Marriage: MONEY!
The number-one issue couples fight about is money. I would bet that it’s always been that way, especially in the last 30 years or so as women entered the workforce and started bringing home half the metaphorical bacon. The problem, in my experience, is that both people continue making the small purchases they used to when they were single, without consulting each other: $5 here, $5 there. But at the end of the month, when each person has made 10 or so $5 purchases, just two or three a week, there’s $100 missing and neither person has any clue where it’s gone.
This archived article was written by: Jenna Rae Rudolph
The number-one issue couples fight about is money. I would bet that it’s always been that way, especially in the last 30 years or so as women entered the workforce and started bringing home half the metaphorical bacon. The problem, in my experience, is that both people continue making the small purchases they used to when they were single, without consulting each other: $5 here, $5 there. But at the end of the month, when each person has made 10 or so $5 purchases, just two or three a week, there’s $100 missing and neither person has any clue where it’s gone.
So you start asking each other before you spend money. But every time you’re at the store and you think about having to call and ask, “Hey, can I spend $6.79 for such and such,” you feel like you’ve lost part of your adulthood or independence or something. Plus, when you receive a phone call from your spouse asking, “May I spend $6.79?” you feel like the biggest nag in the world if you even think about saying no. So, at the end of the month, there is still $100 missing. You both know exactly where it went, but neither of you wants to say it and you’re both pissed.
Of course, the only solution is to make a budget and, come on, we all knew this when the title was MONEY! I’d like to say that I have some amazing advice about how to make a great budget, but I really don’t. I’m actually about to look one up online. But I’ll tell you this much: like everything else in a marriage, your budget won’t work without the three Cs: communication, commitment and compromise. Apply these principles and you’ll be as well prepared as it’s possible to be.
