Our deal is simple, I do not use the family money for this hobby. I will buy,sell, barter, or whatever to fund this hobby. Last year I bought out a complete house of Audio Design Associates gear. It took me a while to sell but I bought a Conrad Johnson Classic 2SE preamp brand new (with the help of my pre as a trade) a pair of Revel M106 monitors and a YBA headphone/dac with the profit. Plus I gave my wife $500 of that cash to spend on herself...
Then I sold the gear I was no longer using and with that money I bought a NAD M51 DAC plus had $300 left over.
So with my initial investment of $1k , minus the $500 I really was only $200 out of pocket after an awesome upgrade.
The other way I cope is I got smart and put the 52" TV in our front family room......good way to get your listening room back. No one wanted to watch TV in our den on a 32" 720p TV.....I must say it was brilliant !!!! After the family was conditioned and had acclimated to their new hangout I picked up a 47" LED, which by the was does not count as an audio expenditure .....