It’s interesting that you’re arguments are becoming more infrequent already. I know you recently moved, so that’s a pretty quick turnaround.

Congratulations on paying down your debts! Isn’t it amazing how free you feel when that last check is mailed in?

Ahhhh yes! Financial stress a perfect name for it. Great comment!

Hi Cindy – You know I always love your comments! Never stop commenting!

I agree that money isn’t everything! Oh I couldn’t agree more! But I do think that having money puts you in a better place to deal with the other hurdles in life. It seems like you and your husband have ‘gotten through’ financial issues and lived to tell about it. I commend you for it!

I guess the bigger question is how would your marriage be if you never had those issues to contend with in the first place?

Oh family matters can really murky up the water can’t they. My husband and I are on the same page with financial matters, but we’ve had many discussions about giving money to other members of the family. I’m glad that you and your husband were able to work that out and are now happier for having put an end to the hand outs.

I’m not married yet – we’re engaged – but have been together seven years. Money, or the lack of, and a job loss (while I was still studying full time and thus unable to support us both) nearly spelled the end for us a few years ago. Financial stress takes its toll on all aspects of you life, even if you’d like to think otherwise.

http://tightfistedmiser.com/2012/03/02/why-am-i-still-married-what-good-is-it/

The Brick and I both grew up in families that had little money, and were frugal in part because they had to be. Even after things became more prosperous, getting great bargains became a game, something to brag about.

When we married, I’d just gotten out of grad school. I had nothing but my bills paid (thanks in part to Mom and Dad, and my working for room/board) and a job offer. The Brick had come out of 6 years in the Navy with some cool possessions and a new Ford Mustang, paid up. He also got $400 a month from the GI Bill, and worked part-time for the university, as well.
We should have been able to live easily on that $400, plus what I was bringing in. But we were idiots and took out more loans. We owed $10,000 by the time he graduated.
It took us roughly the next 10 years to pay that money off. We bought a house the 6th year, right in the worst part of Colorado’s recession — and got a great price. We made extra payments on the principal, and by the time we bought house #2, were able to take away a profit only $20,000 less than what we’d paid for House #1 in the first place. In order to do that, though, I had to take a second job for a summer to pay the extra mortgage…the Brick fell madly in love with House #2, and we bought it before we’d actually sold House #1. Which took longer than we’d planned.

Our income went down drastically when the Brick went out of engineering, and started driving a school bus, instead. He’s become a trainer now, and is making more, but his salary is still about a third of what he would have been making as an engineer. We only survived this by the grace of God, and the frugal skills we’d learned. If I hadn’t been very careful to set aside savings during the engineering days, we wouldn’t even have made that through without credit card debt.

So OFG, you have been blessed to have had such a high combined income backing you through the past years — but I can say from experience that money isn’t everything. Never was, never will be. It’s the person you marry — not the income — that makes you happy. OH yes, and your little guy, too!