I have a (mild?) gadget/gear addiction but I am always open and honest about it with my wife. We have a set budget and we each get our own spending money. I tend to flip stuff fairly often and don't accumulate a large pile of stuff because there's always something else out there I want to try. If you look at my posting history I've been in all kinds of subs throwing my interests in every direction and some even trading with other users.

I can honestly say I've never touched anything of my wife's unless I talked with her first and usually it's to get her something new or better. I don't always tell her about my dealings with trading/buying and all but it's not cause I'm hiding something from her. I'm usually very open about what I'm interested in next.

If he's anything like me then it's just something that has gotten out of control and he's taken it too far. I'm always worried that my wife will come down on me for buying this or trading that... I usually tend to do more dealings when I'm depressed or stressed to keep my mind of off it. I think it's more to keep my mind busy while life works itself out.

Before I met my wife I was bad for spending all my cash on junk like this but I was young and stupid and we all have a past so..

I think if I had to self analyze why I feel guilty for holding stuff back from telling her about it's because when I was younger if I was open and talked openly about something I was excited in my Dad would use that as a way to punish me or mock me over when he was upset with me. In turn that made me a very closed book when I was excited about something and I had to force myself to hide most of my emotions especially excitement or happiness. I usually just wait until I'm comfortable talking about something I'm excited about with my wife... Old habits die yard.

I'm probably just throwing the blame on my Dad more than it deserves but when I stop and analyze myself as to why I do the things I do I can usually always find a reason and no it's not always my parents or family. :p

I don't want to put words in his mouth but if he feels bad about what he's doing/done and has told you about it then it's a deep dread that would probably crush him and send him into depression if it's not handled correctly.

I'd suggest talking to him and being extremely gentle and patient. No matter what you say or do to punish him for what he's doing it'll not even be close to the guilt he's already feeling for what he's doing.

I think I'm starting to ramble so I'll just end it here. Best of luck!