needed to 'provide' to fulfill all these wants and check off all the checkboxes.

But there is always something else, never satisfaction for what has been achieved and acquired.

I learned the trap I was falling into. My preconceived notion about the husband's 'job'. It was bleeding me dry, stressing me out, leaving me nothing for myself.

Now I just validate. 'yeah that dog sure is cute', 'yeah I can see how the slow laptop can be frustrating', 'yeah it would be really cool if we could take a vacation to the beach'

She just spouts these things off, but me, as the only income to the household and the one who needs to act responsibly, I make the call on what is needed versus what is wanted. If she is unhappy with that, that's too bad. Usually she is just happy to be validated and that's the end of it.